Dopamine | Adrenaline Book Two

28 - Forgive Me For Biting, I Was Born With Fangs

Please forgive me for hunting you down,

Begged the Lion.

At first, Charles was startled by the sudden banging on his door, fearing for his safety and thinking a fan had somehow snuck past security and discovered his room number. But when his name was called out a second time, the voice was unmistakable, subsiding his fear and replacing it with worry. In an instant, he knew who was on the other side of the door.

Max...

With his hand hovering over the doorknob, Charles wondered if opening it was a bright idea, but as the knocks grew more desperate, he reasoned it might be an emergency.

"Max?" Charles questioned once he opened the door, scanning the hallway to ensure no one had been drawn out by the commotion yet, though that didn't guarantee they wouldn't. With a gesture, Charles stepped aside, allowing Max to enter but keeping a cautious distance in between them.

Facing Charles, Max felt his initial desperation begin to subside. He slowly lowered his hand and took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down to present himself properly to the Ferrari driver. It was crucial to convey his thoughts clearly, without letting his emotions and desperate need for forgiveness overwhelm him.

"Charles..." Max whispered, closing the distance between them. "Kelly told me everything," he stated, deciding to get straight to the heart of the matter. "She confessed that she was the one who stole the strategies, not you." Max reached out, tentatively trying to take Charles's hands in his own.

The blonde hesitated for a second, feeling his heart pound noticeably against his chest, knowing that if he kept speaking he'd forget to breathe in the process. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

The news that it had been Kelly all along wasn't surprising to Charles but it reopened the wound he had forced himself to stitch up. Twice Charles had suffered the loss of Max, each painful in their own way and now that the real culprit had confessed, he almost wished he hadn't known at all.

Max had believed Kelly's scheming, over his own pleas and honest words. It had been done subconsciously but to Charles it didn't take away from the fact that her manipulation had guided Max to a place of deep anger towards him the first time around and a repeat of disbelief. The woman may have been the puppet master but Max had willingly been her puppet without resisting.

Feeling Max's hands touch his own, Charles was broken from his thoughts and realized he had been silent for too long. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. There was a small relief to know that he was no longer the culprit and that Max realized he'd never lied to him, but it was too late to give him any real satisfaction.

"Thank you," Charles said, letting go of Max's hands and keeping a hand on the doorknob—ready to escort Max out now that he had said what he needed to. "I'm glad she told you the truth," he said earnestly, but his throat closed up as he struggled to fight back tears.

Max felt the air leave him when Charles pulled his hands away. For the second time, Charles had rejected his touch. He had hoped that now things would be different, now that he believed him, now that he had asked for his forgiveness. But it remained the same; Charles didn't seem to want to feel his warmth.

"Why would she confess now?" he couldn't help but ask, wondering if Max had more to say and if that was the reason he wasn't making an exit.

Still looking down at his own hands, Max slowly retracted them back to his side and away from Charles. "She didn't want me to lose this race," he mumbled, training his eyes to look back up at the other man's face.