Beyond Eighteen (18 page)

“I think I’m gonna hang up,” I posited as
Max continued to work the knots out of my shoulders. I heard him
take a massive breath before the screeching violin music abruptly
stopped and the scuffle of the phone receiver being picked up took
over.

“Hello, Miss Mooney, so glad you decided to
call me back. Basically, the nuts and bolts of the situation—oh,
wait, let me back up. You’ve gotten my previous messages right?” he
huffed.

“Yeah, I did. I wasn’t able to call you back
right away,” I said as I swallowed hard. Guilt flooded my mind and
I felt like the biggest ass-hat for not calling him sooner.

“Well, when your grandfather expired over
six months ago, he was in the process of transferring all of his
possessions into your name. But because he failed to file a quick
claim or transfer of ownership on the house, it’s created a sticky
situation, to say the least. The good thing is, it’s not like we
are dealing with a multi-million dollar estate or anything; but
what we
are
facing are certain tax ramifications and a
threat of probate if we don’t get the proper papers signed and
recorded by December 31st, midnight…”

In a matter of a couple of words, I could
feel my head fill with pressure and I just wanted to crawl into a
hole. How dare he say my grandfather was expired! This guy was
talking about my grandpa like he was a gallon of milk or yogurt.
This is my gramps, for God’s sake! The man who stepped into being
my father when I didn’t have one. The man who did everything in his
power to give me everything he and my grandma couldn’t give
Candi.

Max pulled me back into his chest and
nestled his head next to my ear as he folded his arms across my
stomach. The lawyer never stopped talking, he just kept rambling
phrases that danced around my head with every couple of them making
sense to me. I couldn’t say a word. It was like my throat sealed
shut and my mind wasn’t going to allow any thought to escape.

“Miss Mooney, are you there?” Dax Fuller
asked, giving an ample pause for me to answer him.

“Yeah, I am,” I whispered.

“Good, now, I’ve made an appointment for you
at 2:30 on the 31st in my office. You
must
be there. I will
give you a chance to ask any questions you have and enough time for
you to sign the deed and get it recorded in your name. Make sure
you bring the original signed copy of the quick claim to the house,
and your photo ID.”

Again, silence became a force between us. I
just didn’t know what to say to him. He had no idea I wasn’t even
in California.

“Listen, Miss Mooney, I know this whole
process has been overwhelming to you; but you
must
be here
in my office on the 31st at 2:30 p.m. You don’t want the house to
go into probate. You’d lose everything your grandparents saved for
their whole lives,” Dax Fuller’s tone dripped with
condescension.

My stomach twisted with every word I wanted
to yell at him. My voice conveniently clung to the ledge in the
back of my throat, and my palms perspired so profusely that the
phone began to slip out of my hand.

“Tell him you’ll be there,” Max whispered
across my ear as he held his hand across the mouthpiece on the
phone.

“How?” I beseeched him.

“Don’t worry. Just tell him you’ll see him
Friday at 2:30,” he came back as he cleared my hair away from my
shoulders and began to press and knead his strong thumbs into the
muscles across my neck. His fingers found the knots of stress
wreaking havoc, and mercifully, I could feel the tension begin to
drain away.

I cleared my throat and told Mr. Fuller,
“I’ll be in your office Friday at 2:30.”

“Great, let’s take care of this once and for
all.” Dax Fuller’s voice was lighter now. “See you Friday.”

I didn’t bother saying good-bye. I was too
preoccupied with how we were going to get back to California
without it costing an arm and a leg.

“Damn, Wilson, you are so tense,” Max
mumbled as he continued to massage my shoulders. I lowered my head,
dropping my chin to my chest, and welcomed the lengthy pull down my
neck and into my spine.

“Max, I don’t even know what the deed looks
like. I don’t have any clue where it could even be.”

“Well, maybe it’s in your room, at Wesley.
In that folder you took from your grandparents’ house?”

“Besides, Max, it’s going to be too
expensive to change our tickets last minute.”

“Don’t worry about it, babe. I’ll make sure
we get to California tomorrow. That way we’ll have plenty of time
to look for the deed. If we don’t find in your room at school,
we’ll head up to your grandparents’ house and look there. We will
find the papers you need in time for the appointment on
Friday.”

“I just don’t think—”

“Wilson, I’ve got access to the company’s
jet. I’ll call GP and order a car for tomorrow morning and make
sure the plane is fueled and ready to go. That will save a bunch of
time.” Max pushed me off the bed and turned me around.

I slowly looked up at him. “You sure?”

“Please don’t worry. I will take care of
it,” he said as he kissed my forehead, then tip of my nose, and
finally my lips.
I love it when he does that.

“Maybe you should call Joanie and tell her
what we’re doing,” Max said as he drew his hands around my back and
pulled me closer.

“Yeah, I probably should,” I answered as I
dropped my head against his chest. “But for right now, I just want
one more minute in your arms,” I said.

Thoughts of our limo ride when we first
arrived in Aspen started flooding my mind—how sexy he made me feel
and how happy I was to be celebrating my birthday with him, how his
eyes traced every inch of my body while his hands followed suit. I
thought about the tug of my hair under my shoulders once he lowered
my body against the leather seat. How my hips swayed automatically
against his hot, wicked tongue as he tempted and tickled me into
euphoria.

Then, just as fast, like a switch had
suddenly been flipped in my head, the memory of Frank and Nancy
blasted across my thoughts. The moment Frank and Nancy talked to
Max about bringing me here in Ol’ Tweety. The enduring memory and
the looks on their faces were locked forever in my mind as
recollections were embroiled on my spirit. My heart thundered in my
chest as my stomach somersaulted a couple of times.

“Max, Wilson?” Camille whispered through the
door as she knocked. Suddenly we weren’t alone.

Max cleared his throat, “Yeah?”

“I just wanted to tell you that Gary just
called. He’s running a little behind and will be here in about
fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks, we’ll be right down,” Max answered
before he lowered his voice and whispered against the side of my
head, “I’m going to take a shower. Why don’t you try and get a hold
of Joanie?” He leaned down and kissed me before turning and
indulging me with the lovely view of him walking away.

Max got into the shower, and yeah, every
inch of me—from my body deep into my soul—craved the thought of
sneaking in there and being with him. But I had to call J and tell
her what the heck was going on.
God, it feels like I haven’t
talked to her in days, even though it was just yesterday. I wonder
what she’s been doing with Nick?
I felt a small pang of
jealousy vibrate through my chest.
Wait, what the hell is
this?

I flipped open the phone and pressed the
number one on my pre-dial. The phone rang three times before Joanie
answered it.

“Good Morning, Wilson,” Joanie sang. Her
tone was happy, almost electrifying. It caught me off guard, making
me lose my train of thought.

“Ahhh, goooood morning?” I dragged my words
out questioningly.

“Did you and Max get a chance to talk?”

“Yeah, but I called you yesterday…why didn’t
you call me back?” I snapped. I didn’t mean to sound pissed off,
even though it probably came off that way.

“I’m totally sorry I didn’t call you last
night. My phone…died, aaaannnd I didn’t really have my charger…with
me,” Joanie suddenly sounded cautious with her words as they came
out slow and spacey. “I would have called you sooner, but we didn’t
get back until late and I didn’t want to call and interrupt
anything…just in case.”

I immediately picked up on her words. “We.”
Where did she go? And was it with Nick?
My heart fell into
my stomach.

“Where did you go?” I tried to ask
casually.

“Well, I was at the hospital last
night—”

“What? Are you okay? What happened?” I
demanded without giving her a chance to answer.

“I’m fine. It wasn’t me; it was Nick. After
you and Max left yesterday I went back up to check on him. Cindy
was standing over him, screaming and yelling to call 911. She went
ballistic, hollering about calling the cops and pressing charges
against Max. She was totally out of control. Nick told her to shut
the fuck up and that it was his choice to press charges or
not.”

My heart pounded in my chest and beads of
sweat started to push from every pore of my skin.

“Are you serious? Oh my God, is…he—is
Nick—okay?” I asked, struggling to say his name out loud.

“He’s fine. And don’t worry, Nick isn’t
pressing charges against Max,” she sounded snappy as she continued.
“And Cindy. God, she was out of her mind. And, of course, she won’t
drive in the snow. No matter if her brother needs to go to the
hospital or not. And Nick was just as stubborn and wouldn’t let me
call an ambulance. Sooo, I drove him and Cindy to the
hospital.”

Holy crap, I can’t believe what Joanie is
telling me. I can’t imagine Max doing that to anyone. Max isn’t the
violent type. What the hell did he do to Nick?

“Of course, once Cindy knew he was okay, she
went back to being herself and called some friends to pick her up,”
Joanie continued as she took a deep breath.

“God, I am so sorry, J. I never meant for
anything like this to happen.”

“I know, honey, don’t blame yourself. As a
matter of fact, Nick feels terrible about this whole situation. He
wanted me to call you last night.”

“What? Why?” I asked.
What the hell would
he call me for? Really, after what happened…

“He wanted me to tell you how sorry he was
for keeping you away from Max. Wilson, he told me
everything
last night. He explained why he didn’t tell you about Max calling.”
Joanie’s voice lowered to a rumble.

“Well, maybe you can enlighten me, J.” The
words passed my lips without a moment’s thought. There was a
definite slice of time that grew larger with every breath I took
waiting for Joanie to tell me why Nick had been so devious.

“Wilson, you’ve never realized how alluring
you are. You’re so different than most girls Nick knows. Hell,
Wilson, you’re different than any girl. I’m not trying to make
excuses for him, but Nick’s been surrounded by self-centered, fake
people for so long. You were like a breath of fresh air to him. So
he got caught up in the idea that you’d want to be with him. He
really feels bad about everything he did, especially for hurting
you. He told me it was like something clicked inside him and he
just wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me…from what?” I blurted out as I
tried to process everything she was saying.

“From your broken heart. Honey, we
all
want to protect you, even Nick.”

I wanted to tell her I didn’t need
protecting, but that wasn’t true. If I didn’t need to be protected,
I wouldn’t have called Nick or her to come “save” me when my heart
was shattered.

“Nick told me that he really liked you from
the moment you introduced yourself to him,” Joanie said lightly.
The edge to her words gave me the notion that she was feeling
something for Nick.

“J, you don’t have to convince me that Nick
can be a nice guy…I know he is…was. I liked Nick…as a friend. I’m
hurt…that’s all…confused,” I choked, wanting to change the topic of
conversation from me to someone else. “When did you get back from
the hospital last night?” I asked quickly. Joanie took the hint and
moved on in our conversation.

“Around midnight. The doctors were concerned
with him having a concussion but Nick insisted that he was fine. He
kept telling them that he wanted to go home. The docs wouldn’t
release him if he was going home alone, so I told them that I’d
stay with him. I guess the fact that he needed to be woken up every
three hours was pretty important.”

I knew she wasn’t telling me all this to
make me feel bad or sorry for him. She was quite aware of the fact
that I am not one to hold grudges, so she knew all she had to do
was buy a little time and I’d forget the sting of betrayal soon
enough. When I didn’t respond, she just kept talking.

“Well, come to find out, I didn’t have to
worry about waking him up because he never went to sleep. We stayed
up most of the night, talking. We talked about his family and how
different he is from them. I told him about how I really don’t fit
in with my family much either. God, we pretty much talked about
everything,
” her voice softened and excitement bubbled in
her words. The type of excitement only a best friend would
recognize as something more than friendship.

Even though, in my heart, I knew Nick was a
good guy, I wanted to warn her about getting hurt. He’d been pretty
deceitful with me.

“J—” I started.

“And he told me about kissing you and how
Cindy found you guys,” she continued, not hearing me say her name.
“He knew he let down several people by his actions. He wasn’t there
for Cal…he kept you from being with Max…he realizes what he did was
totally fucked up. Wilson, he wants to apologize.”

“Well, it’s probably best if we wait on
that. I think I need a little time with that one.”

“You’re right, I totally understand. That’s
enough about Nick anyway. Tell me what’s going on with Max. Did you
guys get a chance to talk?” I could hear it in her voice. She had
fallen for him.
Damn it
.