And…seven counts of felony embezzlement. Embezzlement?
There was no reverent pause. The crowd didn’t draw in a collective breath. The man’s notebook tilted and he looked up as if he were done, and that was the signal for a frantic explosion of sound and movement. Little teams moved into blank corners of the sidewalk to fire up the cameras and read the indictment again. Others rushed up the stairs, eager to make contact with someone who could explain this strange turn of events.
Max just stood there, dumbfounded. Embezzlement. And Jenn was an accountant. Had she helped him with that? He looked for her again, but everyone had shifted and he couldn’t pick her out.
He paced forward and back, waiting. A woman spoke to his right, a camera held close to her mouth as she tried to calmly recite the exciting news. Max recognized her. She’d introduced Chloe’s infamous video this morning, then reported the things Max had said to that reporter, all of them twisted so that they became a more delicious treat for the masses.
Rage surged through him, as strong as the horror he’d felt when he’d read the first “details” of his conversation with the reporter. How the hell did he end up hurting Chloe when he was trying to help? If this was what it was like to live as a nonneurotic person, maybe he wasn’t cut out for it. It was dangerous, and people got hurt. Chloe got hurt.
A man rushed past him, signaling to the woman that he had more news, and then all four doors at the top of the stairs flew open and people began to come down.
The reporters cut their feed off just that quickly and a tide of bodies pushed forward to meet the wave of people coming down. Max braced himself, trying to spot Chloe. If he looked away, she might be swallowed up and swept away from him.
Hints of gossip drifted past him. Embezzlement. Fifty thousand dollars. There was a woman. A federal grand jury was being convened. But he couldn’t follow any of the hints to their conclusion, because his only goal was reaching Chloe.
A podium appeared and the lawyers descended like royalty. And there, in the midst of them, was the guy Max recognized from the gossip sites. Thomas DeLorn. The man who’d betrayed Chloe in the worst way possible. Max watched him for a moment as the press screamed around him. What kind of a stupid ass hole would’ve tried to escape from Chloe Turner?
Max blinked. What kind of a stupid asshole was Max?
Finally, he spotted her, too pale but still pretty enough to make his heart lurch. She paused at the top step, a frown creasing her brow as she hesitated, clearly confused by something. An older couple stood behind her, obviously her parents, and they looked confused, as well. As the trio bypassed the crowd in the middle of the stairs and sneaked down at the very edge, Max realized what had struck them as odd. No one was following them. The press didn’t turn their way. The laser-sharp paparazzi beam was aimed squarely at Thomas DeLorn now. Chloe’s part in the media-stoked drama was done.
Max rushed across the sidewalk to the side of the stairs where Chloe would end up, but then he saw that she had been stopped after all. Not by a reporter, but by Jenn.
Everything inside him was urging him to get to her now. To pull her into his arms and apologize and kiss her senseless. But that wasn’t what was going to happen. Not in front of her parents, certainly. And probably not even if they were all alone.
He’d left when he should’ve stayed. In the frantic pressure of that moment, he’d made the wrong choice. Or maybe this was just what it felt like to make a tough decision. To walk away from a responsibility that wasn’t really his.
Max made his feet stay still instead of racing up to her. He’d come to warn her about Jenn, but it was way too late for that. He’d walked away and he could never take that back.
CHLOE MOVED STIFFLY DOWN the steps, uncomfortably aware of Jenn at her back. Jenn wanted to talk, so she was going to drive Chloe home, as if she needed the support now.
But she was ready for the truth, and when her foot hit the sidewalk, she walked briskly toward the parking lot. Only to be stopped dead in her tracks by the sight of him. Max. Turning away from her as if he were about to leave.
When he glanced back and spotted her, he stood straight in surprise, lips parting as if he were about to speak.
His eyes slid to a spot over her shoulder, then back to her, a question etched over his brow. Chloe glanced back and saw her parents waiting behind her. Her dad was frowning at Jenn, but her mom aimed her glare straight at Max.
Well, this was going to be awkward. Then again, her mind was spinning too fast to worry about awkwardness, so perhaps this was a good time. She tipped her chin in a nod, and Max closed the distance between them.
“Leaving again?” she asked, realiz
ing it was a bitchy thing to say, even as the words left her lips.
He flushed, but met her gaze straight on. “Yes.”
“All right then.”
“But I need to apologize. About the reporter.”
“Hey, I’m used to it.”
“No, listen. Please. That wasn’t what I said. I mean it. I’d never, ever do that to you. They took my words out of context.”
Hope bloomed in her chest, and she moved quickly to smother it. “You said you couldn’t help me if you wanted to.”
“I said you were great. I said you were fine the way you were. That’s why I couldn’t help you. They left that part out, Chloe, I swear.”
She looked at him, standing there a few inches from her personal space, hands open at his sides, as if he didn’t know whether to touch her or not. The hope refused to be smothered. It could be true. How many times had the press twisted her words? How many times had they made up outright lies?