Is he really a bad boy? [English]

~Chapter 70~

The morning after we returned home, Max had called Taylor and told her he was back in Miami. I did the same and called my father.
"Veronica," my father's familiar voice came up. As always when I called him, he sounded worried.
"Yes, hi Dad. I just wanted to say that I am home again. There was a small change of plan and we flew back earlier.", I told him and tried to sound normal.
"Did something happen? Are you all right?"
"Nothing happened", I lied, "I'm fine, Dad. Only a few appointments were postponed and something was canceled because someone was sick and then this one thing was put in between and the team decided to fly earlier". To keep up a lie you needed unnecessary details.
"You sound so upset. Is everything really okay with you?" Damn it!
"I'm just a little tired from the flight yesterday. Everything is fine with me. Don't worry. Dad, I have to go now too. Maxim made breakfast.", I felt bad because I lied to my father but in that case, I had no other choice. I couldn't tell him the truth. It would break his heart, and he would turn the whole of Europe upside down to find the guy and then rip his head off.
"Does he treat you well?", he asked. I turned around and looked towards the kitchen, where he was leaning against the cooking island with his phone on his ear. He seemed to notice that I was looking at him as he turned around and smiled at me. "He's wonderful!"

After I had finished the conversation with my father and hung up, I went to Maxim in the kitchen. Surprisingly Maxim had really made breakfast. Actually, I had only used it as an excuse to finish the conversation, but I really didn't expect him to make breakfast.
"Coffee," Maxim offered and put a cup with the brown liquid in front of me on the cooking island. Maxim went to the stove and piled scrambled eggs and bacon strips on two plates. He placed one of the plates in front of me, next to my coffee cup and pushed the other one towards him. He handed me a fork and then sat down opposite me on the bar stool.
"How do you feel?", he inquired and took a fork full of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
"Good. I guess.", I replied and poked around with the fork on my plate. I took a piece of the bacon and pushed it from one side of the plate to the other. I couldn't even judge for myself how I was feeling. I felt kind of strange, almost as if something was missing from me; a part that evoked the living in me. Besides, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that I was constantly being watched by him. As if he was standing in front of the window staring at me. Tonight I could have sworn that I saw him standing on the terrace, but when I looked closer he had gone away again. I hadn't told Maxim anything about it. I didn't want to worry him unnecessarily and most likely it was just my paranoia anyway. I apparently hadn't really overcome the events of the last few days-
"Veronica? Are you listening to me?" Maxim asked. I was so absorbed in thoughts that I hadn't even noticed what he had said.
"Sorry.", I said and drove over my face, "What did you say?"
"I asked if you would like to go for a little trip."
"A trip?" I wondered where he got the motivation for a trip.
"Where to?"
"You'll see." he tried to make the trip exciting. "Come on, it's important for me." To be honest, I really didn't feel like going anywhere, I'd rather stay in my bed where it's safe, but it was important for him so I had to come with him. And hiding wasn't a solution either.
"What should I wear?", I asked him and couldn't suppress a sigh, yet a broad, enchanting smile formed on his face.

Only 20 minutes later we were already sitting in Maxim's car.
"Where are we going?" I asked him.
"To a supermarket. I wanted to get some snacks and something to drink. Long rides always make me so hungry."
"Long rides?! Where are you planning to go?"
"As I said already: to a supermarket.", he replied and rolled his eyes. I hit him on the arm and he laughed. As he had said, he drove to the parking lot of a supermarket. He parked and his car in free space and unbuckled himself. Maxim got out without saying a word. I remained on my seat, strictly speaking, I did not know whether it went in his plan with whether I should come with him or remain nevertheless rather in the car. The opening of the car door let me shrug together.
"Are you planning on sitting here forever?" Maxim asked amusedly. He had opened my car door and stood next to me smiling.
"I didn't know whether I should come with you or not," I confessed, embarrassed and got out of the car. When we finally walked out of the store Maxim had two bags in his hand and another six-pack of energy drinks. It looked like he wasn't going on a day trip but was going away for a whole week, as much as he had bought. The only thing I had bought - or Maxim had ripped it out of my hand and paid for it - was a water bottle. I wasn't allowed to carry anything either; his ego had a surplus again today. Max put the bags on the back bench and took a can of energy drink with him. Meanwhile, I had already sat down and fastened my seat belt.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going or not?", I asked him while he sat down again and then drove off.
"Just let yourself be surprised.", he said and raised his arm to stroke my face, but he paused for a moment and let his arm fall again. I assumed that he was still not sure if I could bear the nearness or not. For the last two days, I always flinched when someone wanted to touch me, even if it was unintentional, I had developed a kind of reflex to avoid being close. But it broke my heart bit by bit that I constantly rejected him. After all, I knew he didn't want anything bad, he would never hurt me physically. I took a deep breath and grabbed his hand with determination. I crossed his fingers with mine and looked at him. He turned briefly to me and smiled at me. With his thumb, he began to draw circles on the back of my hand, as he had always done.

At some point, I seemed to have fallen asleep because I woke up from the fact that the car was stopped. I opened my eyes and turned to Maxim, or rather where he was supposed to sit because the place next to me was empty. Where the hell was he? I asked myself and started looking around. The car was standing at a gas station near the highway. But unfortunately, I couldn't figure out where I was right now. I couldn't see a road sign or anything else that might help me. Just as I was about to get out, I saw Maxim coming out of the small shop. He opened the car door and sat down.
"Oh, you're awake," he said in astonishment.
"Yes," I said and drove through my tattered hair, "sorry I fell asleep. I really slept shitty tonight."
"Yeah, I noticed it.", he said and empathy was in his voice. I hadn't even realized tonight that he had noticed my insomnia. I had firmly assumed that he had been asleep.
"Where are we now and how long are we still on the road?", I asked him to conclude with the subject of sleep.
"I don't know exactly where we are now myself, to be honest. But we'll be there in about 15-20 minutes," he reported after he hit the road again.
"So you're still not going to tell me where we're going?" He looked at me and grinned.
"We're heading for Orlando," he announced enthusiastically.
"Orlando?", I asked surprised, "How long have we been driving? Orlando is more than 3 hours away from Miami".
"Yes, I know you slept the whole time and there was hardly any traffic." Damn, I really slept through the whole ride. I immediately felt guilty because Maxim had been driving while I had just slept.
"And what made you go to Orlando?"
"You once complained that I hardly told you anything about my life or hid anything from you. I lived in Orlando until I was 13 years old. Together with my parents. I want to show you where I grew up."

In Orlando, as Maxim had already said, we arrived after 20 minutes. He parked in a parking garage in the middle of the city. After we had left the car park, Maxim put an arm around my shoulder - even if hesitantly at first - and led me through the streets. In Orlando, everything was so bright and loud. Somehow exciting. Between the buildings, you could see the beach. White sandy beach and incredibly beautiful blue water glistening through the sun. I haven't been to the beach for ages, although I lived less than 5 minutes away. Actually, I had planned to go to the beach in Barcelona. Together with Maxim. But it went differently than planned.
"What are you thinking about?", Maxim asked me.
"About the beach. We weren't even at the beach in Barcelona."
"We can go to the beach here if you want.", he suggested and I grabbed his hand which he had put around my shoulder and crossed our fingers.
"Yeah, why not".

"Look", Maxim said and pointed at an older building, "here I went to school back then", we walked a few meters further behind the school building before he stopped again, "there I always spent my break. Surrounded by girls.", he said grinning and proudly.
"So you were already a womanizer as a child.", I asked and had to smile. Unwillingly, I had to think of a 12-year-old edition of Maxim sitting on one of the tables in the schoolyard, surrounded by all the girls who were all over him.
"Of course, I was incredibly handsome as a kid, too. All the girls wanted to be with me!"
"And how many hearts have you broken already?", I asked amusedly.
"I stopped counting at some point," he told me, conceited as he was, "In my defense, I had to break their hearts!"
"You had to?"
"Yes, because I already knew then that somewhere in Miami there would be a girl who would change my life.", I was surprised that the tone in his voice had suddenly become so honest. I looked up at him and looked into his wonderful eyes.
"Kiss me.", I asked him, at first he didn't seem to know if I was serious, but then he grasped my face with his hands and put his soft, gentle lips on mine and kissed me tenderly.

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