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Chapter 25
Maxhitredial and putthe phonetohisear. Gigi’svoicemailkicked in straightawayand he ended thecall. Hewastiredof leaving messageshewasprettysureshewasjust deleting. Itwasafterten in theevening;shehad tobe homefromschool bynow.Shehadn’tcalled himback,whichmeantshe had ignored Max’sfloralapology. Hedropped hisphone ontothecouch and stalked around the living room,running hishandsthrough his hair.
Erin had gonedown forthe nighta coupleof hoursago,sohewaseffectively housebound. Thank fuckhedidn’thavetomakean appearanceattheclub. Hewasinabsolutely nomood todeal with drunkpeopleslurring theirwordsand stumbling abouttheplace. Hewentintothekitchen and opened uponeofthecupboards,searching for whathehopedwasthere. When everything in hislifewasmoderatelyokay, hedidn’tusuallydrink anything more potentthanbeer.He’d drunkwhen he’d discovered Chelsea gone,and nowhewasgoing todrinkbecauseshe’d barged backintohislife and demanded helove heragain.
Snagging thebottleof GreyGoose,hegrabbed ashort glassandmoved backtothecouch.
Setting the bottleand glassdownon thetable,Maxsankintothecouch besidehisphoneand picked itup.
Nomissedcalls.
Big fucking surprise.
Leaning forward,heopened up thevodkaand pouredhimselfa double. Ashesipped,hethought backtohowtheday had startedoff. Ithad been perfect. Watching Gigi comewhileshewatched him watch herwasperhapsone ofthebestwaystobegina day. Her skin had flushed with color the closershecametorelease,and thelittlemoansand groansshewasmaking had made himimpossibly hard. Hehadn’tbeen directlyresponsiblefor gettinghertomakethosenoises,buthehad beena damn unmistakeablepartof it.
Butithad allturned toshitwith Chelsea’sarrival. AfterGigi had left,Maxhad followed her,had tried tospeaktoher,butitdidn’tdoany good. Jen had blocked himbeforeheeven madeitthrough thefrontdoor.
Bythetimehe’d returnedhome,he had somewhatcalmed down. Although hewould rather be skinned alive,herealized itwastimehetalkedtothewomanwhohad abandoned himand their daughter tofind outjustwhatthefuckhad been going through her head.
“You’reherenow.You mightaswell justtellmewhy you leftus,”Maxsaid. He wastoo agitated to sitdown. Hismind wasstill replaying thelookon Gigi’sfaceasshelookedatChelsea overhis shoulderand told himshequit.
Patting theseat besideheron thecouch, Chelseasaid,“Comesit down. You’reawfully wound up.”
“Justtell me,Chelsea. Don’ttryto fucking placateme.”
Herexpression was pinched,butshenodded and crossed herlegs. Hewasashamed to admitthat hewatched theaction. “Ijustcouldn’tdo it anymore,Max.”
“Couldn’tdowhat,exactly?”
“Beamommy. Stay athomeall day,lookafterErin. BeforeI got pregnant,Icould hold lunches and spend all day shopping if I wantedto.”
Heground histeethtogether. Yeah,she’d dothosethings,and spend hismoneywhileshewasat it. “Being a parentisaboutmaking sacrifices.”
“I knowthat,”shehissed.“I wasn’tready togiveupmy freedomthough.”
Hebithistongue. Although shewasa former cheerleader and painfully vain,he knewshewasn’tstupid—no matter howhardpeopletriedto stereotypeher.
“You probably should havethoughtaboutthatbeforeyou gotpregnant.”
Sheshrugged. “Ithoughtitwould fixourmarriage.”
Heglared ather.“Wheredid you go when you left?”
“BacktoChase.”
Hesuddenly sawredwhenheblinked,and therewasaringing in hisearsthathad nothing to do with any external alarmgoing off. Backin thefinalweeksoftheirsenioryear,Chelsea had cheated on him...
With Chase.
Chasehad been oneofhis bestfriends,butfucking his girl putan endto thatfriendship. Itseemed that Max had been thelastto know,and when hefound out,hefucking lostit. He’d cussed Chelsea outin frontoftheentireschool,swearing neverto forgiveher,orChase. Heheldhis resolveforabout a month…
Until Chelsea cametohimoneday in tears. Shetold himshewaspregnantand shedidn’tknow who thefatherwas. Chasehad sworn up and downthatthey had usedprotection,butaccording to Chelsea,thecondomhad broken. Facing thedisapproval of herparents,Chelseaconvinced Maxthat they needed togetbacktogetherand telleveryonethebaby was his.
Hecouldn’ttrustherafter herbetrayal,buthe’dbeenraisedright. Iftherewasapossibility that thekidwashis,hewasgoing to do theproperthing and takecareof it and Chelsea. Assoon as they’d graduated,hestayed trueto hisword and heand Chelsea had a civil ceremony atcity hall. Threeweekslater,Chelseahad told himthetruth:shehad neverbeenpregnant.She’d lied to himso they could getbacktogether.
Heshould havegotten thedamnmarriageannulled assoon asshe’d dropped thebombshell,buthehad nointentionofbeing a divorceeatthetender ageof eighteen. Instead,justtospite Chelsea,hestuckitout. He didn’tthinkhecould forgiveherfor going backtoChasea second time though. Assoon asMaxgotbackfromNewYork,hewasgoingtoseehislawyerand getthedivorce papersdrawn up. Hewasalsogoing to make damn sureshewouldn’t getcustody ofErin. He was justthankful thathismother had insistedonthere being a pre-nuptial agreement. Itturnedouthis mom’sinstantdislikeof Chelsea fromthebeginning had beenforgood reason.
He’d thrown Chelseaoutofhis apartment,telling her tofuckoffbacktoCaliforniaand toexpect tohear from his lawyer. Hewasimmenselysatisfiedwhen thesmug lookshewaswearing was wiped off her face asheslammed thedoor after her.
