“Whoever it is that you’re going back to. I’m glad you learned to love again,” she admitted. “You deserve it.”
Her words squeezed a cold, dark piece of him, resuscitating it, while simultaneously blowing the cobwebs off all the other parts he thought lifeless, the parts he knew wanted Grace, needed Grace, suddenly missed Grace more than he would ever be able to explain.
Max stepped forward and placed a small kiss on Lizzie’s cheek. “Take care, yeah?” he whispered.
“I will. You, too.”
Without another word, Max turned and walked out of the room. The sound of the door shutting behind him echoed down the long corridor like a welcome death knell to all the bullshit that had made Max who he was. He knew that, by walking away, he could finally let go of his past and begin to start living again, and as the distance between he and Lizzie grew, he became more and more determined to have Grace at his side every step of the way.
Max slammed Carter’s apartment door shut, cell phone in his hand, cursing the fucking thing up and down. He was so involved in his argument with the inanimate piece of shit that he didn’t notice Carter and Riley, standing, looking surprised, as though they’d shot up from their seats on the sofa. Max came to an abrupt halt when he saw them both and glanced around the apartment in confusion. “I thought you went to work?”
“I went in,” Carter explained, “and then took the rest of the day off in case you needed me. And Riley dropped by—”
“Because he was freaking out,” Riley interrupted. “And clucking like a mother hen.”
“I wasn’t freaking,” Carter argued, shooting Riley a narrowed glare. “I was just worried.” Carter looked back over at Max, his expression suggesting he expected to see Max covered in blood and other battle wounds. “So what happened? How did it go?”
Max blinked and took a deep breath, staring down at his phone. “I have to get a hold of Grace.”
Carter’s face creased in puzzlement. “Grace?”
“Grace?” Riley echoed. “Oh! Running girl. Your fuck buddy.”
Carter elbowed Riley. “Dude!” He turned back to Max. “Why do you need to get a hold of Grace? What about Lizzie? What do you—?”
“Grace!” Max said loudly, waving his cell as though that would explain everything. “I’ve called her but her phone’s turned off, or she’s blocked me, which is absolutely possible, and I wouldn’t blame her. I’ve called Whiskey’s but Holly won’t tell me anything and Uncle Vince said she left Preston County the day after me, saying something about her photographs. I don’t know where she would have gone other than DC, but what the fuck am I supposed to do—”
“Max!”
Max’s mouth shut as the sound of his name rattled around the apartment. Expecting to see Carter looking annoyed, he was surprised as hell to see a wide smile pulling at his friend’s face. Max stepped back nervously. “What?”
“You want to speak to Grace?” Carter asked, cocking his head to the side. “You need to see her?”
“Yeah.” Max ran a hand through his hair. “Seeing Lizzie and realizing that I . . . I have to talk to Grace—I just want to explain that I . . . to tell her that—you know, that . . .”
Carter’s smile grew softer. “That you love her.”
Max’s eyes snapped to Carter’s, then to Riley’s, and back again, narrowing quickly. He pointed an accusatory finger at the pair of them. “You fuckin’ knew!”
Riley snickered and Carter barked a laugh. “Of course we fuckin’ knew. I knew the minute I saw the two of you at the damned boardinghouse all puppy-eyed and shit.”
“And it was pretty obvious the day Tate and I visited,” Riley chimed in, looking pleased as shit.
“And why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” Max asked in disbelief. Carter crossed his arms over his chest. “Would it have made a difference?”
“Of course!”
Carter cocked an eyebrow and Riley snorted. All three men knew that answer was utter bullshit.
Max shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I mean . . . maybe.”
Carter took a step closer. “You said it yourself. You needed to see Lizzie. I know you, brother. You’ll never be swayed or bullied into anything and you had to come to this realization yourself.”
Max rubbed his eyes with the pads of his fingers, shuffled to the nearest chair, and dropped into it. “Realization,” he mumbled, dropping his head back and glaring at the ceiling. “Is that what this is?”
Carter and Riley sat down on the sofa opposite. “You tell me,” Carter uttered. “Do you love her?”