Beyond Eighteen (19 page)

Joanie was my best friend, my sister, my
family. What in the hell was I going to tell Max? What was I going
to do? She deserved happiness. I
wanted
her to be happy, but
did it have to be with Nick?

I started to try and tell her about my
situation with Candi and my grandparents’ estate when Max came out
of the bathroom. He had an earthy brown towel wrapped tight around
his waist, clinging flawlessly to his lower body. The muscles in
his torso flexed and relaxed as he walked past me and opened his
dresser drawer. I watched random drops of water fall from the tips
of his sharp black hair then track down his shoulders and across
his back. Seductively, he started to loosen the tuck of his towel
and his eyes slowly grazed up my body as he bit his bottom lip.
Oh my God, what is he trying to do to me?
I lost my words.
It was a measurable minute before I picked my jaw back up off the
floor and was able to talk.

“Wilson? Heeelllooo? Are you there? I swear
this cell coverage sucks!”

“Hold on a minute,” I sighed as I dropped
the phone away from my mouth. “You can’t do that right here, right
now; I’m trying to talk to Joanie.”

“Do what?” he asked as he let go of the
towel from around his waist and dropped it at his feet. “I’m just
getting dressed,” he said, turning his back to me. I watched as
every single muscle from his calves to his shoulders flexed while
he reached for his boxers.
Could there be anything more sensual
than watching my boyfriend pull on his clingy Calvin Klein’s, one
leg at a time?
I think not.

I did my best to look away as he finished
getting dressed, so I could focus on my conversation with Joanie.
Even though I could tell Max was getting dressed slower than usual,
I pushed the phone to my ear and started telling her about my
situation back home.

“So, J, Max and I have to go back to
California tomorrow morning.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s something to do with my grandparents’
house. If I don’t sign some papers before the end of the year, I
could lose it all,” I stressed.

“Maxi, the lawyer is here. I think you and
Wilson need to come down,” Nancy announced as she knocked on the
door.

“Okay, Ma,” Max answered as he looked over
at me. He was ready to go downstairs, fully clothed in his
perfectly fitting jeans and even tighter black t-shirt that
accentuated every curvy muscle and clung to every spot I wanted to
taste.

Joanie had no idea of the silent
conversation I was having there with Max. He looked at me, I
shrugged as I pointed to the phone, Max shrugged back and pointed
at the door…

Joanie continued, “Oh, I thought you were
going to leave Sunday after New Year’s. Well, shit, that puts a
kink in things, doesn’t it?” Her words caught my full
attention.

“What do you mean a kink?” I asked her.

“Well, it’s just that we are here in Aspen,
and we’ve always celebrated New Year’s in Cali. I was hoping we’d
be here. Together. But if you gotta go back at least you’ll have
Max with you.” When Joanie said that, my heart twisted.
What
does she mean by that? I’m telling her this so she’ll get ready to
come back
with
us.

Max pointed to his wrist, at the fake,
non-watch he was wearing, and said he had to go. I held my pointer
finger in the air, asking him silently for one more minute. He
stood waiting.

“Well, J, I assumed you’d come back with us.
Max is going to get his father’s plane,” I offered.

She was silent for a moment. All I could
hear were some very shallow breaths on the other end of the phone.
I knew Joanie so well—we’d lived together for over ten years. I
knew that she was about to tell me something I wasn’t going to
like. She didn’t even have to say it. She had fallen hard for Nick
and she wanted to stay longer with him.

“Wil—” she started to say my name but I
stopped her.

“Don’t worry about it. I totally
understand.” Even though I wasn’t happy about it and the tone of my
voice reported it to her.

“I won’t stay in Aspen, if you need me. I am
serious, Wilson; I will go home with you. I need to know you’re
okay with this. Nick will understand,” she reasoned.

Max leaned over, kissed my temple, and
whispered that he was going downstairs and to come meet them when I
was ready. I watched him walk out of the bedroom, and as he shut
the door, my heart was tugged clear out of my chest. So I did what
Joanie had done for me when I fell hard for Max…I was happy for
her.

“No, J, stay here with Nick. I’m totally
okay with it. You deserve to be happy. I can handle this stupid
lawyer thing back home. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” she asked one more time.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Maybe you guys can have
your first kiss at the stroke of midnight,” I teased.

Joanie gave a nervous chuckle. That’s when I
knew, she was into him deep. One night and he had her going to the
moon.

“You guys kissed already, didn’t you?” I
asked, not really wanting to know.

“Yeah, we did,” she sighed.

Oh, my, she was taken. I couldn’t blame her.
He was charming, a great kisser, and totally hot. And I’d never
admit to anyone…not even J…that I was a little jealous of them.

~ Max ~

I had to walk out of the
room, I was done with all the responsibility that was being thrust
down my throat, and all the excuses Gary was making for my dad’s
selfish choice to make me CEO of Goldstein Petroleum. I didn’t ask
for it, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be locked down to this
company starting immediately.
Why in the
world is Calvin agreeing with Gary anyway? Everyone knows Dan is
cut out for the job, not me.
It was like a
train ran straight through the middle of my gut without slowing
down.
Pain burned in the deepest parts of
my chest, places that I didn’t even know could hurt. I couldn’t
seem to catch my breath or say anything to Wilson as she met me on
the stairs.

She had taken a shower. Her blonde hair,
still damp, danced and tapped against her neck and shoulders. She
was dressed in her slim-fitting black jeans and a blue top that
clung to every curve of her body. I wanted to smile at her, wanted
to let her know everything was going to work out, but I couldn’t.
How was I supposed to tell her that I had to stay in Aspen? What
words were going to be good enough to make her feel okay about
going back to California without me?

“
Maximillian, wait…” my
mom shouted as I started taking the stairs two at a time. I stopped
and looked up at Wilson before I turned down to her.

“
I am sorry your father
did this to you,” she said, “But I know it will be for the best.
Your family really needs you right now.” Her voice cracked as she
spoke.

I took a couple of steps toward my mom. I
knew where she was coming from, where she had been living the last
couple of days. I understood that she’d just lost the love of her
life. But I wasn’t going to give up on mine before I even had a
chance to really create something. Something that could be beyond
magical.

“
Mom, I love and respect
where you are coming from, and I don’t want you to take this the
wrong way, but Dad’s chicken-shit way of forcing me into something
he’s always wanted for me, without even giving me a chance to
create something with my own life? Well, I can’t think of anything
more selfish than that. I’m sorry, Mom, but I was serious when I
told Gary to find a way out. I am not your man. Not for this.” I
felt my body seething as I told her what was on my mind.

“
Hey!” she hollered. A
bellowing voice I hadn’t heard in years filled the room. I noticed
her body shaking from her head to her feet, her eyes bloodshot from
crying and her hair flat against her cheeks, plastered there by her
tears. She pointed her boney, tiny finger at me as she spoke. “Who
do you think you are? How dare you speak of your father that way?
He did nothing but provide for you kids. Anything you ever wished
for, he gave you. You kids never wanted for anything…”

“
You know, Mom, the only
thing I ever wanted from him was to tell me he was proud of me.
That’s all! Now he’s gone, and I’ll never get the chance to hear
that.” I felt my body give up, I felt my legs give out from under
me, and I crumpled on the stairs. My mom was down at the bottom of
the stairs, Wilson frozen on the top step, and there I was, in the
middle, losing it. For the first time in days, I felt that my
father was really gone.

My mom rushed up the first couple of steps.
She slipped her hands around my jaw and pulled my face up to look
her in the eyes. “Your father loved you…I love you,” my mom said as
tears streamed down her pale cheeks. She pushed her lips to my
forehead before I closed my eyes.

“
I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t
mean to hurt you,” I said as I wrapped my arms up around her. She
lowered to her knees and held me.

“
Maxi, we are all
hurting,” she whispered. “It’s going to take time. I hope someday
you’ll see why your father did what he did.” I felt her pull away
as she held my face in her delicately aged hands. Her eyes,
clinging to mine, were damp with pain from the words I just spat at
her carelessly, words meant for my father.

“
I think you need to talk
to Wilson; tell her what’s going on,” she whispered just above
inaudibly as her eyes darted behind me.

I knew Wilson was there. I
knew she’d heard every last word; and yet, part of me wished she
hadn’t.
Damn, I don’t want to rehash the
details of what happened in the meeting with Gary. She should have
just been there with me. Then at least I wouldn’t have to be the
one to let her down.
But she wasn’t with
me; instead she was on the phone with Joanie. I needed her next to
me as Gary cemented my future with GP. Instantly, I felt my head
run hot and I started boiling on the inside.
Son-of-a-bitch!
I could feel myself
starting to get upset with her, even though I knew she needed to
talk to Joanie about leaving tomorrow. At least she’ll have her
best friend with her when she goes back to California.

I watched my mom nod at Wilson before she
kissed me and left us alone. I didn’t turn around to look at her;
instead I dropped my face into my hands. I was done. In the next
moment I felt her fingers drawing across my shoulders and down the
front of my chest. Her body pressed firm against my back and her
breath warmed my ear as she whispered, “Don’t worry, Max.
Everything will be fine. We’ll just…do what we have to do.”

I could tell that she wasn’t entirely sure
of what she was saying. A note of reluctance rose in her voice. But
when her lips pressed against the side of my neck, and opportune
warmth flooded across my flesh.

“
Well it’s starting,
Wilson. I can’t go back to the Bay Area with you tomorrow,” I
growled back at her simple solution. I stood up, almost knocking
Wilson back behind me. I suddenly realized, in the whirlwind of
haste when Gary was reading the will, I forgot to call and hold a
car and the company jet.

“
Shit,” I spat.

“
What?” she
exclaimed.

“
I completely forgot to
call GP and get a plane,” I answered back as I unlocked my iPhone
and started to dial my father’s company. The phone rang against my
ear as I began get a taste of the collateral damage my father
created with naming me CEO of his company.

“
At least you spoke to
Joanie. Good thing she’s going back to California with you.” I
couldn’t help but feel relieved that my girl wasn’t going back
alone.

Wilson’s expression dropped, changing before
my eyes as she looked down at the floor and walked to the foyer. I
could tell by her body language, something was up.

“
What is it?” I asked as I
followed her off the stairs. I watched Wilson twist her lips. She
was about to say something when Pam answered the phone.

“
GP Transportation
Division, Pam speaking, how may I help you?”

I motioned for Wilson to hold that
thought.

“
Hi, Pam. It’s
Max.”

Pam had been with GP my whole life. She was
hired by my grandfather as a receptionist before my dad took over
running the company and promoted her to human resources then head
of transportation.

“
Oh hi, sweetheart, how
are you? How’s the family? Your momma?” she murmured in a sad
tone.

“
I’m hanging in there.
Everyone is doing the best they can right now,” I answered quickly.
I really didn’t want to talk about my feelings right then. What I
really wanted was to get the car and plane reserved. “Look, Pam,
I’m calling because I need to line up a car to pick up my
girlfriend from the house and take her to the Aspen airport
tomorrow morning; also, I need to have the jet ready for a flight
to Oakland International.”

“
Okay, sure, let me just
get some information from you.”

“
That would be great,” I
answered as I watched Wilson pull at her bottom lip. I noticed that
she seemed to do that when she had something she wasn’t saying, or
needed to be said.

“
Alright, Max, you have
two travelers, correct?”

“
Yeah, two.” I said
quickly.

“
So your
girlfriend
and
yourself?” Pam asked. I could hear her typing in the background and
I couldn’t help but notice the emphasis she put on
girlfriend.

“
No, unfortunately, I
won’t be accompanying her.” There was a pit in my stomach. The type
of pit that twisted and gnarled into a huge knot. I hated have to
say I wasn’t going with Wilson to California.