Indiscretion: Volume Four Read Online Free

moments, pinching the bridge of his nose, then said with quiet fury, “You’re going to make me say it?”
    “Say what?” What the hell was his deal? He had some nerve getting irritated with me in this situation.
    “She was trying to get me hard, okay?” He spit out the words, looking disgusted. “She wanted to turn me on and, when she wouldn’t take my word for it, I figured when she grabbed my cock I’d let her see for herself that I wasn’t going to respond to her. I did that for a minute, then pushed her away.”
    I blinked several times and looked down at the floor. God, I was so confused. I didn’t know what to believe. I’d been cheated on before, but Max’s behavior was in complete contrast to how Jeff had acted. He hadn’t grovelled at all and tried to win me back—he’d blown me off and treated me poorly. Max had flown my sister out. Why would he do that if he didn’t care about me on some level?
    I believed him when he said he didn’t know she would be there and that he hadn’t written the note, but I still couldn’t get the image of them wrapped around each other out of my mind. My head was telling me that what he was saying made sense, but my heart was begging me to get out and stay as far away from him as possible.
    Max’s hand came to my cheek. “Chloe, I promised you I’d never do anything to hurt you again and I meant it. I didn’t speak with her the rest of the night. I spent last night camped out on your porch, waiting for you to come home. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone at the gala. I was not with her, and I left alone as soon as my Master Of Ceremonies duties were done.”
    “I can’t ask anyone,” I reminded him bitterly. “We’re not supposed to be together, remember?”
    His thumb brushed along my cheek, and I fought the urge to lean into his warm palm. “I swear to you nothing happened with Sarah. You believe me, don’t you?” He gazed down into my eyes, his crystal blue ones swirling with emotion, and fuck me if I didn’t believe him. I didn’t want to. Not at all. But I couldn’t deny the truth that I saw there.
    I inhaled a deep breath, unsure what to do. Maybe it was best just to end things now. Clearly things had passed the casual mark with Max and I at some point, and we were hanging out somewhere between just-fucking-around and full-on-commitment. Things were getting confusing, emotions were getting involved, and someone was bound to get hurt when Max returned to his life in New York City. Possibly both of us. Most definitely me.
    I squeezed my eyes shut tight. I must be a masochist because I wanted to hold on to him for as long as I possibly could, regardless of how much it was going to hurt when we parted.
    I felt defeated. “I do believe you, Max, but I can’t get the image of the two of you out of my head.” This was the exact reason I had never googled Max. I didn’t want images like the one I had now, permanently ingrained in my psyche playing on a loop inside my head.
    “I’m sorry,” he said—his voice warm, soft, and sincere. “I didn’t know she’d be there. My father and I had it out last night about him letting her join him. He knows his interference was not welcome and nothing like that’ll be happening again.”
    I believed him, but it was difficult to go from the hurt I’d been feeling into happiness that things with us should be fine. There was still an impenetrable melancholy surrounding me, and I couldn’t place if it was because I was just emotionally drained from these past twenty-four hours, or if it was because somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this kind of hurt was guaranteed when Max left town for good.
    He tugged my shoulder and I went willingly, allowing him to pull me into an embrace and rest the side of his face on top of my head. I wound my arms around him, and finally the emotions I’d managed to keep at bay earlier suddenly came pouring out of me. Tears rolled down my face, and I sobbed into his chest.