Stand (Black Addiction Book 3) (3 page)

“Someone want to explain why Max Reynolds is at our front door?” Jules eyed us impatiently. “And why does it seem like you know each other already?”

“Because we dated. Extensively.” Max’s eyes stayed glued to mine despite it being Jules who was asking the question. “And I just moved in, figured I’d get to know my neighbors.”

“You live here?” My mouth shot out, drowning out Jules’. “You dated?”

“Yes.” He answered Jules before turning his attention to me. “The fiftieth floor. It has a nice view.”

I wasn’t sure what shocked me the most. The fact Max was here, standing in front of me in all his badass, sexy glory
or
that he apparently moved into my apartment building out of the millions—okay, possibly a slight exaggeration—of housing options in the city of New York.

“Soooooooo . . .” My brain fumbled with an appropriate response.

Yep, I’ve got nothing.

“Did you want to come in?” It was the best I could hope for given the circumstances. Considering we’d been lingering in the doorway, an invitation was way past due.

“I’d love to.” He had always had an uncanny ability to make innocent words sound so illicit. The ones he’d just spoken were no exception.

“Dated huh?” Jules elbowed me in the ribs as we both stepped aside so he could walk past. “We are having some serious words later,” she whispered as both of our eyes traveled the length of his back and settled on his very fine ass.

“Damn,” she cursed under her breath.

“Uh-huh,” I agreed. It had been awhile, but it was no less spectacular.

“So, this is where you ran off to?” Max turned around, either ignoring the fact we were ogling his ass or being too polite to mention it. “It’s a nice place.”

“I wasn’t running, just chose a different direction.” True it was a lifetime away from what he probably remembered, but I hadn’t run. And this was exactly where I needed to be even if I was miles away from home.

“Very different.” He moved closer and picked up a few strands of hair that fell against my shoulder. The black, short bob he remembered having been replaced by longer locks in my natural brunette color. “It looks good on you.”

“Thanks, it’s easier to maintain.”

Was I really having a conversation about my goddamn hair?

“Well, I guess I’ll make my own introductions, I’m Jules. You’ll have to forgive Beth, she had a rough night.” Jules held out her hand which Max returned with a shake. “Max.” His part of the introduction unnecessary, pretty sure everyone in the city knew
exactly
who he was.

I really needed to get my shit together. Other than inviting him in, I had no game plan nor did I have any idea of what I was actually doing.

“Are you hungry?”
Why the hell was I so nervous? “
Jules made waffles.”

“Starved.” A sexy grin pulled at his outer lips as he glanced down at my unicorn T-shirt—the grin getting a little wider.

Yeah, that wasn’t sexy at all.

“Greaaaat,” I said with equal parts enthusiasm and hesitation. “The kitchen is this way.”

This was not how I imagined my Saturday morning was going to end up. If I wasn’t before, I was well and truly sober now. And I was seriously regretting my wardrobe choices this morning. Oh, and I was probably—it was too soon to tell definitively—never drinking again.

Ivy Shaw had a
lot to answer for.

Best apartment in her portfolio,
my ass. And her
friend
was not the fucking douchebag she’d been dating; he probably hadn’t set foot inside this building. Which is exactly why she made me promise not to fly off the handle three weeks ago when we’d signed the contract. It wasn’t the occupants of apartment
twenty six sixteen
that she was worried about, it was her own ass.

It took me three seconds after the door opened to realize I’d been set up. Not that I fucking cared. Being pissed at Ivy took up mental space I no longer had available, all of it occupied by the woman I could barely take my eyes off—Beth.

She looked different from the last time I’d seen her, and it wasn’t just her hair. The tight pink T-shirt gave me a sample of the kind of body she was rocking underneath and I very much liked what I saw.

Beth had always been beautiful, and able to get me from zero to a hundred with little more than a look. Curves in all the right places and she’d known what to do with them, but this incarnation was so much more. She was more toned than I remembered, her body tighter and more conditioned. You could tell she’d spent some quality time inside a gym, not that I gave a fuck how much she could bench press. Nope, my interest was a lot less virtuous than that.

As for her hands on me, well that was something she would never have to be sorry about. My dick was already jealous it hadn’t been him.

Should I have done the hello-nice-to-see-you-again and left? Probably—the reunion obviously just as unexpected for her—but there wasn’t a chance I was leaving and it had nothing to do with breakfast.

“So when did you move to Manhattan?” Beth placed a plate piled with waffles down in front of me as she took her seat at the table. If my reappearance had fazed her, she’d gotten her composure back real quick.

“Yesterday, it’s still getting furnished.” And not a moment too soon it seemed, my weekend getting exponentially better.

“Well if you need anything until you get all your stuff, let us know.” She offered, her beautiful smile hitting me like a kick in the balls.

“Yeah, anything you need.” Her friend poured me a glass of juice. “Cup of sugar, fresh towels, a bed . . . ouch! Don’t kick me.” She hid her smirk behind a coffee cup while she rubbed her shin with the other hand.

“My foot slipped.” Beth shrugged, biting her lip.

“Sure it did.” Jules glared, her face even less convinced than her tone. “I’ll just go and enjoy my breakfast on the balcony. Less chance of bruising.”

We watched as she grabbed her plate and moved away from the table, a wordless exchange passing between her and Beth before she left the room.

“So, yeah . . . whatever you need.” Beth settled into her seat.

“Thanks for the offer, might take you up on that.” And I wasn’t talking about a cup of sugar. I was more than just a little bit pleased that now I had her all to myself.

Of course I had no idea what exactly was on offer, but I was more than just a little curious to find out. The idea of getting reacquainted sent a shiver right down to my balls.

Beth had been more than just an ex-girlfriend; she’d been part of my world for so long I’d just assumed she’d always be there. Deep down I knew she was saying goodbye when she left the last time, but part of me assumed we’d stay friends.

There had been no bad break-up, no hurt feelings—there never was with us—and even when we hadn’t been a couple, she’d always been cool to hang out with. So I had been surprised to hear she’d packed up and moved out of town without telling me. She didn’t call and I was too caught up in what I was doing to call her. Not even sure why I didn’t to be honest, but before you knew it, the months stretched into a year. Then a couple more, and in time she just became a part of history. A really awesome part of my history.

Unfortunately it wasn’t her virtues as my
friend
that had me currently juiced up and I had to remind myself that there was a lot of water under the bridge. And not only had it been years since I’d slept with her, the lack of conversation between us had been just as long. Oh, and I had no idea who or what was in her life right now. Getting up to speed on the particulars was suddenly a more pressing issue than unpacking boxes.

“I have to say . . .” Beth’s eyes dipped down to her plate before coming back to where I wanted them. On me. “It’s a strange coincidence that you moved into my building. I mean, what were the chances?”

She’d always been bright, and that million-to-one possibility was just a little too convenient. Of course, probabilities had a big helping hand.

“I’d say better than average when Ivy Shaw is involved.”

The more I thought about it the more fucking obvious it had been. Ivy hadn’t been that slick, I’d just been too freaking distracted to take notice. I should have known and yet there we were . . . surprise, eating breakfast with the girl who’d probably meant more to me than any girl ever. Oh and my it’s-all-in-the-past bullshit that I’d convinced myself of was no longer valid. I was not about to go quietly into the night after our little reunion that much was for damn sure.

“You know, I always assumed she would have told you.” Beth pushed her hair out of her eyes and gave me her full attention. “She’s still one of my closest friends, and she was the one who helped me find this place . . .” She left her sentence trailing.

“Yeah, well I know now.” And wasn’t that the truth.

Beth Hart was not the kind of girl you could meet and go on with your life like she didn’t exist. Lord knows I’d fucking tried. It wasn’t just her looks—even though we’d established she was a knockout—there was something more. Something inherently good that I’d always found hard to walk away from. And seeing her now reminded me exactly what had attracted me to her in the beginning. And while I assumed our relationship had run its natural course—not pushing the issue—I wasn’t so sure I’d made the right decision way back when. Amazing how quickly I could do a one-eighty, being indifferent to our initial separation and now knowing one way or another I was having her in my life.

I couldn’t peel my eyes away from her, ignoring the uncomfortable silence between us.

“You’ve done really well for yourself.” She was the first one to break the staring match we had going on. “The band has done great, and you look . . . good. I’m so happy for you.”

“Come on, Beth. It’s been over four years.” My fingers reached out and brushed over her knuckles. If she didn’t want me to touch her, she was going to have to say so. “I don’t want to talk about the band or how I look. Why did you leave?”

“I didn’t leave; I’ve been in New York the whole time.” She shrugged but didn’t pull her hand away. “I just needed more, Max, for both of us. It was just the wrong time and we needed to move in different directions. You had the world at your feet, and I didn’t want to be left wondering what if.”

There was no regret in her voice or her eyes. No hesitation. Just crystal fucking clear clarity that I wasn’t sure I’d ever possess.

“I’m a teacher, Max.” She kept talking, my mouth not opening despite the million thoughts churning through my head. “I have a wonderful group of kids and I love what I do. I love Manhattan and I love where I’ve ended up. Being with you was amazing, some of the best years of my life, but we weren’t ready to settle.
I
wasn’t ready to settle.”

Had she always been this fucking smart? Obviously she’d been way beyond my league; my head had just been too far up my ass to notice.

“I’m glad you didn’t settle.” I pushed my plate away, no longer interested in anything that was on it. “And I’m glad you are teaching. It’s what you always wanted to do.”

“Seeing you follow your dreams, kind of gave me a nudge in the right direction.” She moved her hand to cover mine. “We were good together, but we were also really good apart.”

“This is so fucking weird.” I couldn’t help but laugh. I mean seriously, the whole situation was a fuck load of absurdity. Freaking sliding doors and near misses—the exact bullshit I would have expected from some asshole in a turban at a county fair.
Step right up folks, I’ll read your palm for a twenty.

“You think this is weird?” She screwed up her face in mock horror. “I’m the one sitting here in no bra or shoes and a blood alcohol level that is probably still questionable. Trust me, if anyone could have used the tip off it would have been me.”

I tried to stifle my grin, but it didn’t stand a chance. “Just so you know, the no bra thing isn’t a problem.” And not something I hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah, yeah. Nothing you haven’t seen already.” She shook her head as a smile twitched at the edges of her lips. “I’m still going to kill Ivy.”

FYI, I didn’t care how many times I’d already seen her tits, it would never get old. My dick thickened just at the mention. So her thinking that because I’d already been
there
, I had no interest in being there again was crazy talk. Not that I was going to bring it up, we’d already superseded the level of awkward for one day.

Instead I turned my attention to the second part of Beth’s statement and the pint-size brunette who sadly had a price on her head. I hope that stockbroker boyfriend hadn’t gotten too attached. “I think it should be a team effort, I have a score of my own to settle.”

“Agreed.”

***

There weren’t a lot of reasons for me to stay in Beth’s apartment. As it was, sitting down and eating breakfast had been a stretch. Sticking around playing catch up—I was almost positive I was outstaying my welcome.

Her friend came back, her time on the balcony exhausted, as I thanked them for the breakfast I didn’t eat and made for the door. My head threatened to explode with the new development, the holy-shit-blast-from-the-past not what I had been expecting this early in the morning.

Fortunately for me I was almost positive that my best friend—and drummer extraordinaire from Black Addiction—Joey, would also be awake. A newborn daughter will do that to a guy, and Uncle Max had never been more pleased that Layla was an early riser. The call for him to meet me at my new pad happened before I’d even made it back to my front door.

“Nice place,” Joey strode in, the tray of extra-large coffees balancing in one hand. “Ivy really is a genius when it comes to property, right?” His feet continued moving from my entranceway into my living room, not needing an invitation.

“Yeah, it’s not her
good eye
that I want to discuss.” My head tilted toward the two armchairs that were seriously overwhelmed by the new space. Decorating was no longer a priority.

“Is this going to be a serious conversation?” Joey settled into one of the armchairs, grabbing a cup and handing the other to me. “It’s okay if it is but I’m going to need to have coffee first.” I grabbed the cup and took my seat as he continued. “I love my kid, but last night was brutal. Kenzie walked into the bedroom naked and it took me four minutes to notice there were tits on display. Now that’s some industrial-strength fatigue, my friend. I didn’t notice
tits
.”

It seemed we both had wandered into the twilight zone in the last twenty-four hours, for different reasons obviously.

“Well, drink up then because you’ll never guess who’s kicking it a few levels down. And when I say, you’ll never guess, I mean what-the-hell-are-the-chances kind of odds.”

“Dude, please don’t make me guess. If I was too tired for tits, I sure as shit ain’t up for a game of charades.”

Yeah, I wasn’t up for the game either.

“Beth.”

“
Beth
, Beth?”

“The very same.”

It’s funny how no further clarification was needed, the one word enough.

“Are you shitting me?” He waited for the obligatory
nope
to come from my mouth before continuing. “Wow, I’m not even going to wrap my head around the one-in-a-million coincidence.”

The one in a million would probably have been generous, except those odds had been stacked more than a little.

“It wasn’t fate, unless fate stands about five three and shares your last name.” There was no need to point out the obvious, we both knew who had been orchestrating the show.

“Wow, so you got the apartment
and
a side order of girl-you-used-to-date. I should have brought vodka; the coffee isn’t going to cut it. How did it go?”