Max grabbed them even as she shouldered past her and a second later was slamming her own motel room door so hard the gla.s.s in the window rattled.
"Ho-ly s.h.i.t, " Stormy said. She looked at Lou, who stood there as if he were suffering from battle fatigue. "She was expecting you to tell her it would never happen again, Lou, so I can"t imagine why she reacted that strongly."
He swallowed. "I didn"t tell her it would never happen again. I asked her to marry me."
Stormy frowned. "No way did that reaction come from a woman who finally won the heart of the man she"s been nuts about since the tender age of seventeen. How, exactly, did you...uh...pop the question?"
He frowned at her. "I just said it seemed like the logical thing to do, that"s all."
"Logical? Logic isn"t a real key selling point where matters of the heart are concerned, Lou. Did you tell her you loved her? Couldn"t live without her? That you"d been wrong to fight it so hard for so long?"
He was looking at her as if she were speaking Swahili.
"None of the above, huh? So I take it you based your entire proposal on the fact that you"d finally had s.e.x?"
His eyes widened. Clearly it was finally sinking in that Max had told her what had happened between them last night.
"Kind of like a grudging surrender now that the enemy has taken your stronghold?" Stormy asked.
"Jesus, Storm. You know this is private stuff."
She shrugged. "Hey, if you don"t want my opinion-"
"I don"t."
She sighed, leaning back in her chair, not the least bit inclined to leave now that the conversation was getting interesting. Besides, she had information she needed to wheedle out of Lou, and she thought he was just shaken enough to let a few things slip.
"I hope that doesn"t hurt your feelings, " he said, after a moment of what looked like reflection. "I mean, Ilove you like a kid sister, Storm, but this is personal."
"I totally understand."
He nodded.
"But I"d be derelict in my duty as your friend-and Maxie"s-if I didn"t tell you, Lou, you probably hurt her pretty bad just now."
"I realize that."
"She"s reading it just like I did. You felt she"d defeated you, so you might as well stop fighting."
He lifted his eyebrows, as if maybe he was interested in what she had to say now that she was saying something he didn"t know. "You think I wounded her pride?"
She nodded. "You annihilated it. But that"s the least of it. You probably also broke her heart"
"h.e.l.l"
"If I know Max-and I do, you know-she won"t touch you again with a ten-foot pole. Not after this."
He drew a breath, opened his mouth.
"Don"t even bother telling me maybe that"s for the best. Jesus, Lou, are you really this dense or just clinging to the act out of habit?"
"What?"
She closed her eyes. "When you finally figure out what you want, you"re going to have to be the one to go get it. You"ll have to go to her-on your knees, I imagine. Possibly with a burnt offering."
He was back to looking confused again.
She rolled her eyes. "Poor Max, after what happened last night, out on the beach-and then this. She must be a basket case."
He frowned at her. "I hadn"t even thought of that. It was a rough night.
"She"s bruised to h.e.l.l and gone." She lowered her eyes, pressed a hand to her forehead. "G.o.d, when I saw her this morning, I couldn"t believe..."
"You can"t go blaming yourself for that, Storm."
"Of course I can. I"m the one who led her out there."
"But you"re not responsible for what you do when you-you know-lose it."
She lifted her head, met his eyes. "If not me, then who?"
He shrugged, "Maybe no one." Stormy got out of her chair and paced away from him, to keep her face hidden so she wouldn"t reveal anything. "Bad enough I led her out there, " she said. "I might be able to forgive myself for that. But the rest..."
"Come on, Storm. Max is tough. If you"d been anywhere close to really doing her harm, she"d have fought back."
Oh, G.o.d, it was true. Max had lied-she"d thought as much. Read it in her eyes, plain as day. She just hadn"t wanted to believe. "She wouldn"t fight back-not against me, Lou. She treats me as if I"m made of bone china. She probably just lay there and let me pound her."
"She"s fine, Storm. It looks worse than it is."
"That"s what she said" She pursed her lips. "Only she said she got that way from a fall. I figured it was me. I just had to know for sure."
Lou swore under his breath.
"Sorry, Lou. I wasn"t trying to trick you but...you understand, don"t you?"
He sighed, then stomped around for a minute. Finally he found his rapidly cooling coffee. "I guess so, "
he said at last.
"We have to do something about this. Take some kind of precautions to make sure I can"t hurt her again.
G.o.d, if I did any real damage, I"d never be able to forgive myself."
He nodded. "I"ll just have to keep her with me. Make sure she"s not out of my sight again."
"Oh, yeah, and you"ve made that a real possibility." He shot her a look.
"Come on, Lou, you gotta admit, you f.u.c.ked up. At least when I tear into her I"m out of my mind. You manage to do it in your normal waking state."
"I didn"t tear into her."
"You cut her heart right out of her chest. Don"t even pretend you don"t realize that at this point."
He closed his eyes, and she saw real pain in his face. "I"ll fix it."
"You"d better."
Chapter 18.
The knock on her door came as Max was tossing her stuff into a suitcase. She never broke her pace, just called, "Go away."
"Max, it"s me, " Stormy said. "I"m alone. Let me in."
She stopped packing long enough to turn to the mirror, knuckle her eyes dry. Then she went to the door and checked through the peephole. Not that she thought Stormy would try to trick her, but it didn"t hurt to make sure. Then she flipped the lock and unfastened the chain.
Stormy came inside, met her eyes, then hugged her hard. "I"m sorry, honey."
"h.e.l.l, don"t be. This has been a long time coming."
"I wasn"t talking about you and Lou. That game is far from over, anyway." She nodded at the suitcase on the bed. "What are you, forfeiting and going home?"
Max rolled her eyes and sat on the bed. "If you weren"t talking about me and Lou, then what are you apologizing for?"
"For beating the h.e.l.l out of you last night:" "You didn"t-"
"Don"t bother denying it, Max. I figured out what had happened all by myself, then tricked Lou into confirming it for me. And don"t blame him for that. You"ve got his head spinning so bad he doesn"t know which way is up."
Max sighed, hardly knowing which part of that little speech to address first.
"I"m really sorry I hurt you, Max, " Stormy said, choosing for her.
"You didn"t hurt me. That wasn"t you last night. It was someone else."
"Or something else." She shrugged. "Either way-" "Don"t torture yourself over this, Stormy. It wasn"t you. We both know it."
Stormy closed her eyes, lowered her head. When she brought it up again and looked at Max, she said, "So you"re leaving?"
Max looked at her suitcase. "I don"t know what the h.e.l.l I"m doing."
"It"s not like you to give up. I thought "never surrender" was your second-most ironclad motto, right after "trust no one.
"Used to be. h.e.l.l, Storm, I think I"ve been deluding myself all this time. Had myself convinced he really loved me, deep down."
"And now you think you were wrong?" "Now I know I was wrong."
"Because he made love to you, and it was awful?" Max swung her eyes to Stormy"s. "It was wonderful. I told you that." "Right. Then it"s because he asked you to marry him?"
"h.e.l.l, he didn"t ask. He just threw it out there, said it was the reasonable thing to do. Acted as if he"d been backed into a corner by a tiger and it was the only escape route."
"And you think he really feels that way?"
"Yeah. I do."
"I disagree. But all that is beside the point, anyway. You can"t just leave, not with Delia and Janie still missing. Jason"s counting on you."
She lowered her head. "I know that. And you are, too."
"Don"t stay on my account. h.e.l.l, getting away from me might be the best move you could make about now."
Maxine frowned. "What are you talking about? h.e.l.l, Storm, I a.s.sumed if I packed my s.h.i.t and stomped home, you"d stomp home right beside me. You telling me I"m wrong about that?"
Stormy looked up at the ceiling. "I have to stay here."
"For the girls?"
She brought her gaze level with Max"s again, and her eyes were dead serious. "No. I think whatever"s wrong with me is somehow linked to this place." She made a face. "Sounds so freakin" stupid, doesn"t it?
I"ve never been here before in my life, I don"t know anyone here, and yet-"
"No, it doesn"t sound stupid. It makes some kind of sense, " Max said. "It"s worse near the sh.o.r.e, near the ocean. But only here, not so much back in Easton ."
Stormy nodded.
"Don"t let this freak you, hon, but... that vampire put in an appearance last night. When you first lost it, it almost seemed like you were...trying to protect him."
"Protect him from what?"
"From me."
Stormy frowned hard. "There"s no way I could be linked to a vamp. I"m mortal. One hundred percent mortal. I don"t even have that Belladonna Antigen in my blood-you said only people with that could become vamps, right?"
"Right. The vamps call them "The Chosen." They watch over them, bond with them, though they rarely make contact until and unless they decide to...change them."
"So there"s no reason-no possible way there could be any...any bond between me and this crazyvampire. h.e.l.l, none of this makes sense." She bit her lip.
"But?"
Stormy looked up.
"I sense a "but" there. Come on, Storm. Talk to me. What else don"t I know?"