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The storm had let up several hours ago, but Max didn’t want her to leave yet. She had tried to, and he threatened to restrain her to the bed, even showing her the cuffs. That made her quiet. She didn’t want to be tied to the bed when she didn’t know Max very well.
What if he decided to do something to her? What if he decided he wasn’t going to let her go? She didn’t want the possibility of that so she stayed quiet. if she had to go to the bathroom, he would let her go, but besides that, she would have been stuck in bed.
“Can I leave now?” she asked. “The storm has let up, and it’s sunny. I feel a lot better.”
Max looked at her for a couple of seconds. She started to fidget, not really liking his stare. It didn’t feel right.
“I can take you into town. Your car isn’t working and won’t work unless you want to spend thousands of dollars fixing it,” he replied.
She groaned and closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. While she had money saved, it wasn’t saved for her car.
“I so totally didn’t need that to happen,” she mumbled to herself.
“Then you shouldn’t have been driving to begin with. Do you know how foolish that was? You could have been seriously hurt. You could have died.”
Margery glared at him. “I don’t use my car a lot.” That was information he probably didn’t need to know. “And I was trying to get away from my stalker, remember? It was either be kidnapped or killed or driving in the rain, and I picked driving in the rain. Was that foolish? Absolutely. Did I know that? Yes. It was better than staying and getting killed or kidnapped.”
Margery normally wasn’t the type of person to talk back, but he was getting on her nerves. He was being rude and saying things that were true were uncalled for. They didn’t know each other, and he was acting like they had known each other their whole lives. It was just a little too weird for her.
“You live in New York City?” he questioned. “Before you get all panicky on me, you said you didn’t use your car a lot. Which means you either work from home or you live in the city and walk everywhere.”
“Yes, I do. I walk everywhere.”
He made a tsking sound and gave her a disapprovinglook. What was that for? There was nothing wrong with living in the city or walking everywhere. It kept her kind of in shape and also let her be outside. If she didn’t walk anywhere, she wouldn’t be outside at all.
“Do you walk alone?” he asked.
Margery gave him a weird look. “Umm, yes, I do.”
“Such a bad girl. You shouldn’t be walking alone in New York City. Anything could happen.”
“That’s why I carry a knife in my purse.”
She had safety precautions. She wasn’t glued to her phone when she walked so that she could be alert. When she first moved to her own place, she started to take self-defense classes. Did she last long? No, but she did learn a couple of moves.
Not that it mattered. It obviously didn’t do her any good because she had frozen the other night when Ethan grabbed her. Margery blamed it on being shocked he was alive, but she froze when the guy at her house had a gun to her head.
“A knife isn’t going to do much if it’s in your purse. You’ll have to grab it and open it. By that time, they could already have their hands around you and hurt you.”
“I can’t believe you are lecturing me about this! You don’t know me!” She raised her voice.
“Someone obviously needs to do it. You aren’t, so I’ve decided that I am. Get over it.”
Her mouth hung open. Did he really just say that to her?
“I don’t give you consent to! You can’t do this!”
“Good thing I don’t need your consent to give you a scolding. You have put yourself in so much danger that someone needs to step in. You can’t take care of yourself!”
Okay, he might have a point, but he didn’t need to be calling her out on it. He wasn’t going to be the one to make sure she was safe and secure or check that she wasn’t doing anything dumb. She didn’t know him, and if he was acting like this right now, she didn’t want to get to know him.
Would he be an abusive if they got to know each other more?
That wasn’t something Margery wanted to find out or even consider.
“I think I should leave now,” she gently said. “I’ve overstayed my welcome, and I need to leave.”
“The only way you are going anywhere is if I take you. You are still hurt and shouldn’t be walking several miles until you hit another person’s house. Not happening.”
