When Love Isn't Enough (ML / Adult) (Complete)

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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Twenty-Nine

By the time Max and Liz had composed themselves enough to leave the car fifteen minutes had elapsed. When they reached the front of the movie theater Michael and Isabel were waiting for them outside just as Kyle was pulling up in his car. He slowed down when he spied Max and Liz jogging towards the theater entrance. He pulled up alongside Liz just as she and Max stepped onto the sidewalk.

“I thought I had missed you,” he said wryly after he rolled down his window, “Now I don’t feel so bad about being late.”

Liz leaned down to fix him with a smile. “Don’t sweat it,” she replied, “We probably won’t see the movie anyway…it started, like, thirty minutes ago.” She noticed the petite blond sitting off to his right then and Liz’s smile became tinged with curiosity. “Is this your stepsister?” she asked.

Kyle smiled and leaned back so that he could properly introduce both girls. “Liz, this is my sister, Maria DeLuca,” he said proudly, “Maria, this is Liz…the girl I’ve been telling you about.”

Liz looked slightly worried as she reached across Kyle’s chest to shake Maria’s hand. The other girl didn’t miss her mildly distressed look. “Don’t worry,” Maria reassured her with a smirk, “He’s only told me good things.”

“That’s a relief,” Liz laughed, “Hey, why don’t you go park and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do.”

She straightened and as she did Kyle flashed up a glance at Max, inclining his head slightly. “Evans,” he intoned in stiff greeting. Liz had told Kyle earlier when she invited him to the movies that she and Max had finally gotten together. Kyle supposed that the situation was inevitable but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Likewise, Liz had informed Max that, although she and Kyle were not involved, she did want to keep her friendship with him. Max had reluctantly agreed, but he hadn’t liked the idea one single bit. His feelings were evident in his tone when he replied brusquely, “Valenti.”

After Kyle had pulled off to find a parking space Liz rounded on Max in laughing dismay. “You could have been a little nicer to him,” she scolded sweetly.

“I could have punched him in the face,” Max countered just as sweetly. He made no effort to hide his jealousy, but rather than being irritated by his behavior Liz found it endearing. Turn about was actually quite nice, she thought with an inward smirk. However, upon approaching Michael and Isabel, Liz felt some of her amusement fade when faced with their dour expressions.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Michael remarked sourly.

“Did you say the movie started at 7:20,” Max asked in feigned innocence, “Liz thought you said 8:20. We must have gotten our wires crossed.

“Yeah, right,” Michael grunted, clearly unconvinced. Max and Liz hadn’t done as good a job repairing themselves as they thought. Realizing that fact they both flushed guiltily but said nothing in their defense.

“So now that the movie idea is shot what do you guys want to do?” Isabel asked impatiently.

Liz had barely opened her mouth to answer Isabel when Kyle suddenly came skipping up and pressed a kiss to Liz’s cheek. “Hiya, beautiful,” he quipped breathlessly, enjoying Max’s feral glare hugely, “You gonna introduce me to your family?”

Maria hung back, obviously fighting hard to keep her laughter contained while Isabel and Michael surveyed Kyle with narrowed eyes. But Max was the worst of all. He looked like he would jump Kyle at any given second. Liz found herself wondering what had ever possessed her to invite Kyle along to the movies in the first place. She should have known having him and Max in one spot together was destined to have disastrous consequences.

Slapping the back of Kyle’s hand in a scolding gesture, Liz led Kyle over to where Isabel and Michael stood. “Kyle, this is my brother Michael and my best friend Isabel Evans,” she said, “Isabel and Michael…I’d like you to meet Kyle Valenti. He’s a friend.”

“Mmm…hmmm,” was Michael’s only response as he reached forward to pump Kyle’s hand. Isabel was a little less forthcoming and kept her greeting resigned to a slight nod of her head. Kyle passed Liz and uneasy glance but she only shrugged helplessly in response.

“Who’s the girl?” Isabel demanded suddenly, hitching her chin towards Maria who stood just beyond Kyle’s shoulder, “Is she your girlfriend?”

Kyle smirked a little and then reached behind himself to grab hold of Maria’s hand and bring her against his side. “This is my little sister, Maria.” He did a quick rattle of introductions not missing Isabel’s sneer of disappointment that Maria was his sister or Michael sigh of relief because Maria was his sister. Kyle had to bite back his grin of amusement as Maria and Michael exchanged interested glances.

“So how long have you and Liz known each other?” Isabel charged tersely.

Liz leveled her with a quelling look in response to her harsh tone, but Isabel staunchly ignored it. She was too busy glaring daggers at Kyle. Max came to stand beside Liz, looping his arm about her shoulder and smiling over his sister’s protectiveness.

Kyle appeared to take no offense at Isabel’s defensive behavior, but that didn’t keep Liz from wanting to drown in mortification. “Liz and I met a little over three weeks ago,” Kyle replied mildly, “We’re just good friends.”

Isabel continued to glare at him. “You kiss all your friends?”

Isabel,” Liz moaned in a acute humiliation, “Sheathe the claws, please!”

“Look, Isabel,” Kyle replied, abruptly deciding to end his goading game and put everyone’s mind at ease, “I’m not trying to get anything started with Liz or take your brother’s place. She’s been a good friend to me…I just want to be one back.”

Things seemed to flow more smoothly after that, but the tension was still thick. Michael had hostility towards Max, Max had hostility towards Kyle, Isabel had hostility towards Kyle, and Maria and Liz were left sort of foundering around as the impromptu peacekeepers. They all decided to drive down to the local burger stop for cheeseburger baskets and fries. Once they arrived Liz made a point of leaving Kyle, Michael, Max and Isabel at the table to work out their differences while she and Maria went to go buy the food.

As they stood waiting for their turn, Maria tossed a speculative glance over her shoulder back at their four companions and then turned back to Liz in half-amusement. “You really think this is going to work?”

“What?” Liz asked blankly. Her mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of pregnancy tests, condoms, husbands and near boyfriends. There was so much going on for her at the moment and she was just trying hard to keep it together.

Maria waved her hand in front of Liz’s face. “Yoo-hoo…Gidget!” She snapped her fingers several times before finally gaining Liz’s attention. “Your stony faced husband looks as if he might launch himself at my brother at anytime.”

Liz finally managed to refocus herself and glanced over to where Max was, indeed, giving Kyle the evil eye from across the table. Max was so intent on giving Kyle that evil eye that it escaped his notice that he was receiving it himself…from Michael. Liz groaned out her abject misery. “Whatever possessed me?” she muttered to herself.

“I wondered the same thing,” Maria agreed softly, “When Kyle told me that you’d invited us along to the movies with your husband, all I could think was, ‘what is with this chick.’ I thought you were some kind of two-timing hussy or something.”

Liz learned two things right away about Maria DeLuca: she was really bold and unafraid to speak her mind and she was fiercely loyal to her stepbrother. For those reasons alone Liz decided she liked her. “And now what do you think of me?” she inquired softly.

“The jury’s still out on that one,” Maria told her, “but I don’t think you invited us here to be spiteful. I think it’s just really important to you that Kyle and Max get along.”

“It is,” Liz insisted fervently, immensely grateful for someone to finally unburden her feelings on, “Kyle has been so wonderful to me these past few weeks. I can’t just kick him out of my life…I don’t want to.”

“Just don’t treat him like your dick in a glass case,” Maria warned tartly.

Liz’s eyes fairly bugged out of her head. “My…my what?” she sputtered, “Excuse me?”

Maria had to laugh at her expression. “You’ve never heard that before?” she asked with a grin, “Well…your dick in a glass case is the one you keep in case of emergencies, you know…for if your man messes up and you need to ease the pain.”

“Oh,” Liz said in a small whoosh of breath. She laid her hand against Maria’s shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about that…I wouldn’t use Kyle that way and…and besides that, Max isn’t going to mess up. We’re in love.”

“Yeah…if that rock on your finger is any indication, I guess you are.”

An ear-to-ear grin of pure happiness split Liz’s face and she held down her hand to give Maria a better view of her ring. “He gave it to me tonight,” she simpered, “Isn’t it amazing? This is only the second gift he’s ever given me in our entire lives…well, that is, only the second one I’ve actually wanted.”

“And you love this fool?” Maria demanded incredulously.

Liz shook her head in laughing chagrin. “Trust me…it’s a long story.”

Maria cast another glance over at the booth where their sour faced companions sat. “I don’t think we’ll probably be going anywhere for quite awhile,” she observed, deadpan, “I’ve got all night.”

By the time the two girls reached the table with the food both Liz and Maria were laughing together like the oldest of friends. Liz was still giggling over Maria’s sudden infatuation with her brother as she passed cheeseburger baskets around the table. She plopped down into the booth next to Max and Maria slid into the opposite side next to her brother.

“So what have you guys been talking about,” Liz asked casually as she plunged one french fry into a blob of ketchup and then popped it into her mouth. It hadn’t escaped her attention that when she and Maria reached the table all conversation ceased.

Michael leaned back in his seat to take a sip of his Coke. “Max was just explaining to us how he managed to get his face all banged up,” he intoned dryly, “First you ran into the door and then you tripped and fell into the brambles outside your house, right, Max?”

Max blushed a brilliant shade of red and lowered his head. “Uh…yeah,” he mumbled before taking in a mouthful of cheeseburger.

It made Liz feel both grateful and guilty that Max was trying to cover for her. In repayment for his sweetness alone Liz wanted to admit her part in his bruised face right then, but she decided against it. The fight she and Max had was intensely private. No one needed to have such intimate details of their relationship. Liz supposed the most she could do was back him up.

“No, Michael, he really did. I saw the whole thing.” Liz flashed Max a secret smile. “He can be a real klutz sometimes.” Michael only grunted and for Liz it was the final straw. She was sick of the tension and the brooding silence. “What’s your problem?” she demanded sharply, “Why’d you ask us out to the movies if you were just going to sulk all night?”

“Isabel made me come,” Michael replied, pointing across the table at the culprit.

Isabel leaned forward to survey Liz with an angry glare. “It was just supposed to be the four of us,” she accused Liz between clenched teeth, “I had no idea you were going to invite your man on the side!”

“Isabel, that was uncalled for,” Max admonished quietly before Liz could even respond. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Max came to Kyle’s defense. “Valenti’s a good guy…a real good friend to Liz. I don’t think we should be ragging on him because of that.”

“Uh…wow…thanks, Max,” Kyle replied, a little dazed.

Max fixed him with a grim smile. “Don’t thank me yet,” he warned, “You’re not my favorite person, but I’m not about to try and pick Liz’s friends for her. I’m not interested in trying to control her.” He favored Liz with a soft smile of love, which she returned sweetly. “I think we’ve both had enough of that.”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty

“So tonight went well, huh?” Liz called out to the bathroom where Max was, once again, religiously flossing his teeth. The room was fairly quiet but for the sounds of Max’s running water and the rain that had begun to pelt down softly outside.

He poked his head from the bathroom door briefly. “You think?” he wondered, his words muffled by his hand, “I thought it was disaster on a stick.”

Liz grinned up at him from the bed. “Well, if you don’t count all that horrible tension and the hateful glares I guess it went well,” she amended ruefully. She laughed to herself. “Hey, at least Michael and Maria hit it off, right?”

Max came to lean in the threshold of the bathroom, his flossing done. He crossed his arms over his chest, his forehead creasing in a pensive frown. “Yeah…I was worried about that,” he murmured carefully, “With everything that went down between Isabel and him the last thing I expected was for him to chat up the next girl right to her face.”

“But then Isabel wasn’t all that serious about Michael to begin with, you know.”

“I guess,” Max agreed with a shrug, “Still it was a real shocker about her and Alex. Did you know that they were going out? I mean, he doesn’t seem like her type at all.”

Liz rolled over onto her back, spreading her legs and arms wide across the bed. “Today was the first time I’ve spoken to her in, like, a week, remember,” she muttered, “No wonder she was so salty. She was probably dying to talk to someone about it. And now he’s gone on that cruise with Tess and her father…no wonder Isabel’s going stir crazy.”

“Guess you’re right,” Max said, coming to flop down next to her. He leaned up to kiss the tip of her nose affectionately, watching her closely as she stared up at the ceiling in thoughtful concentration. He grinned at her, caressing her hair back from her temple and tucking it behind her ear. “I do that, too, when I’m thinking really hard,” he teased, “So what’s on your mind?”

Though she didn’t look at him then, a smile glimmered at the corners of her mouth. “I was just wondering if you planned on sleeping in here again tonight.”

“Do you want me to?” Max whispered.

Liz rolled to face him then, touching her lips to his in a lingering kiss. “I want you to move in here with me,” she murmured boldly, “I want you to sleep here with me every single night.”

Max stroked his hand up and down the length of her bare arm, his fingers fairly dancing over her soft skin. “I want that, too,” he confessed huskily, “but I don’t just want to sleep with you, Liz.”

“You mean--,”

His hand slipped forward, his palm curving around her breast. Liz shivered at his touch. “I want to make love with you,’ he whispered.

“N…now?” Liz panted, her eyes fluttering closed as he began plucking at her nipple. Just then a flash of lightening, followed by a loud clap of thunder rumbled through the room. Both Liz and Max jumped in response. “The storm’s getting worse,” Liz observed gruffly, finding it difficult to concentrate as Max played insistently with her nipple.

“Hmm…yeah,” he mumbled in agreement, pushing her back against the bed.

“M…Max?” Liz questioned him tremulously. She wanted this…wanted to be with him, but now that they were so close she found herself growing nervous.

Max chuckled low in his throat, leaning forward to nuzzle her neck. “Don’t worry,” he murmured, placing open mouth kisses against her flesh, “I have protection.”

“Pro…protection?” Why couldn’t she get out a sentence without stuttering? Apparently, she hadn’t been the only one preoccupied with buying condoms today. Liz plunged her fingers into Max’s hair as he began to gently suck her skin, his tongue caressing her in the most arousing way. His fingers began to play over the length of her bare thigh.

“Condoms,” Max clarified in a breath. He lifted his head to brush her lips with his tongue, once, twice… “We won’t have to worry about getting pregnant,” Max continued, trailing his lips across her cheek to nibble at her earlobe, “And then once you’re on the pill…we’ll be doubly protected…”

It was those whispered words, which finally snapped Liz from the sexually induced haze Max was weaving around her. She shoved at his shoulders lightly. Too fast. He was talking too fast and barely giving her any time to process it all. “Wait…wait,” she protested, shaking her head slightly, “You want me to get on the pill?”

“We can still use the condoms,” Max reassured her, thinking she was upset because she assumed he was leaving the entire responsibility for birth control at her feet. “I’m just thinking that two contraceptives are better than one.”

Liz felt a little stunned by the turn in their conversation. Having just purchased a pregnancy test that morning Liz had never imagined she and Max would end the evening discussing birth control. He had obviously assumed that pregnancy wasn’t an issue from the last time. Liz wasn’t overly worried about the possibility either, but she had yet to take the test and she didn’t want to assume. However, having Max bring up the subject of birth control so glibly, Liz felt somewhat flustered by the prospect of bringing up the test and her own concerns about pregnancy.

A frown furrowed across her forehead. “You’re saying you want me to start taking birth control pills?” Liz repeated carefully.

Somewhat bewildered by her rising tone, Max pushed himself upright, pulling her into his arms. Liz didn’t fight him, but scooted between his legs, leaning back against his chest so he could stroke her hair. “Lizzie, this isn’t a bad thing,” he whispered against her temple, “We just now finally admitted our true feelings for each other and we’re still really young. We don’t need to have a baby right now…especially after the close call we had before.” When Liz didn’t make any response, he buried his face in her neck to nuzzle against her. “It’s not that I don’t want to have a baby with you, Liz. I do…someday. Right now I just want to keep you all to myself, okay?”

“And…and you think we had a close call before?” Liz stammered, “Is that why you want me to start the pill…because of that night?”

Max lifted his head and sighed. “Yeah, we were drunk, Liz, and even though it was just that one night you still could have gotten pregnant,” he said, “If you hadn’t gone to the clinic afterwards I would have been worried.”

“What does my going to the clinic have to do with it?” Liz asked woodenly.

“Well, they would have told you then if you were pregnant, right?”

Liz didn’t know how to respond. Should she tell him that it had been much too early for the clinic to accurately test her for pregnancy? Should she tell him that pregnancy was still likely when she knew now that a baby was the last thing he wanted? Liz didn’t want to do that. They were finally happy, at peace. She didn’t know for sure if she was pregnant or not and, in fact, it was more than likely that she wasn’t. There was no need to freak Max out over something that might not prove a problem anyway.

She smiled up at him, pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “You’re right,” she sighed, “We should be extra careful from now on. I’ll call and make a doctor’s appointment for later this week, okay.”

Max kissed her soundly. “Good idea,” he agreed, smiling, “We’ll just stick with condoms until then.” And then he cast an uncertain glance down at her. He felt a prickle of hesitation over her earlier lukewarm response and was suddenly insecure over whether she really wanted him at all. “I mean…that is…if you want to…you know…make love.”

Liz stared up into his expressive, golden eyes and felt as if she were melting beneath his gaze. He had begun rotating his fingers into the soft juncture of her neck and shoulders, his breath stirring hotly against her ear. She wet her lips deliberately. “I do,” she whispered thickly, “I want to make love to you, Max. I just don’t know if it’s too soon…” When his face started to fall in dejection Liz added quickly, “…but I definitely want to try.”

A grin stretched wide across his handsome features. “I’m glad you said that,” he exclaimed with a beaming grin.

Before she knew his intention Max was already rolling from the bed and jogging over to her dresser. Liz watched with a frown as he rummaged through her underwear drawer. She was just about to open her mouth to comment with he pivoted on his heel and announced, “Because I brought…these.” In each hand he held one long stemmed candle complete with its own miniature candelabra. Liz clapped her hand across her mouth to keep from giggling over how ecstatic he seemed. “And,” Max elaborated as he hastily lit the candles and placed them strategically within the room, “there’s music.” He clicked her stereo on and the mellow sounds of Marvin Gaye began to fill the room. “And me,” he added with a playful growl, magically producing a single red rose and placing it between his teeth. He growled again and Liz collapsed onto the bed in gales of laughter.

“What?” Max asked, the rose falling from his mouth completely, “What did I do?” He had imagined that she would blush at the effort he’d put forth, not laugh herself into a seizure. Still, her laughter was infectious and Max couldn’t help chuckling a little himself. “You don’t like it?” he asked, unsuccessful at keeping his face straight.

“Oh…oh, it’s b…beautiful,” Liz stuttered in laughter, “…I…I just don’t know wh…when you had time to pl…plan this seduction!”

Max regarded her smugly. “Your showers last a millennium…I had plenty of time.”

Liz pushed herself up onto her knees and raked him with a challenging glance. “And what made you so sure I would say yes to you?”

“It might have had something to do with the way you were squirming in my lap earlier.” His cocky reply was rewarded with a flying pillow smack in the face. Max didn’t bat an eyelash. “Now you’re gonna get it,” he warned softly only a second before he dived onto the bed and tackled her down to the mattress.

Liz squealed when Max’s questing fingers found her sensitive sides and he began tickling her. She twisted and turned beneath him, which only afforded him greater access. “Stop…Stop!” Liz alternately gasped and snorted. “I…I can’t breathe…I’m gonna hyfer…ventilate!”

Max stopped then; his brows drown in a laughing, quizzical frown. “Hyferventilate?” he repeated in amusement, “What the hell is that? You’ve taken to inventing your own words now, huh?”

“You’re just Mr. Funny Man today, aren’t you?” She pushed at his shoulders as if she meant to roll away from him completely, but Max pinned her back down against the bed.

“Aww, squirt, don’t be mad,” he crooned, dipping his head to nuzzle against her collarbone.

“Don’t call me that,” Liz uttered breathlessly.

“Call you what?” Max mumbled against her skin. He sponged her nipple with the tip of his tongue through the thin cotton of her nightshirt.

Liz forced herself to remain focused. “Squirt…” she puffed out in a moan, “I hate it.”

“You hate it?” he echoed in a whisper, his fingers deftly unfastening the neat row of buttons that trailed down her midriff. He pushed the material aside and rubbed his cheek against her bare belly. “Have you always?” he wondered, plunging his tongue into her navel.

It was growing increasingly difficult to breathe. Liz tangled her fingers into Max’s silky, thick hair, her breath escaping her lungs in quivering gasps. “It…was…okay when I…was nine,” she groaned, “but…I’m a…grown woman…now…”

Max’s lips stilled against her hip. He lifted his head slowly, his eyes doing a slow dance with hers. ‘You said the same thing to me that night,” he whispered.

“What?” panted, disappointed that he had stopped kissing her, “That I hate being called squirt?”

“That you don’t think I treat you like a woman,” Max prodded gently, pushing back onto his knees, “Don’t I?” The desire gradually faded from his face and was replaced with pensive concern.

Liz pushed up onto her elbows to study his features. Her nightshirt fell open where he’d unbuttoned it, revealing the soft swells of her breasts and white, bikini panties. “Max, what do you want me to say?” she whispered.

“I think you’re sexy,” Max insisted softly, “don’t you realize that?”

“You had to be drunk to have sex with me, Max,” Liz pointed out dryly, “That knowledge is hardly a confidence builder.” It was the first time she had really expressed her bitterness over that night and it left Max a little stunned.

“Liz--,”

She shook her head, cutting off whatever he would have said. “Don’t say you’re sorry, okay…I know part of you thinks that night was a mistake whether you admit it or not.” When he tried to protest again Liz pressed her fingers to his lips. “Stop it,” she scolded gently, her mood for loveplay having suddenly given way to solemnity, “Maybe this isn’t the right time for us to make love after all. Let’s just sleep tonight, okay?”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-One

Max couldn’t sleep.

He stood out on the small patio in the back of his house, watching the rain sheet down heavily. Tonight was supposed to be the night he and Liz made love, but the evening hadn’t gone quite as he imagined it would. There had been so much awkwardness between them that he had almost wished that they were drunk again just so they could flow into it. He had thought too much tonight. Rather than being lost in Liz’s body he’d been caught up in the fact that he was trying to get in his best friend’s pants, which was still supremely odd for him. He was still trying to make up for that night two weeks before when he’d taken her virginity.

When he was drunk Max hadn’t cared about anything beyond the sensations. He’d been too enamored with touching Liz’s body and having her touch his own. But now he was sober and in complete control of his faculties and Max realized the import of what he planned. Other than that night two weeks ago Liz was sexually inexperienced and, considering the fact she didn’t even remember their night together, she could still be considered a virgin. That knowledge filled Max with an incredible sense of apprehension and dread.

He wanted Liz, enjoyed kissing and touching her, but the thought of fulfilling the act, of making love to her was absolutely terrifying. Alone in the dark with only the cool night breeze to keep him company Max could admit that. He wanted this time to be so perfect for her, so excruciatingly beautiful, but Max wasn’t so sure he could pull it off. After all, he didn’t had an abundant amount of experience himself and he had already botched their first time together…

It also didn’t help matters that Liz thought all these crazy things…like he didn’t see her as a woman and that he had to be drunk in order to want her. Of course, he had fed into her insecurities by allowing their first time together to be a “drunken grope” as Isabel had phrased it. Max had spent weeks before telling her over and over how he didn’t want her and that Tess was the one he loved. And then when he finally decides to give over to his true feelings it happens to be a night when he had a falling out with Tess and he was blind drunk.

No wonder Liz still seemed so insecure. She didn’t say so. In fact, she seemed happier than he’d seen her in weeks, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she still viewed Tess as a threat. Following Max’s confession about the miscarriage Liz hadn’t wanted to discuss Tess further. It was as if she decided since Tess was out of sight she was out of mind as well. Unfortunately, Max didn’t feel that way. He still felt a strange obligation to Tess despite the fact their relationship was over…like he still owed her his friendship.

And, of course, he couldn’t talk to Liz about his feelings because that would only serve to make an already shaky situation shakier. Max was learning that, though he and Liz had made some remarkable strides in the last day, they still had a long way to go. Their relationship was still so fragile and probably wouldn’t survive if dealt a serious blow. As a result, Max wanted to be cautious, slow, steady in their progress. The fact that he and Liz hadn’t fallen easily into a night of lovemaking just proved to Max that maybe they still weren’t ready for that step. Hey, but at least they were prepared, he laughed to himself. However, the sarcastic thought brought Max more bitterness than comfort.

Max stepped off the patio into the pounding rain, jumping a little with the initial shock of coldness and then merely standing there to let it soak into his pajamas. He turned his open face toward the ominous, dark sky, allowing the rain to pelt down upon him as if praying to the gods for some relief. The storm clouds above only seemed to mock him. He didn’t know how long he stood there, before he heard Liz’s laughing voice sound behind him: “Does it help?”

Caught in his childish act Max whipped around to face her, his grin tentative. “What?” he laughed.

“We have a shower, you know,” Liz continued on loudly above the wind. She nibbled at her lip to keep from laughing, thinking how incredibly adorable he looked standing there soaked to the bone, his hair plastered against his head. “All you had to do was switch the tap to cold.”

Max laughed with her meaning finally washed over him. “Oh, I see…you think I’ve come out here to remove some…ah…tension?”

“Didn’t you?” Liz pressed irreverently.

“What if I just like the rain?” Max challenged.

“I was sleeping right next to you, Max. I know that wasn’t the remote digging into my back.”

Max actually blushed. “You were out cold.”

“I wasn’t that out of it,” Liz emphasized, “I woke up the moment you left the bed.”

He laughed again, delighted by her unspoken admission about how much his presence actually meant to her, before making a desperate grab for her. Liz danced out of his reach fairly easy. “Come on,” Max whined with a pout, “Come out here with me. We’ll play.”

“I have no desire to play in the rain, Max Evans!” Liz returned sternly.

“You used to.”

“Yeah, when I was twelve!” Liz retorted, “You’ve got to stop living in the past.”

“It’ll be fun,” Max promised.

“Somehow I doubt th---Arghh!” Liz’s sensible reply became a broken squeal when Max lunged at her. He picked her up and slung her across his shoulder like a sack of flour. Her frantic kicking and screaming protests of “no” didn’t register on Max as he calmly walked them into the rain. He was laughing the entire time. Max danced around in a little circle, making sure his screaming wife was good and soaked before he set her on her feet again.

Liz glared up at him, looking like a drowned mouse. “I’m gonna kill you for that,” she warned between chattering teeth.

Max only smirked. “You’ll have to catch me first.”

And the chase was on. Max bolted through the backyard, easily avoiding capture by veering left to right on a dime. Liz didn’t have a chance of catching him and Max knew it. However, it was Max’s complete arrogance over that fact that caused his downfall. On his last twist away from Liz his intention had been to make a break for the house and then lock her outside. However, he didn’t quite make it. His foot slid on the slick turf and Max landed on his side with a reverberating thud.

Max groaned at the impact and rolled over onto his back. When he opened his eyes he found Liz standing over him, her expression caught between stupefaction and laughter. And then she crumpled to the ground clutching her middle, disregarding the standing water and mud, laughing her ass off.

Fixing her with a disapproving glare, Max grumbled, “It’s not funny… I could have seriously injured myself.” He painfully pushed himself upright while Liz continued to laugh herself into fits. Max crawled over to the back door, his hip and backside zinging with pain. When Liz glimpsed how gingerly he made his way onto the patio she realized that he was seriously hurting and went over to help.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” Max whined plaintively as she carefully assisted him to his feet.

“Do you think you broke anything?”

“No,” Max groaned, “but I bruised the hell out of my hip.”

“Aww…did the baby get a boo-boo?” Liz teased, helping him limp back into the house.

Max grunted a humorless chuckle and then favored her with a boyish glance, complete with fluttering lashes and becoming pout. “You think Mommy might kiss it and make it better?”

Liz threw back her head and laughed again. “You wish.”

Once Liz had taken a shower and changed into some dry pajamas she ran Max a steamy hot bath for him to soak. She knew he was playing up his injury for all it was worth, but Liz didn’t really mind. She liked babying him. Liz took a great deal of pride in laying out his pajamas and bath towel for him. It just felt like a wifely thing to do. After she’d made things sufficiently comfortable for him Liz reluctantly left Max to his bath.

As Liz folded herself down onto her bed and began drying her hair while listening with a smirk of amusement to Max’s grunts and groans of pleasure as he eased into the water. “Good temperature?” she called out in question. More grunts and groans of pleasure. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” she said laughingly.

There was a pause of silence before Max replied deliberately, cajolingly, “I’d enjoy it more if you joined me.”

Liz stopped toweling her hair, her heart pounding with the prospect of going into the bathroom while he was stark naked. Her apprehension seemed ridiculous, foolish. They had made love once already, hadn’t they? Why was she suddenly feeling shy around him now? But Liz knew the answer to her internal question almost the moment she asked herself. That first time Max had been drunk out of his skull. He couldn’t even clearly remember what had gone on between them. If they made love now…at this moment, it would be with total clarity. What if Max thought she was a terrible lover? What if she disappointed him? The uncertainty was enough to drive her crazy.

“Liz?” She didn’t answer, but only sat there staring at the bathroom door in sudden, abject terror. “Liz, I was just joking, okay.”

She wilted a bit, relieved and disappointed all at once. “O-okay.”

The conversation between them ground to an awkward halt afterwards. To relieve the tension, Liz hunted around in the covers for the remote and clicked on the television. However, Liz barely registered anything happening on the screen because she was so wrapped up in thoughts of Max.

She stared down at the glittering engagement ring he’d given her just that evening. When they had been together in the car Liz had been absolutely sure she was ready to make love. But now she realized that she hadn’t. In the back of her mind she had known that wasn’t the right time for them. She had known things wouldn’t progress to that point. But once they got back to the house, once they were in her bed that’s when the anxiety hit her fully. Liz was so terrified of something going wrong that she couldn’t concentrate on the things that were right.

Liz was still staring blindly at the screen when Max emerged from the bathroom, freshly bathed. “Are you mad at me?” he whispered, limping over to join her in bed.

“No…why?” Liz asked, rolling to face him.

“You know…because I asked you to come into the bathroom with me.”

“You said you were joking,” Liz reminded him.

“Half joking, half serious,” Max confessed, “I wanted you to come in there, but I was afraid of what would happen if you did.”

Liz’s eyes grew positively round at that. “You were afraid?” she echoed in astonishment.

Max plucked at the edge of her nightshirt, his fingers playing over her thigh lightly. “I want this time to be perfect between us, Liz,” he whispered, “I need you to know how much I want you…how much I want this…”

“You want me, Max?” she murmured, splaying her hand over his side and caressing her way down his hip. Max winced at the contact. “What is it?” Liz asked in concern when she heard his hissing intake of breath.

“My hip’s just a little tender,” Max whispered dismissively.

“Really?” Before he could stop her Liz was already inching the elastic waistband of his pajama bottoms down over his hip for a closer view. His flesh was a mottled black and blue. “Oh my god…” Liz whispered in sympathy, “you really did hurt yourself.” She pressed her fingers into his skin gently, but Max still flinched in pain. “Max, this looks pretty bad.” She looked back up at him, her expression tender. “What can I do?”

Max smiled gently. “Just the way you’re looking at me now is plenty.” He felt like he couldn’t have melted on the spot with that look alone.

“No, I’m sure there’s something I can do,” Liz insisted softly. And then a feline smile spread across her lips as it occurred to her just what she could do. “Why don’t I kiss it and make it better?” she murmured, deliberately recalling the suggestion he’d made earlier.

“No, Liz, that’s not necess--,” But it was too late. She was already brushing her lips across his tender flesh. That feather light touch was enough to make Max’s body swell and harden. He held his breath as Liz kissed him yet again, her lips creating a meandering line down the juncture of his hip.

Liz lifted her head then, her eyes shining and luminous, her smile guilelessly feline. “All better,” she whispered softly.

“Yuh…yeah,” Max stuttered breathlessly, “all better.”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Two

Liz awoke to the mouthwatering aroma of bacon and eggs. It was the perfect way to begin the morning after the luscious night she’d had. She and Max hadn’t made love but they had cuddled together to watch the late night movie. Before long, however, their gentle caresses and teasing kisses had turned torrid. The night had ended with Max having to take yet another shower. Liz had fallen asleep with a smile on her face.

Now her morning was full of the sweet smells of breakfast. Liz started to snuggle down deeper into the covers when a thought occurred to her. Why did she smell breakfast? She wasn’t cooking. Liz popped open one eye just in time to see Max striding through the door, bearing a tray in his hands. His face was alight with a beaming smile.

“Good morning,” he announced cheerfully, setting the tray across Liz’s lap after she had pushed herself upright. “For the light of my life.” He whipped away the silver dish cover from her plate with grand flourish, revealing a steaming plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and toast.

Liz gaped at him in disbelief. “You did all this?”

Max jutted out his chest in manly pride. “I did.”

“But…but you can’t cook,” Liz protested lamely.

“I can cook,” Max replied with mock affront, “I just don’t do it very often.” Liz appeared unconvinced. “Okay…okay,” he confessed with a wry chuckle, “I had to do something to occupy my time while you were out with Valenti all those weeks.”

“And so you taught yourself to cook?”

Max shrugged. “Hey, after the rigatoni I figured there was nothing to it.”

She leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. “Thank you. This was so sweet,” she murmured, “You really do love me, huh?” Liz continued to be awed by that fact, as if she couldn’t quite believe it was true.

Max smiled into her mouth. “I adore you,” he whispered.

Liz could almost believe that he did. She pulled back from him slightly and reached for a strip of bacon, breaking it in half and finger feeding the portion to Max. “Hey, whatever happened with the rigatoni, anyway,” she asked lightly as she munched, “You never told me how it turned out.” Liz could remember how crazy it had made her that night knowing he had made dinner for Tess. Even now, knowing how he felt about her, the memory still made Liz crazy. She could never forget that Tess had been the one to share all Max’s “firsts” with him. Liz couldn’t help but feel that there would always be a part of Max she’d be unable to touch.

She masked her feelings of insecurity behind a dazzling smile. “Did she like it?”

“I don’t know,” Max answered with another shrug, “She didn’t even want to try it.” He sighed. “I guess I can’t blame her really…it was my first attempt at cooking. We went out for dinner instead.”

His candid admission filled Liz with quiet fury. That self-centered, haughty, little bitch! She didn’t even have the decency to try something that Max had slaved to make for her. And Max…he had just taken it, as if such treatment were his due. Considering the guilt and remorse he felt about Tess’ miscarriage Liz wasn’t surprised, but still his passive acceptance made her fume. No wonder it had always seemed to her that Max allowed Tess to run over him. He had allowed it…because he hadn’t believed that he deserved any better.

Her heart aching with pity, Liz reached forward to caress his cheek. “Oh, Max…”

“Don’t,” he whispered tenderly, “Don’t feel sorry for me. Tess is--,”

“I don’t want to talk about Tess,” Liz interrupted sharply, “She’s not important anymore. She’s out of your life and that’s all that matters.”

“Liz, I don’t think she’ll--,”

“Max, I’m serious,” Liz insisted stiffly, “I don’t want to spend our morning talking about Tess or even thinking about her. Agreed?”

Max smiled at her tenderly, deciding to drop the subject. He didn’t necessarily want to rehash the drama that was his and Tess’ relationship that morning either. “Agreed,” he whispered softly, “This isn’t how I want to spend what little time we have together this morning either.”

Liz offered him a grateful nod and started to take a sip of her orange juice when the last of what he said dawned on her. “What do you mean by ‘what little time we have together this morning’? Do you have some place to be?”

Max hung his head regretfully. “I have to go fill out some paperwork at the restaurant,” he told her, “Since I start tomorrow night all my W-2’s and stuff need to be in order.”

“Okay,” Liz replied dejectedly, unable to hide her disappointment.

“I’d blow it off if I could.”

“Yeah, I know,” Liz mumbled petulantly.

Max chucked her beneath the chin, gently bringing her gaze to his. “Hey, we have more than an hour before I have to leave, okay…let’s just enjoy now.”

Liz favored him with another lopsided smile. “Okay, I’m done moping.”

“Glad to hear it,” he said, easing down next to her, “So how’s breakfast?”

“Perfect,” she quipped cheekily, “The bacon is crisp just the way I like it. You did good.” She fed him a small bite of scrambled eggs. They traded greasy kisses between nibbles.

“Hey, this is supposed to be for you,” Max mumbled around another mouthful of eggs.

“I like to share,” Liz giggled, nipping at his chin. She sought his lips for another kiss, her giggles becoming a breathless sigh as their kiss picked up momentum. However, when Max tried to lean in closer and deepen the kiss he inadvertently put pressure on his bruised hip. His groan of pleasure became one of pain. Liz jerked away from him with a frown. “Is your hip still bothering you?” she asked solicitously.

“Yeah…it’s a little sore.”

“I guess my kisses don’t have the healing power I imagined,” Liz teased.

“You have no idea exactly what your kisses do to me,” he whispered into her mouth, shivering a little when he thought back to how her lips had played tenderly over his skin. He had wanted her to kiss lower, to brush her lips past his waiting erection. He groaned again and rolled away from her abruptly, his thoughts running wild.

“What is it?” she whispered at his back.

“We’re waiting, right?” Max asked, stacking his hands across the back of his head and hanging it low.

“It’s for the best,” Liz answered tentatively. They had just decided so last night, but Liz couldn’t deny that she was aching for him right at that moment despite her resolve to go slowly. But she knew it was for the best that they wait. There were still certain issues she hadn’t worked up the nerve to address, still so many things left unsaid between them. She didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of making love with him until she had, at least, opened up about her feelings a little bit.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Max muttered in agreement, but his body, oh god, his body was screaming otherwise. But he knew that it wasn’t the right time. There were still so many things left unsorted and making love with Liz right now would only confuse things more. Tess was due to return in two days and yet he and Liz still hadn’t been able to sit down and have a frank discussion about her. Max didn’t expect that Tess would come back and just let he and Liz live together peacefully. She’d make trouble and Max suspected that Liz would be unprepared for the sort of trouble Tess could and would make if he didn’t warn her first. However, he couldn’t warn her if Liz continued to change the subject every time he tried to bring it up.

He curled himself into a tighter ball, caught between raging desire and desperate uncertainty. “It’s just so hard,” he whispered. He meant the words in every sense. “I wanna make it up to you for that night…”

Liz’s heart flipped over in her chest. She set aside the try and crawled over to him, curling her body around his back. “I wish I could remember,” she whispered against his neck.

Max shivered again, feeling besieged by the heat of her body boring into his, the husky resonance of her voice, the intoxicating scent of her. “It was beautiful,” he choked, “It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me…being inside you…”

“Really?” Liz murmured in surprise, dipping her head to kiss the side of his neck, but the sudden ringing of the doorbell halted her efforts for seduction. Liz groaned and flopped her forehead against his shoulder. “Do you ever feel like someone is conspiring against us?” she moaned in exasperation.

“Maybe it’s for the best,” he said, smiling into her hair, “I’m supposed to leave in half an hour anyway.” Liz favored him with a puppy dog look of disappointment, but Max remained undeterred. He ruffled her silky head affectionately. “Get dressed,” he ordered softly, “I’ll get the door.”

Liz had only just pulled on her jeans and t-shirt when Max reentered the bedroom, followed closely by his sister. “You’ve got a visitor,” he announced inanely. It was impossible to ignore the tension that suddenly filled the room. Max wisely decided to excuse himself. “I’ll just get going,” he said, swooping around to give Liz a peck on the cheek, “See later, babe. Bye, Izzy.”

When he was gone Isabel stared after him in uncertainty. “I didn’t just run him off, did I?” she asked tentatively.

“I doubt it,” Liz replied flippantly, “You were ten times as rude to Kyle last night and you didn’t send him running for the hills.” Isabel had the grace to blush and for that reason alone Liz decided to relent. “Don’t worry about Max. He had some paperwork to fill out at his new job.”

Isabel nodded, the tray of half-eaten food on the bed catching her attention. “Did I interrupt something?” she prodded, lifting one inquiring brow.

“Max made me breakfast in bed.” It was difficult to keep the smile from stretching across her face as she said that.

“So everything’s good with you two,” Isabel sighed, slumping with relief, “I was afraid after last night…you know, with the way I acted…I guess I just wanted to say I was sorry.”

“It’s Kyle who deserves the apology, not me.”

“I know,” Isabel conceded in chagrin, “and I swear I’ll apologize for my rudeness the next time I see him. I don’t know…I just get really overprotective when it comes to you and Max. After everything that’s happened you both deserve to be happy.”

“We will be,” Liz replied brightly, “We are.”

“Good.” The two girls regarded each other for a moment more before coming together in an awkward hug. “Forgive me?” Isabel wheedled.

“Forgiven.”

The tension between them expelled Isabel’s rigid features gave way to an easy grin. “So I came by here to invite you along,” she began.

“Invite me along where?”

“To the airport,” Isabel clarified, “Alex is coming home today.”

“A…Alex?” Liz stammered, clearly caught off guard. She couldn’t immediately be happy about his return when she knew that it would signify Tess’ as well. “So the Hardings are coming back today?” she inquired woodenly.

“Not the Hardings,” Isabel corrected, “Just Alex. He got off at the last port of call because he didn’t want to miss any more school than he had to. Tess and her dad stayed behind.” Isabel didn’t miss the flash of relief that flittered across Liz’s face. “Liz, you don’t have to worry about Tess, okay? My brother totally adores you and he and Tess are over. You’re the only one he wants.”

“Yeah, I know,” Liz replied lightly, but diffidence still gnawed away at her. But as usual, she made a habit of masking her feelings behind a cheery smile. “Hey, I’d love to come to the airport with you. I’ve missed Alex. And you can explain to me how the two of you ended up on a date last weekend.”

Liz sent Isabel off for the kitchen while she trotted off for the bathroom for a quick shower. While rummaging through the cabinet for her bath soap Liz found the pregnancy test she’d carefully hidden there the day before. Nude, she sat back on her haunches and read the directions. According to the box she could take the test an entire day before she’d even missed her period. Though her period wasn’t technically due to come until Friday Liz didn’t see the harm in taking the test now. Besides she wanted to put an end to the uncertainty. The sooner she knew for certain she was being ridiculous the sooner she and Max could move on to happier things. Liz quickly ripped open the box and took the test.

Afterwards she set it across the back of the sink and then hopped in the shower. She had been underneath the spray maybe two minutes before she heard Isabel’s knock at the door. “Hey, Liz, get a move on,” she called, “Alex’s plane lands in another half an hour.”

“I’ll just be a minute,” Liz answered, ducking beneath the spray to wash the soap foam from her body.

Liz was so busy rushing around trying to dry her hair and get dressed in clean clothes that she completely forgot about the test. At the last minute, just as she was grabbing her purse to head out the door with Isabel, Liz remembered and ran back to her bathroom to check. She had only intended to glance at it quickly and then chunk it in the trash, but what she saw made her hand tremble. It wasn’t the single line she’d expected to see signifying that her test was negative.

Instead, there were two glaring pink lines staring back at her.
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Three

Liz sat quietly in the backseat of Isabel’s car fighting back waves of queasiness. With every lurch of the car Liz had been sure she would toss up her breakfast. She didn’t know if her mind was playing tricks on her or if she was actually suffering from morning sickness. All she knew was that she suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy and unable to breathe, like the car was closing in all around her. All she knew was that she was pregnant. Pregnant…

It was the first time she’d allowed the words to penetrate the fog in her brain. Following her discovery in the bathroom she had hastily wrapped up the evidence in the garbage back and threw it outside in the larger garbage can on her way out with Isabel. And then she proceeded to cover. She talked about any and everything with Isabel, from the mundane to the semi-serious, but never once did she broach the subject that was dominating her thoughts. She was pregnant. Good god, she was pregnant! She was going to have Max Evans’ child…and it was the last thing he wanted.

Somehow Liz managed to keep up her charade with Isabel for a good, long while. However, it was only after they had picked Alex up from the airport that Liz began to feel the stress wearing away at her. Though she had been in no mood for it Liz had agreed to have lunch with her two friends after leaving the airport. What she really wanted was to run, to curl herself into a tight ball and cease thinking altogether. But instead she had smiled and laughed off her internal struggle, determined to keep her inner misery and confusion to herself.

She forced herself to keep up with Alex and Isabel’s animated conversation, but her effort was half-hearted at best. By the time they reached the restaurant Liz was dragging, barely able to even put forth a semblance of genuine joy. As the three sat together in the corner booth of a local café it became severely apparent that Alex and Isabel were the only ones actually contributing to any real exchange. They studied Liz curiously as she morosely pushed her food about her plate with the teeth of her fork.

Unable to stand her morose mood any longer, Alex finally dropped his charade of pretending that everything was okay. “You don’t like your chicken?” he observed carefully, after Isabel asked Liz the same question and received no response.

“Huh?” Liz uttered blankly.

“You’re not eating,” Alex clarified.

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” Liz prevaricated.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that ‘oh, I’m not hungry’ routine,” he replied in exasperation, “Something’s going on with you. Does it have anything to do with my cousin’s foul mood for the last ten days?”

“Foul mood?” Isabel echoed, already perking up to any titillating details of Tess’ misery.

Alex shifted careful glances between Liz and Isabel. “Yeah…” he said slowly, “I think she and Max must have had a fight or something. I swear she called him everyday.”

“They broke up,” Liz provided simply. She took a major gulp of her water, hoping that would be the end of it. She felt like her world had gone into a major tailspin and the last thing she wanted to talk about was Tessa Harding and her hurt feelings. But Liz should have known better than to expect Alex to simply drop it.

“They broke up,” Alex parroted, absolutely aghast, “I would have never figured that. She acted like everything was just smiles and roses the entire time we were away.”

“Well, it ain’t,” Isabel contradicted with a complacent grin, “Max and Liz are together now. They’re sleeping together.”

Isabel!” Liz ground out in mortification.

“You’re sleeping together,” Alex burst out incredulously.

“I really don’t want to discuss this with the two of you,” Liz replied in an exasperated huff.

“I don’t get it,” Alex continued, as if she’d said nothing at all, “When I left you and Max were barely speaking. I thought you were getting all hot to trot for that Kyle guy.”

“They’re just friends,” Isabel told him in a confidential whisper.

“Just friends?” Alex echoed blankly, “Where was I?”

“Somewhere off the coast of Cancun,” Isabel provided wryly.

Liz growled in frustration at that point, thumping her small fist against the table. “Can you two please stop discussing me as if I’m not even here?” She palmed her forehead, blowing out an exhausted sigh. “Max and I are together, alright? He and Tess are history. End of story. That’s it…the finale. Finite!

“Well, you don’t have to get all snarky about it,” Alex grumbled.

Liz lost all her impetus then, wilting back into her chair. “Can you guys just take me home?” she implored wearily, “I’m just really wiped and I wanna go home.”

On the drive back to the house Liz mentally rehearsed what she would tell Max. Somehow just plunging in and simply telling him that she was pregnant didn’t seem like the smartest approach. He was already of the mindset that she’d had the tests done and they were in the clear. Max had just mentioned it the night before. She could have corrected him then but she didn’t because she hadn’t wanted him to freak over nothing. And Liz had been sure it would be nothing. They had both been horrendously drunk that night. What were the odds that one of Max’s little swimmers would actually make it to their destination? Obviously, pretty damned good.

Liz only half listened as Isabel and Alex regaled to her the horrors of their first and only date. They had mutually decided on friendship, figuring that if something more should happen between them then it would. Liz tried, genuinely tried, to show some interest in their conversation, but she couldn’t help but find it all inane. She was about to tell Max that she was going to have his baby and Liz was dreading the almost sure disappointment she’d find.

When Isabel finally pulled up in front of the house Liz felt her dread mount to epic proportions when she saw Max’s Corvette parked in the driveway. There went her wild hope that he hadn’t yet made it back from the restaurant. She swallowed back her audible groan and gave herself a mental pep talk. After she had sufficiently calmed her nerves she managed a weak smile for Isabel and Alex and said, “Hey, maybe we can get together and do something later on, huh?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alex agreed, “Get some rest in the meantime. You look like you’re coming down with something.”

Liz was inclined to believe him. Not only was her stomach churning with anxiety over having to face Max but also she actually felt achy. Was that a pregnancy symptom as well or was her reluctance to face Max just working in overdrive?

She crept into the house, a little surprised to find it dark and relatively quiet. When calling Max’s name yielded no response Liz began to hunt for him. She found Max a few minutes later, sprawled on his stomach across her bed fast asleep. He hadn’t even removed his jacket and sneakers. Her nerves working overtime, Liz tiptoed over to Max and gently nudged his shoulder. He didn’t budge. She nudged him again, whispering his name softly as she did. His eyes fluttered open then and he favored her with a lazy smile.

“Hello,” he murmured sleepily, “Did you just get back?”

“Alex just got back into town today,” Liz explained, “Isabel wanted to go out for lunch…I couldn’t say no.”

“S’okay,” Max yawned, rolling over onto his back so that he could face her fully, “I was kinda tired anyway. After I got back from the restaurant I just sorta crashed.”

“I guess the last few days have really been rough, huh,” Liz whispered in gently sympathy. She brushed his bangs back from his forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

“But I want to talk,” Max insisted, though it was obvious he was bone tired. He grasped her around the waist and pulled her down beside him. “Tell me about lunch…how was your morning?”

“It…it was just normal,” Liz hedged uneasily, “No big deal.” She pressed her fingers against his lips when he would have grilled her. “Go to sleep. I’ll tell you everything when you wake up.”

“Promise?” he prompted as he started to drift off again.

Liz dropped her eyes, lacking the heart to look him in the eye when she lied to him. “Promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz really did have every intention on telling Max the truth. She simply hadn’t anticipated that they would both fall ill before she had the opportunity to do so. They sat together on the sofa presently, huddled beneath an electric blanket together while trembling with the chills that wracked their tired bodies. The coffee table before them was littered with medicinal paraphernalia. There was cold tablets, Thera-Flu, Vicks Vapor Rub, Kleenex both used and unused, a humidifier, and throat lozenges. There was also a half eaten package of HoHo’s, which, instead of making them feel better, made them feel infinitely worse.

Max groaned, shuddering as another body chill assailed him. “I feel awful,” he croaked, punctuating the statement by blowing his nose.

“Who’s bright idea was it to play in the rain?” Liz accused him as she smeared a thick coat of the Vapor Rub over her chest and neck.

“How was I supposed to know we’d get sick,” Max whined. He pushed himself from the sofa. “I’m gonna get more orange juice. Want some?”

Liz nodded. “Forget the glasses,” she told him wearily, “We’ll just drink straight from the carton.” Max cocked a surprised eyebrow, but Liz only shrugged it off. “We’ve been swapping spit for the last two days,” she informed him hoarsely, “It’s not like we don’t have each other’s germs anyway.”

“Swapping spit,” Max repeated mockingly, “God, baby, you definitely know how to turn a phrase. I don’t know how I keep myself from jumping you right now.”

“Hah, hah. Just go get the juice, smart ass,” Liz ordered with an exasperated eye roll. Only when Max had completely gone from the room did her teasing smile fade away.

Liz felt like hell and not only because she was so sick. She was in an emotional hell as well. She was lying to Max. It wasn’t something she had set out to do. In fact, Liz had fully intended to tell him the truth by this morning at least. But the timing always seemed to be off. Last night Max had been so exhausted and Liz had been so scared to tell him that she’d thought it best just to let it ride.

While Max slept she had racked her brain for the best way to tell him that she was pregnant. Consequently, she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. Factor in her sudden paranoid fear of taking any medicine for fear it would harm the baby and Liz felt like a nervous wreck. Even if she had summoned up the courage to confess to him Liz wasn’t sure if she had the emotional or physical strength to deal with the fall out. The more time that passed, the more her courage fled until Liz didn’t think she could tell him at all.

She began talking herself out of it, saying that the news was the last thing he needed when he was feeling so bad. Perhaps she should wait until they were both well again. Yes, Liz told herself desperately, she’d wait until they were well and then she’d tell Max the truth.

A few minutes later Max came staggering back from the kitchen with a package of cookies as well as the orange juice. Liz leveled him with a quelling look. “Didn’t you learn your lesson with the HoHo’s,” she asked him pointedly.

“I think it was all that cream that didn’t sit well with me,” Max replied as he scrambled back beneath the blanket, “Besides I need to eat something otherwise how will I keep up my strength for tonight.”

“Don’t tell me you’re still planning to go in to work.”

“It’s my first day,” Max said around a mouthful of cookie, “It won’t look good if I don’t show up. I may not know much about the job industry but I know that.”

“But you’re sick,” Liz argued stridently.

“Don’t worry…I’ll have this,” Max told her, reaching forward to grab the Tylenol cold tablets from the table, “And these,” he added as he also scooped up the Riccola throat lozenges, “and don’t forget this,” he threw in, adding the Vick’s Vapor Rub to his bounty. He favored her with a triumphant smile. “See…I’m all set.” He followed his proud declaration with a moist sneeze.

“Great,” Liz deadpanned, passing him a tissue, “You’ll be a walking medicine chest.”

Max blew his nose and returned all the medicines to the coffee table before pulling her against him. “I’ll be fine,” he assured her, “I’m only following tonight. I’ll be there two hours max. Besides you’ve got other things to worry about other than me coughing in peoples’ food.”

Liz went completely rigid. “What other things?” Instantly, her mind began running in frantic circles. Surely he couldn’t know about the pregnancy already? No, Liz told herself fiercely, she had to get a grip. Of course Max didn’t know she was pregnant. She was allowing her paranoia to run rampant. Forcing herself to calm down Liz asked blandly, “What are you talking about?”

“I forgot to tell you,” Max confessed sheepishly, “Your mother called yesterday. She wants us to come to dinner tomorrow night--,”

“Absolutely not,” Liz said, cutting him off before he could finish.

“She says she wants to make it up to us for what happened the other night,” Max insisted. Liz remained mutinously silent. Max sighed. “We can’t avoid them forever, Lizzie.”

“Can’t we?” Liz fired back petulantly.

“Liz, it’s been two weeks,” Max reminded her gently, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “I don’t want you to be estranged from your parents over this. We’re together now and, though we might not have liked their methods, it worked out for the best, right?”

“I guess so,” Liz replied reluctantly.

“Come on, it’s just dinner,” he prodded lightly, “It’ll be like old times. And hey, look at the bright side, at least my parents won’t be there.”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Four

His parents were there.

The moment Max saw them he had to stop himself from walking out right then and there. He probably would have if Liz hadn’t been clutching at his arm like a lifeline. Max bit down so hard his jaw looked as if it had been carved from granite, but he made no attempt to bolt. He had encouraged Liz to come to her parents for dinner despite her misgivings. Max wouldn’t abandon her now.

As he pushed her on ahead of him into the dining room, however, Max caught sight of Michael milling around outside the double doors and approached him. The tension between them had only increased in the preceding days and Max was at a loss as to how to ease it. Consequently, he and Michael were short with one another whenever they had the occasion to speak.

“Why didn’t you warn me that Philip and Diane would be here?” Max demanded somewhat belligerently of his friend.

Michael favored him with a look of disinterest. “I didn’t know I was supposed to,” he replied blandly.

“What the hell is with you?” Max retorted shortly, “You’ve been acting like a dick towards me for weeks!”

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact you’re fucking my sister!” Michael returned through clenched teeth, “I’m sorry if it rubs me the wrong way!”

“Liz and I are married!” Max all but cried, “It’s not like I had sex with one of her classmates in the school closet.”

“Isabel and I were never serious,” Michael argued tightly, “Just look how fast she moved on to prove it. However, you and Liz are a completely different story. Liz has been in love with you for most of her life!” He pushed his face within inches of Max’s, using every ounce of his self-will to keep from launching himself at Max and beating him to a bloody pulp. “I swear to God, Max, if you fuck around on her--,”

“I’m not, okay!” Max replied in a near shout. And then he belatedly composed himself, not wanting to draw further attention from his parents who were already watching him with hawk-like eyes. “I’m not going to hurt her, Michael,” he told his friend in a considerably calmer tone, “I love her and she loves me. We’re going to work this out.”

“And what happens when Tess gets back into town?” Michael demanded coldly.

Max shrank away from the fury leaping from Michael’s eyes. “What are you asking me?”

“Is she out of your life for good?” Michael charged tersely, “Are you two truly over or will you still be throwing her in my sister’s face?”

“It’s not like that,” Max protested weakly. Of course, he didn’t plan on continuing his relationship with Tess. Max was completely committed to Liz now, but he’d be lying if he said he could completely cut Tess out of his life and pretend as if she didn’t exist. Michael saw the uncertainty on his face, however, and mistook it for wavering.

Michael turned away from him in scornful disgust. “You’re unbelievable, man!”

“Michael, wait!” Max said, grabbing out for his arm only to have Michael yank away from his grasp, “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“You know what?” Michael retorted, stabbing his index finger into the middle of Max’s chest, “I don’t give a damn! You hurt my sister…I’ll fucking kill you.” He walked off for the dining room without a backwards glance.

The moment he left Liz rushed over to Max’s side, having overheard their heated exchange like everyone else, her brow creased in a worried frown. “What just happened?” she asked fearfully.

“Michael and I are having a bit of a disagreement right now,” Max replied vaguely.

“A disagreement?” Liz gaped at him. “You guys were yelling.”

Max sighed heavily. “Can we please just talk about this later?” he pleaded, “You and I are still trying to get over these damned colds…we don’t need more drama right now. Let’s just get through this dinner and go home.” Since Liz was inclined to agree with his assessment, she nodded without argument.

Dinner actually began as a peaceful affair. There wasn’t much conversation to begin with and though there was a painfully awkward silence permeating the dining room it actually served to make dinner a bearable affair. Max was beginning to think that they might just make it through dinner completely unscathed when his father suddenly pushed away his dinner plate. The hope that dinner with their parents would prove an uneventful occasion was blown to the four winds when Philip Evans loudly declared, “So can we expect some grandchildren from the two of you in the near future?” Jeff Parker was the only other person who didn’t flush with embarrassment over the bold inquiry. He was as baldly interested in their answer as Philip did.

The question caused Liz’s heart to plunge into the pit of her belly. She immediately went into a coughing fit behind her dinner napkin. It felt like her world was suddenly reduced to a small pinpoint of light and had commenced to spinning. She inadvertently knocked over her water glass in her panic, her breath billowing from her lungs in heavy pants.

Max was on his feet and at her side the moment she spilled the water. Thinking that she was still feeling under the weather due to her cold, he immediately gathered her trembling body against his and began murmuring soft reassurances to her. He shot his father a murderous glare over her head. “We’re leaving,” Max informed their hosts brusquely, already assisting a shaking Liz from her seat.

“It is a valid question, Max,” Jeff Parker added quietly, “Of course, we’re concerned.”

“You’re concerned?” Max mocked contemptuously, “That’s a laugh.”

“If you need any financial assistance we would be happy to provide whatever is needed for our future grandchildren,” Jeff offered magnanimously.

“We don’t want anything from you,” Max enunciated, his every word laced with venom.

“That is quite enough!” the usually soft spoken Nancy Parker admonished sharply, “We asked the children over here tonight so that we could have a nice family dinner together! Why must you turn this into a drama, Jeff?”

“Nancy, please,” Jeff soothed calmly, “We all know that they are…for lack of a better word…involved intimately with one another now. We’ve got the pictures to prove it.” This last admission filled Liz with stark, raving terror. If her father was still having them spied on it was highly probable that she’d been seen by her pregnancy test. Liz turned wild eyes to her father’s face, frantically searching his features for the truth and what she saw in his eyes made her heart turn to stone. He knew. Liz wanted to sink through the floor…because if he said something in front of Max she’d just die. “Of course, children would be the obvious next step.” Liz didn’t miss the pointed look he directed her way. She gave her head an imperceptible shake.

“My God, they’re just children themselves, Jeff!” Diane burst out incredulously, “It’s much too soon for the two of them to be even thinking about such a step! They should at least wait until they’re out of college. A baby now would just be a complete disaster.”

The argument made Liz feel even sicker. She swayed against Max. Liz felt as if the odds were being stacked against her. Every reason she had for wanting her baby, for wanting Max to want it were slowly being chinked away. The very fact that their fathers seemed so mad for them to produce grandchildren warned Liz that her newly discovered pregnancy would not be seen as a blessing. Liz moaned aloud with the awful realization.

Recognizing that Liz was dangerously close to tears as well as noting her rapidly draining color, Max intoned boldly, “Our relationship is not up for speculation at the dinner table or anywhere else, okay!” He cradled Liz more securely against his side. “This discussion is over. Good night.”

“Surely you both realize by now that this was all for the best,” Jeff said to their retreating backs, “Don’t deny that you’re happy. We gave you that…can’t you at least be grateful.”

Max pivoted around slowly to face his father-in-law. “You and my father have systematically put us through hell,” he replied in a silky whisper, “There are many things I feel for you, sir, but gratitude isn’t one of them.”

“Is that how you feel, Lizzie,” Jeff challenged his daughter speculatively, “Didn’t I make your fondest wish come true?”

Liz didn’t answer, but only turned her anguished gaze up to Max. “Please…please,” she pleaded brokenly, “…take me home.”

She hardly said a word in the car. Max wished devoutly that he knew what was going on in her mind right now, but whenever he attempted to broach the subject she would cut him off. Although the confrontation with their fathers had been upsetting Max couldn’t imagine why Liz had taken it so hard. They had said and done worse two weeks earlier and Liz had handled their cruelty with the stoicism of a queen. And yet tonight she had been near collapse. Max couldn’t help but wonder if the idea of having his baby was really that repulsive to her.

By the time they reached home Liz didn’t seem anymore inclined to talk to Max than she had in the car. He watched helplessly as she dragged herself into the house, barely making eye contact with him when she did. With an aching heart Max followed her into the bedroom, hoping that she would let down the icy wall she’d set up around her. But she didn’t. She only whispered, “I’m going to take a shower,” and disappeared into the bathroom, locking it behind her.

Max sank down onto her bed, feeling dejected and fearful. Had he done something, said something to turn her away? He could imagine that Liz was beyond overwhelmed right now. She was only sixteen, after all…still in high school. And yet she was married now and even expected to bear children. Only two short days before she’d believed her husband to be in love with another woman. It was little wonder she looked so repulsed. She was probably feeling trapped and closed in now…maybe she didn’t even want to be married to him anymore. Maybe she’d decided that she didn’t love him after all, Max considered as he leaned back against the pillows despondently.

It seemed he lay there for an eternity with his thoughts tormenting him before the bathroom door finally creaked open. Max lifted his head to regard Liz standing in the threshold, draped in nothing but a bright, yellow towel. He swallowed. “Do you want me to get your robe?” he asked shakily. Liz shook her head negative. “Your pajamas?” Max ventured.

“No,” she replied deliberately, her fingers floating to the knot securing her towel. With a flick of her fingers she freed it, letting the terry cloth material pool at her feet. Liz met his eyes in an unwavering stare. “I want you to make love to me,” she whispered tremulously.

“Liz--,”

“No, don’t say anything,” Liz interrupted with gentle urgency, “The last time I did this you turned me away.” She ducked her head briefly, blinking back the tears forming in her eyes. Despite that, when she looked at him again her brown eyes were glistening. “Please don’t reject me again, Max…I couldn’t take it…”

Liz held her breath as he crept from the bed and made his way over to her. She didn’t release it until she felt his hand gliding down the wet cascade of her hair. And then she forgot to breathe completely when he finally, thankfully pressed his warm, soft lips to hers in a kiss that was anything but rejecting.

The kiss began so tentative, so sacred between them, something uniquely holy. Max held himself away from her nude body, afraid that the slightest contact would make him lose all control. Instead Max contented himself with tasting her mouth, running his tongue along to sensitive flesh of her lower lip, reveling in her warm sweet taste. They kissed without touching at all, their mouths caressing, dancing, yearning together…

And then because he could hardly keep his hands to himself any longer Max broke down and touched her, sliding his fingers up both sides of her slender neck and cradling her head for his deepening his exploration of her mouth. Liz clutched at the front of his shirt like an anchor almost fearful her knees might buckle under the sensation. Max was making love to her mouth; making love…exactly what she wanted him to do to her body.

The floor suddenly gave way from beneath her feet as Max swept her into his arms and bore her towards the bed. They never broke their kiss, never surfaced from that world where only the two of them existed. When Max laid Liz against the bed there was no hesitation before he stretched out along side her.

He dragged his lips from hers in those breathless seconds, trailing them across her downy cheek in search of her throat, her shoulder. Liz did her share of exploration as well, her fingers tunneling through Max’s thick hair, skimming over the curving rims of his ears, bunching into the crisp material of his shirt. She felt lost, floating on a cloud of pleasure and she wanted to stay there. Liz didn’t want to think about what tomorrow would bring…she wanted nothing more than to concentrate on that hour, that very moment when Max Evans was hers and hers alone.

They broke apart with panting laughter a moment later when Liz began tugging insistently at the edge of Max’s shirt. They eyes met in a glittering stare as they sat upright together and Liz lifted shaking fingers to his small, plastic buttons. Without ever taking her eyes from his Liz purposely undid each one, her heart leaping each time her knuckles brushed across his skin. And with that intense moment came a brief memory of their night together, the second when he had removed her shirt in the exact same way. Liz emitted a short gasp.

“I remember that night…” she whispered haltingly, “…you…you unbuttoned my shirt that night…”

“Yes…” Max confirmed, moaning softly as she pushed his shirt from his shoulders, smoothing her hands down his back as she did. “You felt so good,” he gasped into her hair, “so soft.”

“Did I?” Liz murmured choppily. Her world was spinning with the effect of his light touches. Nothing overt at all. Fingertips tracing her naked spine, lips meandering across her shoulder, his tongue darting timidly across her collarbone… Heady caresses… Liz could barely think beyond the haze he was creating. “Tell me,” she urged as Max pressed her back into the pillows, “tell me about that night…tell me how it felt…”

“When…when I touched you,” Max stammered out gruffly.

Liz took hold of his hand and brought it to her lips. She nipped softly at his fingertip before sucking it into her mouth deliberately. Max swallowed back his groan of pleasure. “When you were inside me, Max…” she whispered as she wrapped her naked body around his sensuously, “tell me…”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Five

Liz knew it wasn’t right. She was deceiving him, manipulating him and her heart was twisting to pieces with the recognition yet she couldn’t stop herself. All she could think was that this could be their last time, their last happy time before the storm and she wanted it. No, this was about more than that. She deserved this moment of happiness, had cried endless, bitter tears to have it and no one; nothing would keep her from it now.

She was almost in tears as she straddled his body in order to slowly flip back the button at the waistband of his trousers. It was several moments before Liz was composed enough to raise her head. When she did she strummed her fingers along the tight muscles of his abdomen before urging him yet again, “Tell me…please…”

“It was amazing,” Max whispered breathlessly, closing his eyes as Liz gradually unzipped the fly of his pants, easing the strain of his erection against the fabric. “You were…so small,” he gasped, his body nearly jackknifing off the mattress when he felt Liz begin to stroke him tentatively through his boxers, “…so…so wet…so unbelievable...Liz…I didn’t think it could ever be like that…”

Liz raised uncertain brown eyes to his passion-clouded face. “I didn’t disappoint you?” she wondered tremulously.

“Never,” Max vowed softly. He caressed her blindly, stroking his hands up and down the length of her bare thighs. With his light touches Max tried to reassure her and calm his rampaging hormones all at once. “You don’t have to be afraid of me…of this.”

She ducked her head shyly. “I don’t even know what to do.”

Max looked up at her then, his eyes like molten gold. “What do you want to do?” he asked in a groan. He had several suggestions but he kept them to himself. This was about Liz’s pleasure, not his own. He wanted her to take as much time as she needed. He wanted her to burn for him like he burned for her…

“I want to kiss you,” Liz answered after an earth-shattering pause.

“Where do you want to kiss me?” Max whispered.

“Here,” Liz whispered in return, raking her fingernail across his pebbled nipple, “and here,” she added as she trailed her finger down the expanse of his muscled chest.

“Do that…kiss me there, Liz,” Max invited huskily. He cupped her face between his hands and brought her down against his chest. At the first flick of her curious tongue Max went completely rigid, his breath frozen in his lungs. She was merely experimenting, stroking her tongue back and forth across his nipple as she familiarized herself with the taste and texture of his skin. Max buried his fingers into her silky hair, giving himself up to the sensations she created. His soft, disjointed moans filled the room, complemented by Liz’s own serrated breathing.

Liz whimpered against him, her heart thrilling each time she heard his jerky gasp of pleasure in response to her nipping caresses. She lifted her mouth from his nipple a few inches so that she could explore the turgid, brown disk with her fingertip. “Does it feel the same as when you do this to me?” she whispered.

A liquid smile spread over Max’s lips. He’d never considered it before. “How does it feel when I do it to you?” he wondered dreamily. Max couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful at that moment than a naked Liz Parker, …um…Evans, lying in his arms and asking him such sweet, sexy questions.

“How does it feel?” Liz considered pensively in a moaning lilt, dipping her nose to nuzzle his, heretofore, unexplored nipple. “I can feel it clear down to my toes,” she said and her breath caused puffs of warm, sensual air to stir against Max’s chest as she spoke.

Max traced the curve of her slender spine, his fingers cresting almost to the gentle curve of her buttocks before retreating. He wanted to go crazy right then, just flip her onto her back and drive in deep, drive in home. It was ridiculous how much his body was aching over just a few innocent caresses. But then, Max decided, he had been waiting for the last two days to touch her again, even longer really. He’d been waiting since the last time; he’d been waiting even before he realized he loved her… Still, Max was expressly determined to go slow…to take his time and let Liz take hers. They had all night; after all, they had the rest of their lives.

“Does it feel that way to you?” she asked with sensual innocence as she pressed nibbling kisses down the corrugated expanse of his abdomen.

Max fingered her hair, his eyes sinking closed once again. “Yeah…just that way…” he groaned, jerking a little when he felt her plunge her tongue into his navel. It was an odd sensation really. He had never been kissed there and yet that was exactly what Liz was doing. Not just pressing her lips there, but dipping her tongue inside much the way she would do his mouth, swirling ever so gently… Max groaned in response to the exquisite pleasure, beginning to grind unconsciously against Liz’s upper body.

When she lifted off his body once again Max wanted to weep with frustration because the pressure she created against his aching cock had been so deliciously satisfying. Liz pushed herself up onto her knees, staring down at him with an expression that could only be described as sultry and wild. She licked her lips, the darting pink tip sliding over her petal soft flesh much the way it had slid over his. “I want to see you, Max,” was all she said. Honestly, no other words needed to be spoken between them.

Together they eased his trousers and boxers down his hips and thighs, leaving his erection to suspend buoyantly above his groin. After Liz had removed his pants completely she tossed them aside, her eyes fastened on Max’s turgid length. The veins that pulsed through the delicate skin amazed her. She sifted her fingers though his coarse pubic hair, dipped them lower to cautiously fondle wrinkly skin of his testicles. Underneath her scrutiny and fleeting touch Max’s erection leapt hungrily. Liz gasped a little laugh in response. “Are you doing that on purpose?” she wondered aloud.

“Doing what?” Max ground out. God, would she just touch him there already! He was about to explode…he was going to explode if she didn’t. Hell, he might still do so if she did.

Liz nibbled at the corner of her lip. “Making it move,” she clarified in a whisper.

Max lifted his head to see what she indicated for himself. Sure enough his penis was twitching slightly. “It’s throbbing,” he explained breathlessly.

“Why?”

Max pinned her with an electric stare. “Because I want you so much,” he answered.

She moaned aloud with his admission. “What can I do?” Liz whispered sweetly.

In answer, Max captured her hand and brought her fingers into contact with his rigid length. “Touch me,” he coaxed, wrapping her fingers around his flesh and lazily teaching her the rhythm he liked. “Yes…yes,” he hissed as Liz’s hand stroked him from root to tip in slow exploration, “Just like that, baby…yeah…yeah…”

Liz was astonished by the silky, hot hardness of him, amazed that the tentative caresses she made could provide Max with so much pleasure. “Max, you’re so soft…” she marveled breathlessly, her attention riveted on the pearly drop of liquid that began forming at the head of his cock, “…your skin is so hot…”

Max barely heard her. His skin was on fire. Tossing fitfully against the pillows, he thrust into her hand with a desperate need for release. “Liz…” he gasped, “…Liz…please…”

She had no idea what he was begging for but she wanted to give it to him. Liz pumped her hand faster, inexplicably aroused by the friction he caused against her palm. She rotated her thumb over the moistened tip of his arousal, spreading the sticky liquid around his head. Her own desire growing to rapacious heights as Max quickened beneath her Liz murmured in a choking gasp, “I want you inside me, Max.”

His lids fluttered up to reveal eyes intense with an almost feral heat. In one deft motion he flipped Liz onto her back and leaned up over her. And then he rolled over abruptly and began rummaging through the nightstand drawer beside her bed. A moment later he was ripping open a packaged prophylactic with a sigh of relief and rolling the latex down the distended length of his penis.

Max’s thoughtful action served as a forceful reminder to Liz right then that she was lying to him. She knew there wasn’t any need for protection at all because the damage had already been done. Though Liz had briefly considered the possibility that the test had been wrong she seriously doubted there was any truth to it. More likely she had miscalculated the start date of her period rather than the possibility that she’d received a false positive. The irrefutable truth was simple. She was pregnant. She knew it.

And yet, instead of telling Max the truth, she had seduced him and allowed herself to be seduced in return. She had been too cowardly to deal with his possible rejection and so she’d sought refuge in the only place she knew…his arms. Now she felt loathsome for even considering such a thing. Shamed rolled through Liz’s body in boiling waves and she averted her face, too mortified to even look Max in the eye.

The moment she turned her face away Max froze. He leaned up over her, his expression veering from passionate to concerned. “Liz?” he questioned delicately, growing alarmed as her features suddenly crumpled in anguish. He lowered himself down atop her, angling his head so that he could better see her expression. “Liz, why are you crying,” he whispered, “Did I do something wrong?”

Liz choked out a laughing sob. “No, Max,” she insisted tearfully, “you’ve done everything right.”

“You just don’t want to anymore?” Max asked.

The boyish humility of his question was her undoing. Liz made herself look at him then, her tears spilling out from the corners of her eyes. She sighed deeply. “Max, there’s something I have to tell you,” she began haltingly. It would be Liz’s fortune that the moment she was prepared to spill all the telephone rang.

Max never took his eyes from Liz’s drawn face, his attention riveted on her completely. “Tell me,” he insisted gently, ignoring the insistent ringing.

“The phone,” Liz protested, having momentarily lost her nerve once again, “…you should get it.”

“It can wait,” Max replied, “Tell me why you’re crying.”

“Please,” Liz begged, pushing at his shoulders a little, “just answer the phone.”

His stomach churning with dismayed confusion Max lifted away from her and did what she asked. The moment he heard the voice on the other end of the line, however, his anxiety tripled. Trying to keep the impatience and dread out of his voice Max said calmly, “I thought we agreed that it was best you didn’t call here anymore.” The brusque nature of his tone caught Liz’s attention immediately and her eyes ricocheted to Max’s face as her ears pricked with attention.

“I need to see you,” Tess replied tearfully, “Please…I’m at the airport. Will you come get me? Please, Max…please…”

Max turned away slightly so that Liz was presented with his back and lowered his voice to a bare whisper. “You know I can’t do that,” he told her firmly, “Can’t you call Alex or a cab or something?”

“Max, please…” she pleaded again, “You’re all I have.” He heard her sob into the phone and the sound twisted Max’s insides with guilt. “I don’t have anyone else to call.”

“Did something happen with your dad?” he asked her intuitively.

“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it over the phone,” she said emotionally, “I left the ship at our last port of call. He probably doesn’t even realize I’m missing.” She started to cry again. Max swallowed past the lump of remorse forming in his throat. “Can you please come and get me?”

Max darted his eyes about the room helplessly. He glanced down at his nude body and then tossed a look over his shoulder at Liz’s equally nude body. And God, she was crying, too. He couldn’t just leave her to go and comfort Tess. “Tess, I really can’t do that…” he replied reluctantly, “This isn’t a good time.”

“Max, if you don’t come I might do something desperate like last time,” she warned him shakily, “You don’t want me to do that again, do you?”

He shuddered at the quivering reminder. Last time she had taken a fistful of Vicodin. He’d had to force her to puke them up and then afterwards he’d stayed with her the rest of the night because she refused to go to the hospital. She was terrified of her father discovering what she’d done. Max hadn’t slept at all that night but had watched her from the chair situated near her bedroom window; fearful she might try again. That same fear spread like ice through Max’s veins now. He exhaled a resigned sigh. He didn’t want her to do something stupid on his account. “Give me half an hour,” he told her as he reached over onto the nightstand to grab a pad and pencil, “Tell me where I can find you.”

When he hung up he turned back to Liz and found her regarding him with wounded eyes. Max found he couldn’t meet her tormented gaze right then. “That was Tess, wasn’t it?” Her words weren’t a question, rather a statement that her eyes silently begged him to refute.

He slipped off the unused condom and threw it in the trash. “She just got back into town. She’s having a hard time, Liz. She wanted to know if I’d pick her up from the airport,” Max explained. He eased from the bed and began pulling back on his clothes.

“So you’re just going to go to her?” Liz burst out incredulously, her hurt apparent on her face as she looked at him. She yanked up the bed sheet to cover her nakedness, suddenly as disgusted with him as she was with herself.

“It’s not that way,” Max replied lamely. He slipped his sweatshirt over his head. “I’m afraid if I don’t go to her she’ll do something stupid. That’s all this is about, okay. I’m going to pick her up and take her home…that’s it.”

Liz snorted a bitter laugh. “She’s back in town two minutes and you go running.”

“Liz, it’s not like that,” he insisted again. He reached forward to caress her cheek, but she twisted away from his touch. “Please, Liz…” he implored, “please don’t be like this. You know I love you.” Her expression remained mutinous. “We can talk when I get back,” he cajoled, “I promise.”

“Whatever!” Liz spat in reply, “Just go to her, alright!”

“Liz--,”

Just get out!

Max cringed at the hatred in her tone. “We’ll talk when I get back,” he said again, but his tone was dull and full of hurt. He wanted to stay and explain his reasons to her, but Max was frightened of what would happen if he left Tess alone for too long. He could only hope that Liz would be willing to listen to his explanations once he returned. With one last painful look towards Liz, Max scooped up his jacket and left.

Only after he was gone did Liz break down and cry.
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Six

Alex didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised to find Liz standing on his doorstep at nearly twelve in the morning. The moment he glimpsed her tear-stained face and puffy eyes he stepped aside and let her in. “You and Max have another fight?” he asked her gently.

“Tess is back,” Liz sniffled, “Max went to pick her up from the airport.” She fell into Alex’s chest, weeping with renewed sobs. Her sobs came even harder when she felt his arms close around her protectively. “Just like that…she calls and he goes running.” She blubbered into the front of his t-shirt, crying and crying until she felt completely empty. And even then her tears wouldn’t stop flowing. She pulled back from Alex and swiped at her dripping nose with the back of her hand. “Why am I forever crying all over you?” she wailed pitifully, “God, I never used to cry this much. I’m like a walking fountain.”

Alex led her off for the kitchen, draping his arm about her shoulder. “You can’t be this broken because Max picked Tess up from the airport,” he said gamely. Liz slid onto one of the counter stools while Alex fetched them a couple of drinks from the refrigerator. Alex cracked open his drink and took a swig before continuing. “Max has got to be, like, the only friend she’s got and that’s not saying much since he dumped her.”

“Alex,” Liz began calmly, “He left me to go to her while we were lying naked in bed.”

He winced at the mental image. “Ouch.” Alex’s features softened with pity. “God, Liz, I’m sorry…”

Liz threw up her hands in anguished confusion. “I just don’t get it, Alex,” she cried brokenly, “These last two days have been the happiest of my whole life. I mean, we were going to make love tonight…and then Tess comes back and I’m just nothing again?”

“Is that how you really feel?” Alex asked her carefully.

“I don’t know,” Liz confessed miserably, “An hour ago I was absolutely certain that Max loved me…now I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Because he picked Tess up from the airport?” Alex burst out incredulously.

“Because he did what he’s always done,” Liz clarified bitterly, “Dropped me flat to go running back to her on winged feet.” Fresh tears fell from her eyes, collecting in the grooves of her mouth. “Now I’m wondering if he’s with me because he loves me like he said or if he just feels guilty for sleeping with me while he and Tess were together. I don’t know what to think anymore…”

“Maybe this is just a fluke, Liz,” Alex humored her lamely, “He and Tess go way back…maybe he was just trying to be nice…”

Liz caught the disbelieving thread in his tone. “Why do you sound like that?” she charged him querulously.

“Sound like what?” Alex demanded.

“I don’t know…all blasé and bland…like it’s not a big deal or something.”

Alex tried to steer the conversation in another direction before he ended up saying something he’d truly regret. He could be a funny man when the time called for it, but Alex Whitman also had a knack for calling them like he saw him. Although, at that present moment, he didn’t think Liz was in the emotional state to hear blunt honesty.

He pushed away from the kitchen counter to go rummaging through the cupboards. “You want something to eat,” he asked casually, “I know there’s something good in here…the cook just hides it…”

“I don’t want food,” Liz cried in exasperation, “I want to know what you’re thinking right now.”

Alex turned to face her, folding his arms over his chest. “No, you don’t,” he countered succinctly, “You don’t want to know what I’m thinking right now.”

“Alex, you’re my friend,” she whispered tearfully, “I need you to tell me the truth.”

Rotating his tongue around the inside of his cheek, Alex regarded her for a few, tense moments as if trying to gauge for himself if she was truly ready to hear what he had to say. Deciding he’d probably do more harm by keeping his silence Alex went ahead and laid it all out for her. “I don’t like what’s happening to you,” he stated flatly.

“What’s happening to me?” Liz repeated with a frown, “What are you talking about?”

“Look at you,” Alex emphasized, “You’re in a constant emotional mess…always crying or depressed and the only thing that will bring you out of your funk is if Max Evans pays you some attention. He claims to love you and you’re on cloud nine…he deserts you and you’re back down in the pits again.”

“Of course, I am,” Liz sniffled in affront, “It hurts, okay.”

“Exactly what I’m getting at,” he replied pointedly, “Liz, I haven’t known you long, but when I met you I was totally blown away. You were spunky and quirky and full of sass. I mean you sat next to your crush on your sweet sixteen while he and Tess groped each other and you were like this goddess of serenity. You just laughed and laughed that night like it didn’t even matter…” Alex smiled nostalgically in memory, his blue eyes glinting in the dimness of the kitchen. “But lately you don’t laugh so much anymore. In fact, every time I see you you’re in tears. I can’t stand it.”

“Alex, please…”

“He’s no good for you, Liz,” he advised her gently, “Not if he makes you this miserable, not if he causes you so much pain… God, you came here tonight just to spy on him, okay! I know that’s why you parked in the back so he couldn’t see your car!” Liz ducked her head in shameful confession, her cheeks flaming with mortification. “See that’s just what I mean. Look what he’s driven you to…” He walked over to her side then and began tenderly brushing away the tears that wet her cheeks.

“There are things you don’t understand, Alex,” she protested weakly.

“I understand he’s made you cry one too many times,” Alex replied brutally, belying the infinite gentleness of his touch, “I understand that instead of being here with you right now and wiping away your tears he’s with Tess wiping away hers. I understand that he doesn’t deserve you, Liz.”

“But I love him, Alex,” Liz sobbed in protest, “I love him so much…”

“Sometimes love isn’t enough, Liz,” Alex whispered, pulling her into his comforting embrace, “no matter how much we might want it to be.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max shifted the Corvette into park in the long, winding drive of the Harding estate and cut the engine. The only sound that could be heard within the confines of the small car was the crickets chirping incessantly outside. Max folded his wrists atop the steering wheel and turned his head to regard Tess. “So are you going to talk to me now or what?”

He’d expected an emotional deluge when he picked her up from the airport, but instead he’d been met with a surprising silence. The development served to irritate Max more than anything else, especially because he’d provoked an argument with Liz due to his insistence to be there for her. The least she could do was tell him what the hell was so wrong that she was actually considering suicide. However, even after his question, she remained silent, merely sitting in the passenger’s seat like a statue. Max heaved a sigh of resigned frustration. “Let me just help you inside with your bags,” he offered, “then I need to get back home.”

With those words Tess was reanimated. She twisted around to face him desperately. “I’ll marry you!” she burst out suddenly.

Max gaped at her dubiously. “Excuse me?”

“I said I’ll marry you,” she enunciated sharply, “Isn’t that what your little fling with Liz was all about, Max? Well, now you have what you want, okay! I’ll marry you.”

Max leaned his head back against his seat with a long-suffering groan. He sighed, half in frustration, half in pity. “You’re wrong if you think that’s why I’m with Liz.”

“You can’t love her that much,” Tess argued, “Your relationship is too new.”

“I do love her that much.”

“And before you loved me,” she challenged, “Can you just turn your feelings on and off like that?”

“I’ve always loved Liz, Tess.”

Tess glared at him in tearful disgust. “Is the sex really that good, Max?” she demanded coldly, “I would have given that to you if only you’d have asked.”

Max dragged his hands down the length of his face. “Is this why you called me out here tonight,” he asked shortly, “to rehash a past that’s over?” He leveled her with resigned eyes. “I’m not going to do this with you,” he said wearily, “I had this misguided hope that you and I could somehow be friends after this, but I know that’s impossible now. You’ll never let go…”

“Oh, and you have?” Tess mocked acidly, “Then what are you doing out here with me?”

It was then that the situation hit Max with the force of a battering ram. He’d made a serious error in judgment. He should have never come out here at all. This had been just another attempt on Tess’ part to manipulate him. And he had let her. That had to stop. His relationship with Liz would never last if he continued to allow Tess to push his buttons. He had to stop making himself vulnerable to her. Max knew he could only do that by making a clean break from her. It was something he’d hoped to avoid but something that was undeniably inevitable, too.

“Look, Tess,” he began haltingly, “I don’t want you to call me anymore. If you’re in trouble…if you need a friend…just find someone else, okay. I’m not saying this to be mean to you, but I can’t have you in my life anymore.”

Tess looked as if he’d slapped her, her throat working spasmodically against the lump of tears forming in her throat. “So you’re just going to cast me aside like I’m nothing,” she croaked out.

“I…I can’t be what you want,” Max replied stiltedly, “I wish you well in your life.”

She fell into tearful, hysterical laughter with that declaration. “You wish me well in my life,” she repeated shrilly, “You wish me well! I…I’ve stuck by you, Max…when you did horrible things to me, said things… I loved you. I gave you my virginity…you can’t just leave me like this!”

“Stop blaming me for the miscarriage!” Max cried, “You were just as hateful that day and you know it!”

“I was scared, okay,” Tess wept brokenly, “I didn’t know what I was going to tell my father and…and I didn’t know the first thing about being a mom. You know my mom died when I was only three! I didn’t think I had anything to give a child.”

“I would have married you, Tess,” Max replied gruffly, “I would have done the right thing.”

“Would you listen to yourself?” she sobbed, brushing at her tears only to have more fall, “I was an obligation to you, Max. I always knew that. I always knew how you felt about Liz…you were the only one who didn’t see it.”

“You knew?” he whispered in surprise. He couldn’t understand that…hell, he hadn’t even known.

“It was the way you talked about her,” Tess recounted sadly, “Almost with this smile in your voice…like you were in on some joke that was only between the two of you.”

“Is that why you refused to marry me,” Max asked, “because I was in love with another woman?”

Tess snorted an ironic laugh. “Now Max, you know me better than that,” she said bitterly, “I didn’t want to marry you because I knew if I did the full control of my father’s fortune would pass to you and not me.”

Max was blown away by her confession, speechless and stunned by the depth of her callousness. “You didn’t want to marry me because you wanted your father’s money?” he burst out in horrified disgust.

“Don’t look at me that way!” Tess snapped out in annoyance, “I’m a female, Max. Anything my father has will rightfully pass to my husband if I marry. But no one, NO ONE deserves that money more than I do. I’ve suffered years of neglect at his hands, at least when he’s gone I can have his money as a comfort.”

He stared at her in open shock, realizing with a disheartened sigh that he’d never really known her at all. “Well, now you have what you want,” he commended softly.

“Yeah…there’s just one problem,” Tess replied, “I kinda discovered during my trip that I want you more.” Her blue eyes softened with tender feelings. “I love you, Max. I want us to be together--,”

“Tess, I--,”

“—You loved me once,” she whispered insistently, “I know I can make you love me again.” She leaned across the gearshift then and kissed him.

For a second Max didn’t even move. He wasn’t into the kiss, didn’t feel anything at all, but pity compelled him not to shove her away immediately. He had already shattered her so much and he’d further do so when he told her that he didn’t love her and never could again, possibly that he never had. And so Max allowed her to kiss him, tasting the salt of her tears while he held himself completely rigid.

It was the sudden flare of headlights that caused him to rear backwards. The car sped by so fast that Max didn’t even get a good look. All he saw was the retreating red taillights as the car shot out onto the main road.

“It was probably just Alex,” Tess murmured dismissively, already leaning in for another kiss, but this time Max staved her off.

He had stayed too long as it was. “I’m not going to do this with you,” he whispered firmly, “I’m in love with Liz. She’s the only woman I want to be with.” But it didn’t hit Max fully until that very second. He did love Liz, more than anything. Which was why he knew that going to Tess had been the worst mistake of his life. Max could only hope that he hadn’t fucked up things with Liz beyond repair.

“But…but you just kissed me,” Tess protested painfully.

“No, you kissed me,” Max corrected, “and I let you do it, but that was all. It’s over between us, Tess. Let’s just think of it as good-bye and move on with our lives.”

“No,” Tess whimpered, shaking her head in denial. She shrank back from him in angry pain. “You can’t do this to me, Max, “ she spat tearfully, “How can you just walk away? You promised…you promised me…”

“I’m sorry, Tess,” Max uttered remorsefully, “I really am.”

Tess looked at him with eyes gone vacant from pain. “I’ll never let you be happy, Max,” she vowed with quiet bitterness, “I never will.”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Liz drove through the night blindly. She couldn’t see the road, couldn’t see her tears, couldn’t see anything beyond the image of Max and Tess kissing in his car. Fucking son of bitch, Liz thought in agony. How could he do this to her? How could he just turn away and forget the last two days? All the things he’d said to her… God, they had been nothing but lies! She had trusted him implicitly with her heart, had actually let herself believe that he wouldn’t break it. How could she have been so naïve? She had just been someone to keep him warm until Tess returned home. The realization caused a writhing pain in her gut that refused to abate.

Even after he had left her in bed emotionally broken she had wanted to believe the best about him. Liz had told herself that he had only gone to Tess out of obligation. That his guilt and soft heart made him vulnerable to Tess’ blatant manipulations. Max’s actions may have been insensitive, even stupid, but he wasn’t being deliberately cruel. Liz convinced herself that Max felt a sense of duty to Tess only and that was what compelled him to go to her that night. Liz had managed to cling to that tenacious belief even after her disheartening conversation with Alex. But then she’d seen them kissing and her heart just shattered.

The glimpse had been brief, just a stunning flash provided by her headlights but that was all Liz needed to see. Every lie she’d told herself, every excuse she’d made had withered up like a raisin in the hot sun. There was no coming back from this one, Liz realized. She and Max were truly over this time. Honestly, they had never even begun.

Liz felt sick, physically and emotionally, just defeated beyond all comprehension. That image of Tess and Max kissing in the front seat of his car would stay burned in Liz’s memory for a long time to come. She swiped her hand across her cheeks as fresh tears began to fall.

What an idiot! She had really believed that were finally past all this bullshit! After waiting so long it seemed that Max was ready to put her first, to put their marriage first and Liz really believed they could be happy. But she’d been a fool. Max wasn’t ready to be a husband anymore than she was ready to be a wife and a mother. Yet, the fact was Liz was a mother…or at least would become one shortly. For the first time since she learned of her pregnancy Liz felt maternal instinct flare within her.

Liz slid her hand down the flat expanse of her abdomen. She had made herself so crazy with worrying about what was best for Max and what Max needed and what Max wanted that she had neglected herself. Her actions didn’t bode well for her unborn child. If she couldn’t care for her own emotional needs then how was she supposed to provide for a child’s? In that second Liz recognized that a shift in priorities was necessary now. Only two people mattered: herself and her baby. Everybody else could be damned.

A divorce was her only recourse. She didn’t have any other options at this point. It couldn’t possibly be good for the baby if she stayed in an environment so emotionally rife with tension. God, there were so many other things she should be focusing on right now; her baby, her grades, hell, her life! She couldn’t spend her time chasing after Max any longer. Maybe Alex had been right…maybe Max wasn’t the one for her. It was painfully obvious by now that she wasn’t the one for him.

Liz knew what she had to do. Max had already proven time and time again that he didn’t have the spine to end their marriage so Liz would do it. She was done. She had cried all the tears in the world and they hadn’t helped in the slightest. She had begged and fought and seduced and still it hadn’t mattered. Even if Max truly didn’t want Tess his actions tonight proved that he didn’t want Liz either. He was so preoccupied with trying to do the right thing by everyone that he never once stopped to consider what the right thing was. Truthfully, Liz understood with growing clarity, Max didn’t know what the hell he wanted. He never had.

The more distance Liz put between herself and the Harding estate the clearer her path became. Anguish and despair hardened into bitter, cold resolve. Groping around in the seat for her cell phone, Liz snatched it up and hit the speed dial. A few minutes later a groggy Kyle croaked a sleepy “hello.”

“I’m on my way to pick you up,” she told him simply.

“Liz?” Kyle said, coming more awake when he heard her voice, “What’s going on? It’s nearly one o’clock in the morning.”

“I’m leaving Max,” she replied and Liz was surprised that she managed to say the words without breaking down. In fact, rather than tearing her heart to pieces, she felt liberated…strangely free. “I need you to help me pack.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had some serious groveling to do and he knew it. Max had been fortunate to find an all night drugstore on his way home. Still he didn’t’ quite believe that a rose, a box of chocolates and an “I’m sorry” card was going to cut it. He had left Liz to go to Tess. Not just left her either. She had been lying in bed with him, they had been only minutes from making love, and she’d been upset and crying, too.

Max hadn’t let himself think about it before. He had been so frantic to get to Tess and prevent her from doing something stupid that he hadn’t considered the repercussions of his actions. Now Max was beginning to realize that his choice hadn’t been at all wise. He’d been an asshole and he knew it. Just thinking about it made him groan aloud. He could be a real idiot sometimes.

It was the one thing he couldn’t understand about himself. Every time he tried to do the right thing it almost always turned out to be the wrong one. He really wasn’t trying to hurt anyone at all, but Max realized now that he was in a hopeless situation. Someone would have to be left crying, either Tess or Liz. Max understood now that he didn’t want that person to be Liz. He wanted their future together filled with laughter and love and even babies someday. He wanted to wake up to her for the rest of his life.

And he’d tell her that tonight. Not just that either. They were leaving Roswell. Max didn’t know how he would accomplish it, how they would even manage on their own, but he knew instinctively that they would be okay. They’d be together and that was all that mattered.

Leaving was an inevitable choice. Max recognized that immediately during his last emotional confrontation with Tess. She’d never let him and Liz be happy together, neither would their parents for that matter. There would always be someone to interfere. Their best hope for their marriage, for their future really would be to run away from Roswell and never look back. The more Max pondered over the idea the more plausible it seemed. If he was lucky maybe he could even convince Liz to leave with him tonight.

As Max’s rounded the corner for his street his smile of anticipation gradually became a frown of bewilderment when he realized that the lights to his house were on. He also noticed, with a frown of confusion, that the trunk to Liz’s car was open. When he glanced up at the living room window he caught the glimpse of a figure through the billowing curtains. Valenti. He sneered to himself. There could be only one reason why Liz would call him at two in the morning. She was thoroughly pissed.

Max quickly steered the Corvette up against he curb in front of his house and bounded from the car in a race for the front door. He was brought up short when Kyle and Liz stepped out onto the front porch each dragging suitcases behind them. The moment Max saw that he went into a full-fledged panic.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” he exploded, stepping in front of Liz to block her path, “What’s this? What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Liz countered calmly, “I’m leaving.” Max just continued to stare at her with an expression of blank horror. “Can you please move? This bag is heavy.” Max refused to be budged. His features were locked in an expression of dreaded confusion.

“I’ll take these to the car,” Kyle volunteered. He felt like he was intruding on the moment and wanted to make himself scarce.

Liz passed him the suitcase. “Just put them both in the trunk,” she instructed him gruffly. She watched him drag the two suitcases to her car before turning to face Max again. His eyes were glistening with tears of hurt bewilderment. She hated that, hated seeing him cry. Liz felt her heart contract at the sight, but was determined not to betray any compassion she might feel for him.

“Why are you doing this?” Max whispered brokenly.

“Why?” Liz scoffed with a bitter laugh. Could he really be that clueless? He’d just kissed another woman an hour before and he actually had the nerve to ask that question? “Are you really asking me that, Max?”

Max ducked his head shamefully. This was much worse than he’d thought it would be. He realized he must have hurt her terribly if she was willing to leave over it. Max felt renewed tears prickle his eyes, not for himself, but because his idiocy had caused her pain. When he lifted his eyes again there was pleading and remorse swirling around in their golden depths. “I did a stupid thing--,” he began haltingly.

“That doesn’t begin to cover it, Max,” Liz interrupted coldly.

“But I want to make it up to you,” he plunged on desperately, “I’m sorry, okay. This is me saying I’m sorry and I fucked up and I know it.” His words caused Liz to tremble violently, but she didn’t utter a word. Max took that as an encouraging sign. “Let me help you take your bags back inside and we’ll talk,” he suggested gently, “I have a lot I need to say to you.”

When he reached for her arm, however, Liz yanked out of his hold. “No,” she said calmly, “I don’t want to talk anymore, Max. I’m done with talking.”

Max didn’t like the finality he heard in her tone. It was as if she meant to leave him completely and never come back. And she wouldn’t do that, would she, not when she loved him so much? Not when he loved her… This was just so wrong. It couldn’t be happening. He knew he had made a colossal error in judgment when he went for Tess but was it really this bad? Had he blown it for good? Max couldn’t accept that possibility.

He closed his eyes and swallowed several times. “Liz, I know you’re probably furious,” he stated as calmly as he could manage, “and you have every right to be, but--,”

“I spoke to my father tonight,” Liz cut him off tonelessly, “He’s willing to dissolve the marriage. I asked him to have the papers drawn up first thing in the morning.”

Her words couldn’t have hurt worse than if she’d kicked out his still beating heart. As it was that’s exactly how Max felt at the moment. There was a physical ache in his chest. He stumbled back a step, gripping the railing as he staggered. “Are you serious?” he wheezed.

“I thought my dad would be upset,” Liz continued emotionlessly, “…you know…cuz he’d be losing part of his company and everything…but after I explained the situation to him he was really understanding.”

“Explained the situation,” Max repeated woodenly.

“About you and Tess,” Liz clarified.

Max gazed up at her with anguished eyes, shaking his head in stunned disbelief. “There is no me and Tess.”

Liz shrugged, almost as if his agony didn’t affect her in the least. “So you say,” she returned mildly.

“Um…Liz…?”

Both Liz and Max jumped at the intrusion of Kyle’s tentative voice. When Max pivoted to face Kyle his expression was stony with anger. “Can’t you see we’re fucking talking, Valenti?”

Liz’s reaction was sharp and cutting. “Don’t take out your stupidity on him!” she charged coolly. Max literally cringed with the blatant loathing he heard in her words. “He’s here because I want him to be, okay!” And then she turned her softened gaze towards Kyle. “What do you need?”

Surreptitiously avoiding Max’s murderous gaze Kyle asked, “The…um…other bags and stuff…do you still want me to load them into the car?”

“Yeah, load everything,” Liz answered softly. She slid her gaze to Max deliberately. “I won’t be coming back here.” She missed Kyle’s sympathetic glance as he shuffled back into the house because already her full attention was directed back at Max. “From now on any further contact between us should be via our respective attorneys.”

“Doesn’t it even matter to you that I said I’m sorry,” Max wept brokenly.

Liz’s reply was cold and concise. “No.”

Max drew in a shuddering breath, his eyes glistening in the darkness. He barely noticed Kyle passing back and forth as he loaded Liz’s trunk with her belongings. “I don’t want a divorce,” he whispered hoarsely.

“I do.”

Max doubled over slightly with the pain of that verbal blow. “Liz…,” he sobbed, “Liz…I love you!”

And whereas nothing else he’d said had cut through the cold, emotional armor she’d erected those three words stabbed at her heart. For the first time since their conversation began Liz felt her eyes sting with tears. “Max,” she croaked, “you don’t even know what love is.”

Max scrubbed at his tear-stained face with the edge of his jacket. “Maybe you’re right, Liz” he conceded tearfully, “Maybe I don’t know what love is! But I want to learn…I do…and I…I can’t…I can’t if you leave me…”

Liz flinched in reaction to his unreserved display of emotion. “I can’t be the one to teach you,” she whispered painfully, “Please just leave me alone, Max.”

“How much time?” Max prodded desperately, “A week? A month? Tell me and I’ll back off, I swear…just…just don’t end it, Liz…please…”

Mentally praying for the strength to see through what she’d started, Liz tugged off the platinum engagement ring Max had given her only two days earlier and pressed it into his palm. “I don’t want this anymore,” she whispered.

“No, it’s yours,” Max insisted, pushing it back into her hand. The pain of watching her slide the ring off her finger was incredible, but what she did next broke Max to pieces.

Left with no other alternative Liz dropped the ring onto the stone porch. With that definitive action Liz could see that she broke Max’s heart completely. His eyes went alarmingly blank, as if he’d ceased feeling completely in that second and then Liz understood. Max cared. Of course he did. They had been friends for the better part of their lives. She’d made mud pies with him in the hot July sun, hunted fireflies alongside him while enduring the wrath of hungry mosquitoes. He had been her first kiss, her first lover… They had shared many things together, many good times, but none of them were enough to make a marriage. Liz knew that now…the sad part was that Max didn’t.

He stared down at the ring, the stone glinting up at him mockingly in the moonlight. “Is that all you think of me now,” he asked Liz achingly, “Is this all that’s left between us, Liz?”

No, there’s a baby, Liz answered silently. But there was no way she could tell him that. No way she would ever tell him. As she’d suspected her father was already aware of her pregnancy. When she called him he’d had the full intention of informing Philip Evans the very next day. By the time their conversation was done Jeff Parker was full of apologies and remorse, but Liz hadn’t been touched by any of his concern. The one thing she cared about was that he kept her pregnancy a secret from Max and his family. Once she had the vow of his word, under threat that she would leave Roswell forever and take his grandchild with her if he didn’t cooperate, Liz had gone dead inside. There was no one she could trust but herself.

Liz reminded herself of that very fact as she stared into Max’s supplicating gaze. “There was never an us, Max,” she replied shakily, “We had a great friendship once, but now that’s done…we’re done.”

Kyle came out to stand alongside her, gently plucking at her elbow. “I’m finished.”

Never taking her eyes from Max, Liz turned up the corners of her mouth in a bittersweet smile. “So are we…” she whispered definitively.

Max stared after her and Kyle as they hopped into her car and began backing it from their driveway. He felt torn between the need to go after her and the certainty that she’d meant everything she said. Only at the last moment did he decide on the former but when he raced for his car it was only to discover that both his front tires had been slashed. Max slammed his fist against the hood in anguished frustration. “Fucking Valenti.”
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Deejonaise
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Post by Deejonaise »

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Can you go a little faster,” Liz implored as she cast anxious glances over her shoulder at the road behind them, “I’m not entirely sure Max won’t follow us.”

“Little chance of that,” Kyle smirked. Liz tossed him a bewildered look. “I slashed his tires,” he clarified smugly.

“Oh,” was Liz’s only response. She didn’t even crack a smile. In fact, her stoic expression collapsed and she began to cry. Kyle suddenly felt like an asshole for doing something that, at the time, seemed like a good idea.

“Liz…Liz…I’m sorry,” Kyle replied softly, “Tell me what happened…”

Liz clamped her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her sobs. “He…he was with Tess tonight,” she hiccupped in a whisper, “It’s really over between us.”

“Are you sure?” Kyle asked carefully, “Because he looked…” Devastated. And yet even that word didn’t seem apt enough to describe the look of pure depredation on his face. He looked as if his heart was being torn in two. Not necessarily the reaction of a man who had chosen to be with another woman.

“It doesn’t matter how he looked,” Liz replied dully, cutting through Kyle’s internal musings, “We’re finished. I don’t ever want to see him again.” She punctuated that brave statement with more sobs of despair.

Kyle let her cry for a while, deciding she needed a moment to give into her sorrow. However, when the turn for his apartment was fast approaching he said gently, “Look, Liz, I’m just going to take you to your parents house, okay. I’ll call a cab from there.”

“I don’t want to go home just yet,” Liz sniffled. She bit her lip, looking every bit as lost and forlorn and vulnerable as she felt. “I was hoping that I could maybe crash at your place tonight.”

Kyle glanced at her uncomfortably before returning his eyes to the road. There was an alarming glint in her eyes, something that warned Kyle that she had something planned. “I don’t know if that would be such a good idea, Liz,” he hedged, “You’re not thinking straight right now.”

“I can’t face my family and their pity tonight,” Liz argued softly, “I’m just asking to stay for one night and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

Her tearstained face was quite compelling, not to mention the pleading look in her brown eyes. “One night…” Kyle agreed. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d just made a huge mistake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max stared at the phone in the living room for an interminable time before finally working up the nerve to pick it up. He hastily dialed Harding’s phone number, holding his breath as the ringing began. Max almost collapsed with gratitude when it was Alex’s sleepy voice that answered the phone. He cut directly to the heart of the matter.

“Alex, have you seen Liz?”

The worry Alex heard in Max’s tone quickly dispelled the last clinging vestiges of sleep from his brain. “Wait a sec… You don’t know where Liz is?” he asked stridently, “I thought she was with you. She left here almost two hours ago.”

Max froze as the reasons for Liz’s drastic actions began to make more sense to him. “Liz was there earlier?” he demanded carefully.

“Yeah, she came to cry on my shoulder,” Alex mocked caustically, “cuz you don’t know where your priorities lay.”

Oh my God, Max thought in agony. The car that had passed them…it had been Liz. Max knew that absolutely. She had seen him and Tess together. That’s why she had left him, that’s why she was initiating divorce proceedings, that’s why she’d given him back the ring… She had seen Tess kiss him. Max groaned. His marks for stupidity just kept on mounting as the night progressed.

“Thanks for your help, Alex,” he whispered hoarsely, “I gotta go…”

“Wait a min--,” Max cut off the call, already punching in the numbers for Liz’s cell phone for the twentieth time that night. He received her voice mail once more. Briefly he considered calling her parents again but after the last phone conversation he’d had with Jeff Parker, Max hardly thought that was a sterling idea. Max could only think of one other place to call.

Valenti. He would know better than anyone what state of mind Liz was in. Though it galled him to turn to the guy for help, especially after what Kyle had done to his car Max felt like he was out of options. This was a situation where he’d gladly swallow his pride. Maybe if he could explain the situation to Valenti he could even serve as a mediator between him and Liz, Max hoped desperately. There was no way in hell Liz would be willing to listen to any of his explanations now.

His decision made, Max headed off for Liz’s bedroom to hunt for Kyle’s number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz stepped out the bathroom, clicking off the light as she did. Kyle glanced up from the bed at the subtle sound and was instantly arrested, the book he’d been studying falling from his limp fingers. He couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked standing there. Even with her eyes all puffy and red from crying she looked like a goddess, her shiny, brown hair falling over her shoulders in a nightshirt that barely covered the tops of her shapely thighs. Kyle swallowed audibly.

“I can sleep on the couch,” he offered, already easing himself from the bed.

“No, don’t,” Liz protested, rushing forward to ease him back against the mattress, “I…I don’t want to put you out.” She crawled into the bed beside him, curling her body around his seductively. Kyle stiffened at her blatant, unspoken appeal but didn’t push her away. He wasn’t immune to the imploring look she directed up at him. Liz nuzzled his chin once, making her meaning abundantly clear. “I need you to hold me tonight, Kyle.”

“Liz--,”

She trailed her fingers down his bare chest. “Please, don’t say no,” she begged shamelessly.

Kyle captured her hand and brought it against his lips. “Don’t do this,” he whispered urgently, “Don’t use me to get back at him, Liz, and don’t cheapen yourself this way. We both deserve more.” Liz burst into humiliated tears at his reply. She knew he was right and she felt like a foolish slut for even attempting to seduce him in the first place. But when she would have wrenched away from him he held her tightly in his arms. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Liz,” he murmured tenderly, “But you know you’ll regret this…so will I…”

“I…I just want it to st-stop hurting,” Liz sobbed.

“It will,” Kyle promised. He kissed her temple through her rumpled hair. “Just give yourself some time, okay? I’ll hold you, though. I definitely have no problem doing that.” They lay back against the pillows together; cuddled close while Kyle stroked her hair. A peaceful silence fell between them as Liz’s sobs gradually died away and became deep, even breathing. Kyle thought she might have fallen asleep but when he tipped his head down to look at her he could see her lashes fluttering.

“Kyle?” she whispered tentatively a few moments later, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he replied gently, “You’re a wreck right now. I do stupid things when I’m hurt, too.” Liz nodded against his chest, falling silent once more. “You can stay in here if you want,” Kyle said, thinking the reason for her pensive mood was uncertainty over the sleeping arrangements, “I can go to the living room.” He tried to move from the bed but Liz held firm. Kyle chuckled softly. “Or I can stay right here,” he amended wryly.

“I don’t want to be alone tonight,” Liz explained.

“Shh…don’t sweat it,” Kyle quieted, “I understand.” He started to drift off to sleep when Liz whispered his name for a second time. “Hmm?” he responded, not even opening his eyes.

“I’m pregnant,” she declared softly. She felt Kyle go rigid beneath her although he didn’t utter a sound. “Max doesn’t know.”

Kyle swallowed a stunned gasp. “What are you going to do?” he wondered.

Liz pushed herself upright so that she could look at him when she spoke. “I’m going to have the baby,” she answered tremulously, “I just…I’ll have to find some way to support myself and the baby, too.”

“You’re not going to tell Max?” Liz shook her head. Kyle refrained from biting out an exasperated curse. He didn’t think that was a good decision at all and his expression showed it. “Liz, he’s gonna know sooner or later. Your expanding middle is gonna be a dead give away.”

“Which is the exact reason I plan to leave Roswell as soon as I can,” Liz uttered in finality, “I…I just don’t know where to go.”

“Liz, are you sure this is a good idea?” Kyle prodded mildly, “I mean…this is Max’s baby, too. Don’t you think he should have a say?”

Liz choked out a bitter laugh at the question. “Max doesn’t want a child,” she said tightly, “Not knowing isn’t going to make a damned bit of difference to him. Besides I need some time for myself. If I tell Max the truth he’ll be constantly in my face and I just can’t take that right now.”

“This is your hurt talking,” Kyle replied wisely.

“No, this is my head,” Liz countered, tapping her temple. She hadn’t even finished her sentence before the telephone rang. Her brown eyes zeroed in on Kyle’s face in rushing panic. “It’s Max,” she gasped in certainty.

“You don’t know that.”

“It’s three o’clock in the morning,” she argued, “Who else could it be?”

Both she and Kyle regarding the ringing phone as if it were a coiled snake. “Do you want me to answer it?” he asked carefully. After another moment of jittery indecision Liz finally nodded her head. “Do you want me to tell him that you’re here?” Liz considered the question. If she consented that would guarantee that all ties between her and Max would be broken for good. He’d assume the worst and, after that, Liz knew there would be no turning back. Ignoring the sudden churning in her belly, Liz slowly nodded her agreement. After one final pause, in order to give her time to change her mind, Kyle grabbed up the phone.

“Valenti here.”

“Kyle,” Max said in a rush of breath, “I’ve been trying to get in contact with Liz ever since she left--,”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you, Evans,” Kyle interrupted coolly.

“Look, I know that, okay,” Max snapped, “But this whole thing is a misunderstanding. She thinks I went back to Tess but I didn’t!”

“Exactly what part of this am I supposed to be interested in,” Kyle asked in his most bored tone of voice.

Max filled his ear with a string of colorful curses. “Fine! You don’t like me…I don’t like you either,” he spat, “But this is about Liz, okay! She’s out there thinking something that is completely untrue. I need you to call her parents’ house and explain to her that what she saw tonight wasn’t what she thought.”

“What she saw tonight?” Kyle pondered, “And what exactly was that?”

Another chorus of curses. “Look, it doesn’t matter,” Max ground out dismissively, “Can you please just call and tell her?”

“I don’t need to call and tell her,” Kyle replied, staring into Liz’s fathomless brown eyes as he finished, “She’s lying right next to me.” Kyle was met with a full fifteen seconds of utter silence following his revelation. Liz lay against Kyle’s chest breathlessly, waiting for the explosion. She dreaded it almost as much as she welcomed it.

Finally, Max whispered, so faintly Kyle could barely hear him, “Liz is there with you?”

“Yeah,” Kyle confirmed flatly, “She’s in bed with me right now.” He waited for that to sink in before he added, “Now what was it you wanted me to tell her again?” His answer was the dial tone. Max had hung up. With a heavy sigh, Kyle slowly replaced the phone in its cradle. Though he’d done what Liz asked him he didn’t feel very good about it.

“What happened?” Liz demanded anxiously.

“He hung up.”

“Well, did he say anything before that?” she pushed, too distraught to realize that she shouldn’t even care at all.

“He said you misunderstood what you saw earlier tonight,” Kyle provided gently. He cupped Liz’s jaw, tenderly stroking his thumb over her cheekbone. “What did you see, Liz?”

“He was kissing her,” Liz confessed in a shuddering breath, “He was kissing Tess in the front seat of his car and I saw them.” She blinked back the new tears burning in her eyes. “I didn’t misunderstand anything. I got Max’s message loud and clear,” she whispered, laying her cheek back against Kyle’s chest, “And now he has mine.”
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