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He hums as my gaze fixates on his hand, pumping himself a couple times. All my nerve endings tingle with desire in anticipation. Until he reaches behind him and snatches the phone out of my hand. I jerk to meet his eyes, disappointment meets disappointment. Although, mine is fueled by desire, his… displeasure.
When he rolls off me, I blow out a ragged sigh, irritated with myself that I’m angry. I’m the one hiding something. Ignoring his glances, I scoot to the side of the bed. “I hope your blue balls make your dick fall off,” I spat before putting a shirt over my head. He pulls up a pair of basketball shorts and sits back down.
His smile is disarming, making it hard to stay mad. I shimmy into my panties and sit on the chair, bringing my knees to my chest as I watch him mess with my phone.
“Let’s see what we have here.”
I smile inwardly as he opens my phone and meets a password screen. He types in six numbers without so much of a pause. “How do you know my password?” I panic, thrusting up and reaching for my phone.
“It’s entertaining you think you can stop me.” He holds my phone away from me with one hand, pushing me back with the other.
“You don’t play fair,” I snicker, giving up the fight. “And we’re going to talk about privacy.”
His eyes dart up from my phone. “First, playing fair was never my game. Second, when your safety is involved, it’s my business to know everything. No. Fucking. Secrets.” I swallow at the intensity of his voice.
I plop back down on the chair. “It wasn’t even about me,” I mutter.
He stands and walks over to me, holds out my phone without looking at the article. “I don’t like secrets, Sydney.”
So you’ve said. The way my real name rolls off his tongue, it’s punishment in itself. I don’t unfold my arms from around my knees. Max’s jaw tightens and his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard, staring down at me. “Sorry.”
I grab my phone. “That almost sounded sincere.”
He mutters a few curse words. “It was,” he snaps, pacing the floor. “What am I supposed to think when I walk into a room and you obviously hide something from me? I’m just supposed to look the other way? Because if that’s how relationships work, I can tell you right now, we’re going to have a huge problem.”
“I didn’t mean to hide it. It was a knee jerk reaction.” That’s a slight lie. I’m worried how he’ll react when he finds out everyone knows who he is. Max’s job relies on him being a private person and his life was just put on the front cover of Page Six. Because of me. I sigh, pulling up the article on my phone and holding it up for him to take back. “It’s about you,” I whisper.
His brows shoot up and he takes it back. I watch for any reaction as he reads it. Typical Max, his face is set in stone the whole time. When he’s done, he turns my phone off, placing it on the table next to me and sits on the bed with his arms crossed.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
“Um, I guess,” I hesitate, not ready for this conversation. Instead, I was ready for him to be furious, call Stone to take down their network, send Kase to threaten the journalists. Just not this. Not yet. “Are you not mad?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “I’m surprised it took them this long.”
“Oh.”
“Tink, I was prepared to be in the public eye the night I went to the awards with you. Nothing in that article is false or character damaging. They didn’t need to dig hard because it’s not hidden.”
My shoulders drop and I chew on my lip. “Except, I didn’t know.” I’ve known Max for over two years and I’m dating him, yet according to that article, I don’t know a thing about him.
He observes me. “Did you learn anything that would make you feel differently about me?”
“No,” I say, throwing my arms out. “But your dad was Zachary Lewis. Max, he built like half of New York City. The Lewister Hotel is named after him. That article said that you were his only heir to a couple billion dollars. Billions, Max!”
He chuckles, standing up and takes a couple long strides and then squats in front of me. He tugs each of my legs off the chair and nestles in between them. “You knew I had money, babe. And do you introduce yourself to people by telling them who your father is?”
I snort. “No, but all my dad left me was a mom who hates me.”
I love you, Daddy. I glance up. Just in case he’s listening. Don’t get me wrong, I miss him every day and wish he was still here to see how I finally made it. He would be so proud. It’s been three years since I heard his laughter. Saw his face light up as we watched a Cowboys game together. Argued over whether peanut M&M’s or plain M&M’s were better. I drop my eyes and focus on the tiny freckle on my thigh, not wanting Max to see my emotions getting the best of me.
“My dad might have left me a lot of money, but what he didn’t give me, your dad gave you in spades.” I meet his eyes, wondering what he’s referring to. “My dad loved me in his own way, but like my mom, he didn’t have time for a kid either. I saw my dad maybe three times a year.” That breaks my heart. A boy needs his father. He is right though, my dad had to love me enough for two people.
“Is that why you have your mom’s maiden name?”
He shakes his head. “Shaw is Dan’s last name. He adopted me when I was five at the request of Zack.” I pull back, surprised the request came from his real dad. “He was afraid his life as a public figure would affect my life negatively, so they decided that was best for me.”
I let out a sarcastic laugh. “And here you are, thanks to me, in the public eye.”
