Beach Days

Chapter 9 - His Shirt

 I only turned back to the cottage when Max's car disappeaed from sight. Judging from the fact that he drove smoothly, I figured he would be alright and get home safely.

I leant against the door for a moment, smiling to myself. It felt nice to have a friend beside Abby who I actually trusted.

Whoa.

I actually trusted Max Trelle.

I used to be the sort of person to put my faith in everoyne, believed everyone deserved second chances and thought the best of people.

But ever since that day, I had never been able to actually trust anyone other than Boss, as in my agency boss, my parents, and Abby. I trusted none of the other agents, because I had trusted them before, and where did that get me?

So you know how that big milestone for couples is saying that they love each other? Well for me, it's trust.

And I trusted Max. Freaking. Trelle.

This was not going to end well.

I stayed leant against the door for a while ... only to have the door open behind me, causing me to fall on my behind into an unruly heap on the floor.

Colorful swear words tumbled out my mouth as I  rubbed my already bruised backside. The bruises having come from the time I bumped into Max. The bruises had just almost faded completely when I just had to fall again.

"Better not let Gran hear you say that." Abby grinned, her dark eyes teasing. She had changed into grey sweatpants and a tank top, her hair pulled into a ponytail.

"Shut your mouth and help me up." I grumbled. Abby obliged, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Now what's going on between you and that young man Max?" she crossed her arms, a stern look crossing her face.

"Who are you, my dad?" I scoffed.

"Nah, but he's not here at the moment so I get to take on the role for a bit." She said happily, then paused. "Do I need to give you the talk?"

"No!" I shuddered, remembering the talk I had with my dad when I first told him about ... you know what, never mind.

"Are you sure?" Abby wiggled her eyebrows.

"Positive." I rolled my eyes, pushing past her to take a shower and change.

"You sure that nothing's going on? Cuz that hug looked pretty intimate." Abby made her fingers in to a hashtag shape. "Hashtag Mannon for life!" She squealed in a fangirl voice.

I whirled around, lepaing off of the stair I had been standing on and onto Abby's back, tackling her to the ground.

Oh relax, we fought like that all the time, Abby wasn't gonna get hurt anything, she and I both knew that.

"You freaking asshole! You spied on me?" I hissed. Then something occured to me. "But that means you knew that I was gonna fall backwards when you opened that stupid door!"

Abby smirked. I climbed off of her and offered her my hand. She took it cautiously, eyeing my hand in suspicion before taking it and letting me haul her up.

"You aren't gonna kill me?" Abby asked. I shrugged, smiling sweetly at her.

"Oh, no. I'm feeling nice today." I said.

Abby grinned, raising her fist for a fist bump.

"Which is why I'm going to give you a ten second head start." I finished.

"Shit." Abby muttered.

"10, 9, 8 ..."

"C'mon, Shan, you can't be serious."