“Where?” Max’s brow furrowed. Was it out in public somewhere?
“Um, I think it’s in an art sculpture a friend of mine has made. She’s having a show. I believe it’s next week, but I’m not sure. It’s down at the Fine Art Center.” Catherine nibbled on a nail as she thought. “I’ll call her and make sure you’re on the guest list. Just give me a few hours.”
“Call me and let me know when you have everything done.” Max headed to the den where he found Alicia curled up by the fire. “Comfortable?”
“Very.” She burrowed deeper into the large throw she had wrapped around herself earlier. “Got to get me one of these.”
“It’s one of the items Patrick’s company makes.” He liked the way she snuggled against the couch. “Do you have a particular color you’d like?”
“I’ll buy one. Thank you.” She dropped the blanket on the couch and stood. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Yep. Need a ride?”
“Please. Catherine wanted to talk, but I need to get into my regular clothes.” Alicia touched the dress. “Do you think she’ll mind?”
“Don’t worry about it. If you want I’ll give your phone number to her so she can catch up with you later.”
“That would be great.” She looked around. “Guess we should go up and get our clothes from last night.”
“I can pick them up when I drop off the clothes we’ve borrowed. You don’t need the gown or shoes right away, do you?”
“Not really.”
“This way then.” Max slipped an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the main doors. His truck sat at the bottom of the stairs. He helped her in, closed the door and walked to his side. After climbing in, he started the truck and pulled out of the driveway. Once they were on the main road to the city he looked at her for a moment. “I’m glad you decided to ride with me.”
“About that.” Alicia looked out the passenger window. “I don’t know why I was so antagonizing.”
“It’s okay. Catherine seems to bring it out in people.” He signaled and took a right. “So don’t worry about it. I did find out something interesting from her though.”
Alicia turned to look at him with big eyes. Fear made them overly bright. What had Alicia told her that she didn’t want him to know? “Really?”
“She knows where another Tear is.” He could feel her relief before shock took over. Her reaction to his words made him want to laugh. If Alicia had been driving she would have been in the middle of an accident. She jerked around so fast he thought she had given herself whiplash.
“Get out!”
“I’m not kidding. She’ll have all the information, including invitations for us, to me by the time we get home.”
“Are you sure it’s a Tear?” Alicia grabbed a small black bag at her feet and pulled it into her lap. In seconds, she had her laptop open and booting up.
“No. Catherine noticed the one from the chandelier and believes a friend has put one similar in an art sculpture. Our job is to see if it is a Tear.”
“What can you tell me then?” She waved her hand at the screen, trying to hurry it up.
“That is the laptop I gave you?”
“Of course. I know how you feel about unsecured computers.” She used the mouse and opened the file she needed. “So where did she say the Tear was?”
Max switched lanes to put him in the right lane. “At the Fine Arts Center. Someone she knows is having an art show and the Tear is in a sculpture.”
“Really? Why didn’t the search I set catch that?”
“Not sure. Maybe she hasn’t listed it in the sale.”
Alicia opened a web page, but had trouble picking up the internet. “Can you pull over? I only need a few moments to get the information on the show.”
“You can do that when we get back to my house.”
“Or you could pull over right now.” She looked over at him and pulled some stray hair out her face. “Besides I hadn’t planned on going back to your house. I have a lot to do.”
“So much you can’t come back to my place for a little while?” He kept to the right side of the road, but didn’t stop the car. “What are you afraid of?”
She didn’t answer him. Instead she tapped a few more keys on the keyboard. With a sigh she closed the computer.
“Alicia, sooner or later you’re going to have to start trusting me. Especially after last night.” He checked his mirrors and pulled around a slower car. “I would die before any harm came to you. You mean too much to me. Remember that. I always have your best interest at heart.”
“Max, I know that.” She turned to face him. “But I have a comfort zone that you totally ignore. You walk all over my desires, wants and needs. I feel like I don’t exist and when I stand up for myself you find a way to get the upper hand anyway. It’s just not fair.”
“You’re right.” The winding road took them through a small town. “I don’t mean to do that. It’s my nature. You need to understand that I’m used to being in control. People expect it from me. When I show weakness I lose face, even in the simple things.”
“What is with you guys? Is everyone a chauvinist?” She crossed her arms across her chest in frustration. “Catherine doesn’t strike me as a woman who puts up with anyone telling her what to do.”
“And it gets her into trouble from time to time.”
“And what do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. It’s just she has a tendency to put her foot in her mouth. Same way I do from time to time.”
She tried to hide the grin.
“I know how I get.” He took the turn onto the main highway to Charlotte.
“Max, no one tells me what to do. I’ve lived that way before and refuse to go back there. Why do you think I take taekwondo?” She stopped speaking.
He nodded.
Her widening eyes told him she said more to him in those few words than she had to anyone else ever.
“I think that’s why Catherine likes you so much too. You’re a kindred spirit to her. She’s always surrounded by a bunch of Neanderthals as you like to call us.” He smiled at the thought. “We don’t mean to be that way. It’s just part of our nature. Catherine understands that. She doesn’t always like it, but she knows we mean no harm.”
“I meant to ask you this earlier. Did I say something wrong this morning? She was so nice, but something triggered her anger while we were outside. I hope I didn’t put my foot in my mouth.”
“Yeah, about that.” How the heck was he going to answer this one? He hesitated while he tried to find just the right words. “You’re the first person I’ve brought to a function like this.”
“You’ve always been photographed with a woman on your arm.”
“A toy here and there. But I never brought anyone they thought would last more than that function.”
Alicia was quiet. She didn’t seem to be happy with the way the conversation was going.
“She read me the riot act when she figured out you and I had shared a room.”
“You promised not to say anything to anyone.” She turned to look at him, frustration etched across her face.
“I know, but I had to tell her something.”
“Max, what happened to this just being between the two of us?”
“She had your best interest at heart. I explained we wanted it to be kept quiet, but I’ve known her all my life. She knows when I’m keeping something from her.”
“And, of course, you also told Patrick.”
He nodded again. “They’ll respect our wishes.”
“You can be so obnoxious sometimes.”
“I know and I might not show it, but I want you to know I’ll always respect you as a person.” He watched her as he spoke. “And I’ll never treat you like a second-class citizen either. I promise.”
She digested his words for a moment. “Then understand I’ll fight against your obnoxiousness. It’s something I won’t tolerate and I must show you just how badly you’re behaving.”
“So, basically, when I get stupid you will too.”
Alicia laughed. “Exactly.”
***
Once again, Max was able to talk her into stopping by his house. She made him promise to take her back to her apartment, but at least he got his way for a little while. His smile should be outlawed.
Jacob opened the door as they reached it. “Good morning, sir. Hope the party was enjoyable.”
“Yes, Jacob, it was.” He waited for Alicia to walk by him. “Miss Braswell will be staying for a while.”
“I’ll ready a room, sir.”
“Um, I’m not staying that long, Jacob. Just using the computer for a few hours.” She looked out the glass door. A sigh of relief escaped her. The angle of the sun let her know it was still late morning. There was no way Max would trick her into staying the night again.
“Of course, ma’am.”
Alicia could hear the unspoken words ‘but I’ll ready a room just in case’. She wanted to shoot both of them. Instead she shot Max an evil look.
Max held his hands up in supplication, yet he didn’t stop Jacob.
With a soft growl she followed him down to the vault where he kept his computer. She didn’t speak to him, just parked herself in the chair and started to type. She brought up the art center web page, then the calendar. The show was slotted for two days from now.
“No images?” she questioned. The article spoke of the artist and her work, but she didn’t see any pictures of the work to be sold. She did a search to see what she could find. Nothing had the sculpture Catherine described. “Guess we’ll have to wait until the show before we can see it.”
“We don’t have to wait that long.”
“Max, don’t pull your normal I’ll just buy it and figure it out later deal. The last time you did that the item was stolen. If it hadn’t been for Patrick’s family wanting to show off the Tear we never would have found it.”
He sat on the edge of his desk. “But it’s what I do.”
“I know.” She placed a hand on his knee. “But what if it’s not a Tear? Then you’ve alerted your competition for nothing because you flashed the cash. Play it my way. If I’m wrong and Sonora tries to beat you to it I’ll never interfere with the way you want to do things again.”
Max smiled. “Okay.”
“Good.” Alicia stood. If she left right now she could spend several hours at the dojang.
“You ready to go already?” He stood with her. “I thought, since it was Saturday, we could, you know, hang out together.”
“I was going to do the typical Saturday thing. Clean my house, get some exercise.” She grabbed a handful of the borrowed clothing. “But I do need to change. I’m not that comfortable in someone else’s clothing.”
“I’ll drive you.”
***
Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Alicia checked herself in her bedroom mirror one more time. Max sat out in his Hummer, patiently waiting for her. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed her answering machine blinked. Who would call her at home?
Pressing the button she half listened as her dry cleaner let her know her clothes were ready for pick up. There were a couple of beeps. Probably solicitors. The last message caught her attention. Miss Braswell, this is Sonora Wolf from Wolf Industries. We met earlier in the week? You come highly recommended by Maximilian Santos. I have a family gem I need appraised. Please call me at your earliest convenience.
Alicia responded out loud to the message, “Right. Where did you get my number from, lady? I know Max didn’t give it to you. He doesn’t share. Stacey would never give it out. She knows what I’d do to her if she did.” Monday she’d have someone check into it. She made a quick call to her psychiatrist to let her know she couldn’t make her appointment on Monday and stared out the window at Max sitting in the Hummer. He sat at the curb all crouched down so he could stare up at her window. Alicia grabbed her keys and headed out the door.
“You’re going to get a neck ache doing that.” She leaned against the door. “I realize you’re not going away so you might as well come up.”
He followed her up the stairs and through the door of her apartment. It was small but hers. Something she couldn’t help but be proud of.
“Nice place.”
“Compared to yours? It’s a postage stamp. But I’m comfortable here.” She popped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “I don’t have much, but I can offer soda, beer, some fresh fruit and two day old pizza.”
“Why don’t we order out? My treat.”
“It’s my place.” She leaned against the doorjamb and looked at him.
“I know, but I’ve barged in on you and you weren’t prepared. Please?”
He knew all the right words to say to her. “Okay.”
A few hours later they sat on the floor with a bunch of empty Chinese containers littering the area.
Alicia rubbed her stomach and groaned. “I ate too much.”
“Oh, stop. You’ll be hungry in an hour.” Max stretched out beside her. “I’ll be famished.”
She laughed. “So how are we going to handle the art show?”
“Must we talk about that now?” He draped an arm over the seat of the couch he leaned against. “I’d like to get to know you better. What do you like to do in your spare time?”
“I don’t know. My hours can be long. I enjoy taekwondo when I’m not at the office. I try to take classes as much as I can.” Alicia leaned back against the bottom of the couch near Max. “I like movies, but never seem to have time to see them. I’ll go out with my girlfriends from time to time.”
“Then you keep to yourself.”
“It sounds awful, doesn’t it?” Alicia dropped her head against the couch. “After working with people all day long I find my private time important.”
“Now you understand what it’s like to be in the spotlight all the time. That’s why I avoid the public as much as possible.”
“Yet they seem to find my private number.”
“What do you mean?” asked Max.
“Today I found a message from the woman who was in my office this past week. She claimed you recommended me to her.” She stood up and walked to her machine. She pressed a button and the message played again.
Max remained calm, yet Alicia noticed his eyes change. They sharpened, almost like in anger, although she had no clue why he should be so angry. “So you recognized her voice?”
“Yes. The woman you almost threw out of my office.” She turned the machine off. “Doesn’t she understand the word no? Or is she just like you?”
“The Tears have her very focused. She knows you’re the best because I chose you. She only wants the best.”
“I’m flattered.” Alicia scratched her head. “I think.”
“There is only one thing I ask of you when you deal with this woman.”
“Let me guess.” She sat cross-legged across from Max. “Stay away from her.”
Max smiled. “Very good.”
“I’m not a child, Max. How many times must we have the conversation about you being a bit overpowering? I’m a real good judge of character.”
“I know.” He reached over and took her hand. “But I can’t help but worry about you. She looks sweet but can be a real barracuda.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know.”
“But you still want me to stay away.”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”