The Rampage MC #4: Max and Briony

Chapter 15 (Briony): I'd Find Out

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Waking from a hangover is a slow, painful process. As the sleep fog fades and body parts come online, the pain starts to register. It'd be faster to say what didn't hurt, which I had narrowed down to my pinkie finger. 

But it was my eyes that seemed to be malfunctioning most because when they semi focused, I swear I saw Max was sitting in the chair beside my bed. It was a small slipper chair, and how Max's big body hadn't slid out of it was a mystery my head couldn't solve at the moment. Those long legs were stretched out in front of him, his head was tilted back, resting against the wall, and his arms hung down the sides of the chair. He was clearly out cold.

Vague images from the previous night came trickling back.

Drinking while Rie was over. Drinking a lot while Rie was over because I was tired of the pain of missing Max. It wasn't a healthy thing to do, but I gave myself a one-night pass of being numb. But when I'd walked Rie to her car and she'd driven away, there was Max, sitting on his Harley, watching my place.

I had no clear recollection of anything I'd said to him, wasn't even quite sure why he was sitting in my bedroom sleeping, but unless I was still really drunk and hallucinating, Max was actually in my bedroom for the first time in more than a year.

I've missed you, Max.

As my eyes started functioning, I began noticing things about Max. He'd been in a fight since I'd seen him two nights ago, possibly the losing end if the black eyes, swollen nose, split lip and cuts all over his face were an indication. His knuckles on both hands were raw and red. I wondered if it had anything to do with Corner, the brother who'd helped my ex, his cousin, get onto Rampage grounds. He'd drunkenly admitted it two nights ago, and even if I wasn't privy to club business, I knew that betraying the club didn't go over well, to say the least. 

Max's reaction had shocked the hell out of me because I thought of that powerful body of his in terms of potential energy. He had the capacity for violence, I knew that by virtue of the fact that he was in an MC, but Max had never once let it loose in front of me. Never even given me a hint of it and kept that energy locked up tight and stalled at potential. Corner's confession had transformed Max's potential energy into kinetic energy in the blink of an eye. Max had been in motion before any of us had a chance to react, and he'd taken Corner to the floor brutally. There was no doubt in my mind that Max would have killed Corner if his brothers hadn't pulled him off of the man.

"Max," I breathed out his name quietly because who wants loud with a pounding head?

He sat up quickly and then came over to the bed, his eyes concerned as he carefully sat down on the edge so he didn't jolt me.

"How are you, Bri? How's the head?" he asked, equally quietly.

"Not great."

"You were pretty out of it last night. I was hoping the Tylenol and the water would help, but those didn't stay down long."

"I got sick?"

"Twice. It's why I stayed. I was worried."

Something unpleasant, like shame and guilt, ran over his battered face, and I swear I could almost hear his thoughts.

I should have stayed when it mattered.

"I remember walking Rie out and seeing you on your bike, but everything's fuzzy after that." Fuzzy, but I could feel something just outside the edge of awareness. Something important, maybe?

"You walked over to me and were stumbling a bit, so I walked you back into your place. Then you told me you were going to get sick, so I got you to the bathroom."