Max's Faith & Fury [COMPLETE]

Chapter 28

Max opened her eyes to a calm, late morning. Lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, she replayed the memories of the night before. She tried not to focus on the cringe moments, or the second Asahel changed his demeanor after talking to Elliot. Last night was wonderful, and she had her car back. She had a lot to do that day and didn't expect anyone to stop and ask questions. Especially if she timed it right and left when no one was watching.

Someone's always watching. She thought, but then wondered if that was true. She felt like she could get a part of her life back and start living again. She rolled over to see the clock on the nightstand. It was almost nine in the morning. Not surprised at all about sleeping in after staying up so late. This made her mind wander to Asahel, and she wondered if he got any sleep. She almost felt bad for keeping him up so late.

Stop! She closed her eyes, reminding herself that he was the one who asked her out in the first place. Her first date, or was it? She opened her eyes and thought about any other possible dates she'd ever been on and started questioning what qualifies as a date. She came to one conclusion, and that was that both parties involved had to know and agree that their time together was indeed a date.

She couldn't help it, but she started to wonder how many dates Asahel had been on. She wasn't a fool. He was charming and handsome and could choose to be nice if he wanted. He was also twenty-nine, and single? Was he single? She wasn't sure why she was second guessing that. A lot of people had open relationships, flings on the side, and all kinds of nonsense that kept her wary of relationships. She didn't want her heart to get tangled up on Asahel if he was involved with someone else.

How could he not be involved with someone else? If he really was single, or didn't have a stack of girls waiting for him to call, then what was wrong with him? Was he a psychopath? She instantly thought of Rick and tried not to judge the man. He was to say the least, interesting. Very interesting. Maybe Asahel was afraid of commitment, or a violent drunk whenever he drank. She couldn't recall him ever drinking alcohol, but that didn't mean he didn't.

Why are you doing this? Her father's voice entered her mind and she quickly sat up to look around. She was alone. Her heart was a stammering mess now, as she caught her breath and looked down at the blankets. She did hear him, but he wasn't there.

Why was she trying to find faults and flaws in Asahel? That's what he was asking. Max smiled, thinking to herself that she didn't have to look very hard to find that man's flaws. Her smile fell as she thought of how wonderful last night was with him though. Everything was practically perfect.

She didn't expect him to end the night with a kiss, like so many of Gwen's dates did while they were in junior high and high school. When she started to wonder how many girls he's kissed, she decided it was time to get out of bed. She didn't want to get hurt by him, or herself, and right now her thoughts only made her heart twinge.

It was nice having her own clothes and things again. Max changed into joggers and a loose gray tank top over a black sports bra. Her hair was up in a bun, with strands framing her face. She pulled her wallet from one of her bags and made a mental list of stops she had to make. She needed to check on her life and see if everything fell to pieces without her. So, she decided her first stop would be the massage spa that she worked at.

Just as she'd hoped, no one was in the house, and if they were then they weren't around. She grabbed an apple from the kitchen and left the house quietly. She recognized the only car in the driveway as the parents' car. This made her sigh with relief before she climbed into her car. She double checked her wallet to make sure her ID was still inside. When everything seemed to be in order, she left.

***

Elliot was in the flow of traffic going back home when he saw Max through the windshield of a dark gray car at one of the lights. She was going east, and he was coming from the north. With the tinted windows, he wasn't sure if she'd seen him in traffic or not. He watched her go through the light when it turned green and wondered where she was going.