I stand there dumbstruck. In front of me, Max holds Greg's hand. Max has a very relaxed stance that would have fooled the casual observer, but the tense set of his shoulders and the ticking in his temple suggests otherwise.
In that moment, i understood what Stacy and Neela were saying about Max's aura. It was pretty much a sign floating around his head, saying danger. Keep off.
Greg's stupid hand is fisted, and I vaguely come to the realisation that the fucker was about to punch me.
"What is it to you, the lady and I were just having a little fun?"
"From the looks of it, the lady doesn't seem to be having fun." Max turns towards me, my breath catches
"Were you having fun, Calista?" He asks me, his voice deceptively calm, before I can answer him, stupid Greg interrupts.
"It seems that you guys know each other, so I think I'm going to go back to the club where the party is happening."
The more he talks, the more I feel like slapping the living daylight out of him.
Very casually, Max twists Greg's hand behind his back and gives him a punch. Greg screams in pain
"Dude, what was that for?" he screams, holding his face. Max just stares at him silently and gives him another punch. This one knocks him clean out.
Max drops Greg on the floor and walks over to me. I can't stop staring at Greg's body just laying there, all signs of anger gone from his face. Max cups my face and forces my gaze to his.
"You're okay." it takes me a minute for what he says to get to me and that he is not asking me if I'm okay. He's telling me. I look at him confused, but he just says it again
"You're okay." I open my mouth to tell him that I am okay but I realise I'm shaking too badly to give him an answer.
"Oh my God, Oh my God," I say over and over again.
"Breathe," Max says, but I just keep shaking. I close my eyes and lay my head on his shoulder.
"Breathe Calista," he says again, only this time, it's an order.
Strangely, I do.
A few minutes later, and I regain my bearings. I look up at him accusingly God, he's tall
He looks down at me
"Fancy meeting you here" he says.
"This isn't exactly what i would call fancy." I reply, and he chuckles
"What did you call me earlier?" I ask. He grimaces
"How about we go somewhere else. I look down at stupid Greg and his stupid knocked out self and I let out a little sigh.
I look back at Max and I realise we are in an embrace. I clear my throat and try to take a step back but Max doesn't let go. He looks down at me with a raised eyebrow. I give him a pointed look and stare at the small space between our bodies he lets out a small laugh but luckily, he gets the memo and releases me.
We just stand there, staring at each other, I have this crazy urge close the distance between us and trace his features with my fingers. The urge is so strong I feel tingles in my fingers.
To avoid doing something stupid, I take his hand and pull him along.
"Come on, let's find somewhere to talk."
We leave the deserted hallway and I instantly spot Neela talking to the bartender, but by the way she's gesturing with her hands, I'd say she is actually screaming at him. With the whole situation with Greg chasing after me and Neela interrupting, I totally forgot about Neela, which makes me feel incredibly guilty.
"Ohhh, Neela,"
I try to let go of Max's hand but he just interlaces our fingers, i give him an exasperated look but he just points his chin towards Neela so I quickly make my way to her pulling Max along.
"Neela," I call out, but she doesn't hear me. The music is too loud. So I tap her shoulders, and instantly, she screams
"What!" Recognition fills her eyes."Oh my God, Callie, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Where did you go?. I was looking all over for you, you were supposed to be at the bar and when I turned to check you weren't there, so when I came to ask the bartender if he had seen you—" she turns to give him a stink eye " He said you left and some guy was chasing after you and then another crazy guy came and asked about you—"
She trails off when her eyes land on Max. She looks down and sees our hands, and instantly, her worry is replaced by a knowing glint. She wiggles her eyebrows at me, and I groan inwardly.
"Neela, this is Max, Max. This is Neela, my friend." Neela smiles
"Hello Max," she says, "Very nice to meet you."
Max inclines his head
"I would shake your hand, but unfortunately," He raises, our interlaced fingers.
" No worries," she says to him, and to me, she says.
"I'll be on the dance floor, you know, dancing. Also, when I call, please pick up"
I stare at her apologeticallyand she smiles back at me.
"See you later, Callie." She gives him a subtle nod.
"Max"
and with a look and a wink that tells me we are going to have a conversation about this later, She sashays to the dance floor, which somehow looks even more packed than it was a few minutes ago.
I pull Max along and we leave the blaring music, gyrating bodies,and flashing lights of the club behind.