This time Max turned to me in full. “I wasn’t using that ability for bad. Just to get you out of the hospital. And you’re fine. So no, it wasn’t wrong. It was required.”
I didn’t push the matter further, just shrugged back into the seat and finally did up my seatbelt.
Now I was out of the hospital, I could appreciate why I’d been there. My head felt like hell. I brought up a hand, squeezed it behind the headrest, and plucked at the back of my skull.
Max’s eyes locked on me instantly. Without asking, and without warning, he reached out a hand, pushed it behind the back of the headrest, and placed his broad, flat, warm palm against my skull.
I tensed. Instantly, a thrill of darting, charging nerves raced down my back and sank into my heart.
“Ah, what are you doing?” I asked in a falsely light tone.
“You’re still in pain. So sit back, relax, and close—” he began, obviously about to say I should close my eyes. He stopped. Abruptly. He tipped his gaze towards me, and I could tell it had a searching quality. “Keep your eyes open,” he suddenly suggested. “Fully open. Don’t concentrate on the magic, either. Concentrate on the road.”
… Was Max scared that if I closed my eyes, I’d be transported back to that green pastureland and sunny sky?
I gave a languid blink, and as soon as I did, Max forcefully cleared his throat. He even shifted his fingers around until they dug into my skull. “Keep your eyes open,” he warned in a shaking tone.
“Okay, okay,” I managed. And then? Then I let myself fall into his touch. It went beyond reassuring. It wasn’t like some warm blanket I could furl around my shoulders. Oh, heck no – it was a hell of a lot nicer than that. A hell of a lot more engaging, too. Whenever Max had his hands on me, it was like my universe expanded. No more old Chinese takeaway from the back of the fridge, no more fortune-telling, no more questions about what I should do with my life.
Just doors opening up everywhere. Just the future full and bright with that glorious sunshine.
“I said concentrate on the road,” Max snapped.
His sudden intrusion shook me, and I swallowed hard. Realizing I had to distract myself, lest Max remove his hand, I cleared my throat. “Where do the witches hang out, anyway?”
“We’re headed there now,” he answered.
I frowned and made absolutely no attempt to hide it. “Why don’t you actually answer my question? Because do I need to remind you that the last time—”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. They hang out at 24 William Street, okay?”
I frowned. “I don’t know where that is,” I commented.
He nodded pointedly. “I know. I wasn’t withholding the truth from you because I don’t trust you,” he began.
I ticked my gaze up.
“It’s because you’re an idiot,” he continued.
I didn’t let my gaze drop.
While Max had made a song and dance over asking me whether I trusted him, didn’t it beg an equally important question?
Did Max trust me?
He must have picked up on what I was thinking, because I didn’t drop my gaze as I practically let it burn the side of his neck.
“You should be concentrating on the magic,” he pointed out.
“You told me not to concentrate on the magic,” I commented.
What I should have said was that boy was I concentrating on his magic – while one-quarter of my mind was set on the task of arguing with Max – oh, the rest sank into his glorious touch.
He gritted his teeth. “Yes, keep your eyes open. You shouldn’t concentrate on arguing with me. Just let the healing magic do its work.”
“And let you drive in peace, ha?” I commented.
He shot me a deadly look.
I pressed my lips closed.
It was a mistake, because when I wasn’t concentrating on arguing with him, I had no distraction.
And I really needed a distraction right now. For, without one, I might let out an entirely inappropriate shuddering moan.
Which wouldn’t go down well.
While it was hopefully not so obvious that I had a crush on Max, it was pretty darn obvious that he didn’t have one on me. Max thought I was his irritating charge, and nothing more.
A few minutes later, Max obviously thought I’d had enough, as he yanked his hand back.
Without realizing it, I’d completely zoned out. No, I hadn’t closed my eyes – I knew that if I even blinked, Max would smack me on the back of the head.
And yet, that hadn’t quite mattered. Because I’d felt that sunshine. I’d been transported back to that pastureland, heard those voices. They hadn’t been as strong as whenever I closed my eyes around Max’s magic – but they had unmistakably been there.
Now, more than ever, I wanted to follow that magic, wanted to find out who Max had been.
“Almost here,” he commented abruptly.
I looked up as he parked along a crowded street.
It was true that I’d just moved to this city, and I still didn’t know it very well. Yet as I tilted my head back and looked at the horizon line – trying to spy a familiar tall building or tower – I realized we were right across the other side of town.
My logical mind told me we couldn’t be less than 10 minutes from the hospital – still in the central quarter of the city.
So how the hell did we cross town?
“What the heck?” I managed as I undid my seatbelt before Max had turned off the engine.
He growled at me. “We’re not parked yet. Stay seated.”
“Okay, okay.” I jerked my hands off my seatbelt and held them out as if I was
