Page 14 of Drunk In Love
CHAPTER 5
Kamaya
The excursion out to Franco’s last known address was a complete waste of time, not to mention a potentially dangerous situation because we had no idea who that person tailing us could have been. Maybe the competition theory was correct, but would someone stoop that low just to see the Financial Journal fail?
After Maxwell and I returned to our office, we both got to work trying to track down Franco and any family members, but that turned out to be a time-waster as well. How had this recently fired employee completely disappeared off the face of the earth? I thought about the chart Max had drawn before we left and wondered if maybe he had a point: did Zach know more than he was willing to say? I didn’t want to believe he could be involved in anything nefarious. However, how well did I really know Zach, other than as a passing acquaintance?
Max’s attitude made me think that he already thought of Zach as guilty.
No, I wasn’t going to give into Maxwell’s cynicism just yet. Maxwell always said my best and worst quality was that I always saw the good in people unless I was forced not to. I was going to give everyone on the list of names from Maxwell’s chart the benefit of the doubt.
An hour after our return, Bree and Westin came back and tried to help us track down Franco. They were both experts in their respective fields and had been part of the security team since its inception. I always admired how they were able to work so well together while married.
It gave me hope that maybe one day, if anything were to develop with Zach, it wouldn’t be awkward since we only worked in the same building, not for the same employer. It’s not like it would be if I were to date Maxwell.
Speaking of Max, I could see over the partition that his eyebrows were knit. His face was illuminated by the blue light of his laptop. He’d been furiously typing and clicking, trying to help track down Franco.
He looked adorable with his—as I called it—concentration face.
Adorable? What is happening to me. Anyone could recognize that Maxwell was an attractive man with a fit physique and soulful dark-brown eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled. Other women certainly flocked to him when possible. Case in point—Ava’s cousin Sophie at the wedding.
“We’re going to head out,” Bree says, heading towards the doors, waiting for Westin to get his things. Bree’s voice snaps me out of my reeling thoughts.
I take Bree and Westin’s cue, tired of looking at all these monitors and needing a break from our fruitless searches. I respond back with, “I think we should take off too, Max.”
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll get anything else accomplished today,” Max agrees and stands to gather his things.
After we said our goodbyes to Bree and Westin, Maxwell and I made our walk down to the 33rd Street New Jersey PATH station.
Had two years already gone by so quickly that this had become our routine? Every day that Max worked in the office when he wasn’t on a protection assignment, we made our walks together back to the PATH station. This tradition started off as Max wanting me to have company as he called it—but he really meant his protection—when walking alone in the city on those dark winter evenings, but it had continued year-round. Like now in the summer months when it was still light out until much later.
I realized I missed Max those times when we couldn’t return home together. I hadn’t contemplated before now how comforting his presence was.
“The next train should arrive in six minutes,” he says, consulting his transportation app. We’re nearly smooshed in the evening crowd returning home. A woman talking loudly on a phone in a business suit jostles past me, knocking me into Maxwell’s side. I grip the sleeves of his suit jacket for balance.
“Sorry about that. That lady just pushed past me?—”
I stop mid-sentence because Maxwell is not paying attention to what I’m saying. He’s staring down at my mouth. The awareness of where he’s looking and our proximity warms my cheeks. If I were to just raise onto my tiptoes, we could be kissing. My body was already pressed into his muscular frame. Just a few more inches and our mouths would be connected. I’ve hugged Maxwell countless times, but this time his body pressed so intimately against mine feels different.
Or maybe I’m feeling different. I didn’t experience it as if I was bumped against my friend. Instead, our bodies felt intimately compressed together.
The awkwardness must have dawned on Maxwell at the same time because he stepped back away from me, or as much as the crowded platform would let him. Max braced his hands on my arms. “Are you alright, Kamaya?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m okay,” I say since I couldn’t express actually, I’m having weird thoughts about our bodies being pressed up against each other, and I don’t know what to do with these thoughts right now.
Thankfully, the train arrives two minutes earlier than Maxwell had advised, and we rush onto the waiting train car. The crowd of office dwellers and tourists separate us, and we’re unable to talk to each other properly for the duration of the ride back to our stop at Journal Square.
I was pleased for the reprieve of not having to try and concentrate while listening to Maxwell during the ride like I normally would. My thoughts about us had me questioning where my sanity went. This was Maxwell. Friend, coworker, and commitment-phobe, who expressed any chance he could get that he was not interested in pursuing relationships because they were all doomed to fail.
How many times had I watched some poor, unsuspecting woman think she could be the one to catch him only to be left disappointed when he inevitably broke it off because she didn’t believe him when he expressed not wanting anything long-term?
I needed to snap out of this line of thinking.
When the train finally reached our stop, I stepped off first, not wanting to be trampled when the doors opened. I stood off to the side waiting for Maxwell to join me.
“What are you planning to do now?” Maxwell asks when he reaches me again.
I had hoped to entertain for my sisters, but they were both busy – Daniella with her classes and Mona with late client meetings.