He winces a little at that, so I smother his discomfort with my lips, cupping his smooth jawline as I take his mouth lovingly. I lift my other hand and feed my fingers back through his brown hair, knotting the strands in tight because I can't get close enough to him. Can't connect us enough.
Just as our lips move together, a loud siren breaks through our world. I'm jerked backwards as Carter slows the vehicle. Max catches me, his fingers spanning my spine protectively.
"Boss," Carter warns, his tone filled with urgency.
Red and blue lights glow through the rear window. Chasing us. Were we speeding? Is it because I didn't have a seat belt on? Everything inside the car shifts in an instant - the energy, the air, our connection.
Max slides me from his lap.
I hear Carter cock his gun.
My heart stops.
The black Chrysler pulls up along the coastal road. Carter winds my window up and yet, even through the reinforced glass, I can still hear the sound of the ocean smashing on the shore. Can still hear it through the wailing of sirens. It is like a force that has nothing above it. Nothing to still it. Silence it.
I shudder. I lean back in my seat, willing myself to stay calm. Don't over analyse. It is probably just a routine breath check. Max pulls out his phone, punches in a message. He's all business.
As three police cars roll to a stop behind us, their sirens deadening to silence, the blinking, whirling blue and red lights still filling the spaces around me, my world tilts. This isn't routine. My belt. This is my fault.
My belt.
Reaching for the belt and tugging on it, I whimper, "I need to get this on-"
Max leans across me and belts me in, a quick movement that probably makes little sense to him but one I needed. And he knew it. His head snaps up, watching over my shoulder. Black shadows cross us. His stern, territorial gaze drops to my belly for a split second.
And the look ineyes. . .
My heart splinters.
He stares up at my face and now I can’t breathe because he's not Max. He's blank. The grey-blue irises I know and love are pitch-black. "Don't move from this seat. No matter what." He tugs on the belt. "Leave this on."
"Max Butcher," I hear a man state, formal and authoritarian. "Please step from the vehicle with your hands up."
"Hands on the dashboard, Carter," another states.
My eyes widen.
What? What is happening?
Then I blink. It's too long. A long blink. Must be.
Because that's all it takes.
One second.
One blink.
And I don't catch my lover's expression before he steps from the vehicle.
The door slams behind him. It’s a haunting sound. A separating sound. A sound that cuts the connection between us physically and emotionally. And I'm sure he has taken parts of me out there with him because my heart feelswrong.Fractured.
"Carter!" I yell, irrationality taking hold of me like an entity all its own. Like a snake wrapping itself around my body, suffocating me. "HELP HIM!"
I hear a click and realise Carter has locked me in the car. "Stay, Miss Slater. It'll be okay. Stay calm."
Max raises his hands above his head as he steps into the middle of the road. It is then that I see that they have their weapons drawn, pointing straight. At. Max.
No. AtmyMax.