“She came for me,” Max said huskily, the thought slamming him in the gut, hope starting to bloom. “She knew I would probably be there since Sam was hosting the picnic.”
“Nah…I think she was looking for me,” Kade replied with a laugh, chuckling even louder as Max shot him a hostile look. “Or maybe not, since she was staring at you with a nauseatingly lovesick look.”
“She seemed…different after the accident. Still Mia, but more…” Max wasn’t quite sure how to explain it so he finished, “whole.” He was still kicking himself in the ass for never noticing that she had needed him earlier. He’d been too busy running away to realize that she was twisting herself in knots and needed reassurance as much as he did.
“I don’t think it was the accident that changed her. She went through counseling while she was here in Montana. It was her deal with Travis. He made her promise she’d find someone to talk to, try to heal,” Kade told Max quietly. “I think maybe it helped. I didn’t get to see her often because I was on the road so much after I started college, but she seemed different to how she had been when she was younger. Like she was more comfortable in her own skin.”
Travis strode out of the kitchen, pocketing his cell phone as he said, “She’s at the airport. She bought herself a one-way ticket to Los Angeles.”
“What the hell for?” Max asked belligerently.
“She’s on the run. It’s a big city,” Travis surmised. “She’s going to try to get lost in a crowd.”
“When? Do you have the info?” There was no way Mia was flying away from him. “What time is it?”
Kade wasn’t wearing a watch and he looked at Travis. “I didn’t bring my cell.”
Travis pulled up the long sleeve of his casual shirt and glanced at his Rolex. “It’s nine. Her flight leaves at eleven thirty.”
Max was already on his feet. “I’ve got this. You two can go home. It’s time for my wife and me to come to an understanding,” he said menacingly. “No more interference,” he warned Travis, spearing him with a warning glance.
Travis walked to Max, holding out his hand. “Agreed. Don’t ever hurt her, and I won’t have to kill you. She’s been through enough, Max. Make her happy.”
Max looked from Travis to Kade, suddenly realizing that all three siblings had been through hell. Maybe Mia would tell him more than the bare minimum about her life growing up if he gave her the chance. Her past had influenced her when she was younger, but it hadn’t broken her. Max gripped Travis’ hand and shook it. “Thanks for messing up my face.”
Travis smirked. “Likewise.”
At that moment, he and Travis had reached an understanding, a man-to-man agreement that neither one would ever break.
“I’ll change clothes in the car.” Max snatched his keys from his front pocket and raced toward the door. He needed to at least throw on a clean shirt. He’d showered, but he must have spilled some drops of whiskey on the front of the shirt he had on. He could still smell it.
“Need a clean shirt?” Kade asked cheerfully. “I have extras.”
Max rolled his eyes as he opened the door, looking at Kade’s blinding orange florescent shirt. He wasn’t quite sure what the blobs of gray and black were dotting the surface, but he thought they were fish…or sharks.
“Hell no. I do want her to actually come back to me,” he told his brother-in-law bluntly, closing the door behind him.
“Hey…Mia loves my shirts,” Max heard Kade yell through the door as he raced for his vehicle.
The smell of alcohol assailed him as he closed the door of his rented vehicle, and it wasn’t coming from just the garment he was wearing. Grabbing the bottle, he lowered the window and tossed it onto the dirt driveway. He’d throw it away when he got back. Mia was coming home with him, and she was intoxicating enough to keep him drunk on her forever. The liquor had been a poor substitute, and it had fogged part of his memory. From this day forward, he wanted to remember everything, experience every part of the woman he loved.
Starting the car, he jammed it roughly into gear and turned the small sports car around, heading down the driveway much faster than he should be going down a road full of potholes. But Max ignored them, his mind already focused on only one goal.
No more bullshit.
No more games.
Mia belonged to him, and it was beyond time he claimed her completely, knew her totally, loved her unconditionally. And once he found her, he was never letting go.
Chapter 10
Mia fastened her seatbelt woodenly, her entire body exhausted, her heart and soul empty. She might be here on this plane bound for Los Angeles, but she was only a shell, a body going to another place. Her heart had stayed with Max back at the ranch.
She stowed her purse and carry-on beneath the seat of the aircraft and leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes against the pain of knowing that she was leaving Max. Again. Maybe taking those few hours in the shelter of his arms had been a mistake, making it even more painful to be without him. Somehow, she needed to rebuild her life away from everyone she cared about. She was toxic to them, and if Danny did locate her, she didn’t want anyone she loved to be anywhere nearby.
“You have to the count of ten to get that beautiful ass up and out of this plane.”
Mia’s eyes popped open in shock, the sound of Max’s deep, masculine voice vibrating right next to her ear, so close she could feel his warm breath caress her temple.
“Max?” She stared right into his eyes, stormy, turbulent, and so close she had to tilt her head back to see them. “You have to get off this plane. We’re going to be taking off soon.”
“One.” Both his expression and voice were uncompromising.
“Max. Stop this. You need to go.” Mia was panicked. Max didn’t look like he was about to back down, and she couldn’t get off this plane. But she wanted to. God, how she wanted to leave right now, throw herself into Max’s safe embrace and let him take her wherever he wanted to go.
“Two.” He bent down and snagged her carry-on from under the seat and dropped her purse in her lap.
He brushed his upper body against her, and Mia tried not to inhale the masculine fragrance that assaulted her as he straightened.
Mentally slapping herself, she remembered that she couldn’t be weak. “I’m leaving you, Max. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I don’t love you.” Liar. She was such a liar. But she couldn’t think of any other way to make him back off. And she really, really needed him to go. She couldn’t look him in the eye and say that she didn’t love him, so she stared straight ahead, waiting for him to exit the plane.