Chapter: 124 Used

Chapter: 124 Used
Valerie pushed her dinner plate away. She’d barely eaten. Max hadn’t shown up at all that day, and she had eaten her dinner alone.
Lydia had told her that morning that Max had left the property. No details, no timeline, just that he was out and she should let Lydia know if she needed anything.
She didn't need anything. She needed to leave.
After dinner, she tried the television she found in one of the other rooms that wasn’t forbidden for her. After twenty minutes, she went back to her room and walked the length of the room four times.
Then she stood at the window and looked at the compound lights and the guards she could see and counted the seconds between their passes across the lit section of the grounds, and then she stopped because counting guard rotations was making her feel like a prisoner, and she was not going to spend her evening feeling like a prisoner even though that was, technically, what she was.
Now it was late, the room was quiet, and she was starting to lose her mind.
She paced the length of the room again. She was bored, frustrated, and really angry.
When the door finally opened, and Max walked in, she didn’t even give him a chance to speak.
"Where were you?" she said.
"Out," he said. He closed the door behind him. He still had his jacket on, which meant he'd come straight here.
"I know you were out. Lydia told me you were out. Out where?"
"Handling something."
"Handling something," she repeated. “Right. You lock me in this damn room like I’m your prisoner and then just disappear all day?”
Max closed the door behind him. “You’re not locked in. You can leave the room anytime you want. You can go anywhere in the house.”
"I'm locked in this house, Max. I'm locked in this property. I can walk around your living room and look at your walls, but I can't go anywhere. I can't call anyone. I can't—" She stopped and pressed her hand flat against her stomach like she was holding something in. "Do you understand what that feels like? To just sit here all day with nowhere to go and nothing to do and no idea what's happening?"
"I understand it's not easy," he said.
"It's not easy," she said. "That's what you've got."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to tell me how long." She looked straight at him. "How long are you planning to keep me here? Give me a number. Give me something."
“As long as I need to keep you safe.”
“Safe,” she repeated, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “That’s such bullshit.”
She took a step toward him, anger boiling over. “You used me to ruin Damon, and now you’re doing this to me.”
Max looked at her for a second, then nodded.
“Yeah, I used you…” He said plainly. “Get close to you to get access to Damon’s life.”
"And now," she said. "Right now, I'm still being used. I'm here because I'm useful. I'm leveraging."
Valerie’s chest tightened.
"You were supposed to be a means to an end. That's all," Max continued. “What I didn’t plan for was everything else. I fought it for a long time, Val. You were supposed to be a means to an end. You made that really fucking difficult.”
She stared at him, breathing hard. Part of her wanted to believe him, but the anger was louder.
“So what about now?” she demanded. “Are you still using me? Keeping me here as a bargaining chip against Damon? Answer me, damn it.”
Max didn’t look away, but he stayed silent.
That silence pushed her over the edge. “You bastard,” she hissed.
She crossed the room in three angry steps and slapped him hard across the face. Max’s head turned with the force of it, but he slowly turned back to face her, completely calm.
Valerie slapped him again.
He took that one too without flinching. The fact that he just stood there and took it made her even angrier.
“Fuck you,” she growled.
She grabbed the front of his jacket with both fists, yanked him down, and kissed him hard. It was rough and furious. Max didn’t kiss her back. He stayed still, letting her attack his mouth with all her rage.
That only pissed her off more.
She pulled back and slapped him a third time, breathing hard.
The second she did it, she grabbed him again and kissed him even harder. This time, Max kissed her back. His mouth moved against hers, matching her anger with heat. The kiss turned messy and aggressive, tongues clashing as they practically fought each other through it.
Valerie broke the kiss, gasping. “I hate what you do to me.”
Before she could think, she kissed him again. This time, Max was ready. His hands came up immediately—one sliding to the back of her neck, gripping her possessively, the other gripping her waist and pulling her body tight against his.
The kiss grew hotter. Max sucked on her lower lip, pulling it into his mouth and biting down gently before soothing it with his tongue. Valerie moaned against him, and he took the opportunity to slide his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss.
He reached down, grabbed her hand, and guided it firmly between them until her palm pressed against the front of his pants. He was already getting hard.
“Feel that, Val?” he whispered roughly against her lips. “I want you to feel what you do to me. Feel how hard I’m getting for you.”
Valerie’s breath hitched as she felt him thicken and swell under her hand. Max groaned softly and rocked his hips forward, pressing his now fully hard erection into her hand. The thick length of him rubbed against her through his pants.
“Your anger turns me on like crazy,” he murmured, his voice low and gravelly. “The madder you get, the harder I get. Fuck, Val…”
He kissed her again, sucking harder on her lower lip before claiming her tongue, stroking it with his own in slow strokes. The kiss turned aggressive and hungry, both of them breathing heavily through it.
Then Valerie pulled back just enough to speak against his lips. “You’re still using me… and I still want you. I fucking hate it.”
Max’s grip on her neck tightened. “Then stop fighting it.”
“Make me,” she snapped.
Max grabbed her waist with both hands, spun her around, and threw her onto the bed. Valerie landed on her back with a bounce, chest heaving, staring up at him.