Wishing Star

Chapter 16

Max walked into the kitchen the next morning to Liam already sitting at the breakfast table, typing on his laptop. To her surprise, he didn't look up at her entrance. He just continued pounding the keys at his record typing speed. Or so he says.

She ignored him, heading to the cabinets to look for the pancake batter. It had become somewhat of a tradition to make chocolate pancakes on Saturday mornings, but she was too hungover to do it yesterday, and French toast was easier, so she figured she'd make up for it today.

Mixing the pancake batter, she noticed that the typing had stopped, but she refused to look at him.

"Have fun last night?" he asked, his voice low and angry.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?"

She knew what he meant. He must have heard her and Caelum. Her face flushed at the reminder of what she and Caelum had done last night, but luckily she could blame the hot skillet. This was all a part of the plan, though. It was good he had heard them. As invasive as it felt that he was privy to what they had done last night, the sooner he got out of here, the better.

"Did you have a nice evening?" Max asked, changing the topic.

"So it's like that, huh?"

She sighed as she dropped the chocolate chips into the mixture. "Like what, Liam?"

"That's why you're not getting back together with me? Which one are you fucking?"

Her shoulders stiffened. She slowly turned to look at him, her mixing spoon dripping batter on the floor. "That is not why we are not getting back together. For the last time, you cheated on me. There was no saving us after that." She turned back towards the cabinets to grab some paper towels.

"But you are fucking him?" he asked like a bulldog with a bone.

She growled under her breath. "That is none of your business," she said, playing her part. "Who I fuck isn't your concern anymore."

His chair scooted back, scraping against the floor. She heard his footsteps and spun around, pointing her mixing spoon at him to keep him from entering her space.

He walked as close to her as the spoon would allow without getting mixture all over his button-down shirt. "What are you doing?"

He held up his hands. "I just want to talk to you."

She shook her head at him. "We are done talking, Liam. There's nothing else you can say."

Before he could say anything else, the brothers entered the kitchen, and her shoulders dropped in relief.
"Is there a problem here?" Caelum asked as he walked over to stand beside her.

She shook her head. "I was just telling Liam, again, that we're not getting back together."

Caelum put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. She glanced at Clark leaning against the island with his arms crossed, his eyes on Caelum's arm around her shoulders.

She focused on Liam, trying not to think about how Clark felt about this whole farce.

Caelum's hand moved up and down her arm in comfort as he faced Liam. "Sorry, bro, you lost your chance."

Instead of explaining himself further, Caelum grabbed her chin, turning her face towards him. She knew he would kiss her, but she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Not because he was going to kiss her, but because they had an audience. Clark was watching, and something that had been a private thing between them was about to be made into a spectacle.

Caelum's lips met hers in a languid kiss. He used his tongue to part her lips, sinking it into her mouth. He kissed her like he had all the time in the world. When he finally let her go, she was breathless. She looked towards Liam to find him gone. She hadn't even heard him leave, being so caught up in Caelum's kiss.