Chapter 44: Happy Ending?

“Why won’t you make what we have official?”
Maryanne doesn’t have enough time to process what Max has said before he ambushes her with the question. She channels everything in her power into not choking on her own saliva.
Once she has composed herself, she says, “Because, Max, I’m not sure what this even is.”
“Maryanne, you have feelings for me, right?”
“Yes.” Although she doesn’t want to admit it, there is no way around it.
Max shrugs, his brow wrinkling, “Then what’s the problem?”
“It’s not just as simple as going out with you.” Maryanne’s body is tightening with frustration. How can he not see it?
“Why not?”
Working hard not to release her irritation, Maryanne breathes in deeply. “Because we have history Max.”
He scoffs and waves his hand as though he is brushing off their previous interactions, “I don’t care about the past.”
Maryanne wants to scream at him. She was crushed by what he had done. Although she now knows that Daniel sent her the pictures, she is still not certain that it was all faked. “But I can’t help thinking about it all of the time.”
“Maryanne, I’m putting behind me all of the pain I had after you blew me off. I still don’t know why, but I’m willing to never talk about it again and to trust you once more.”
Through the irritation, guilt begins to build. She understands why he would be upset. She ghosted him and refused to see his side of the story. He is willing to forgive and forget the hurt she caused him, in order for them to move on and be happy. Can she do the same? Although Maryanne knows this, she can’t help but stick up for herself. “Max, I am not the only one at fault for the past.”
Max’s brow is now furrowed and his arms hang at his sides. “What do you mean? What did I do?”
“You still had your parties at the penthouse. Your exes were there and you invited a lot of women.” Maryanne holds back on telling him about Daniel. She does not want to cause anymore drama or bring anyone else into this. Daniel was just trying to get rid of her for the sake of Max.
“You know my previous relationships were more for show than anything else. I invited them because it was good publicity. Same with inviting other women. I did it for the men of my company and those I wanted to sign. In order to keep them happy and possibly create bigger deals.”
As Maryanne’s irritation begins to fade, she asks, “Then why did you allow the women to hang all over you?”
Max’s head shakes slightly, confusion taking over his entire face, “What are you talking about?”
“At your last party before I stopped all contact. There were women hanging all over you.”
“When did you come to a party? I never saw you.”
“I didn’t. Someone sent me these.” Maryanne pulls out her phone from her pocket and pulls up the pictures from five years ago. She almost deleted them a few years ago, but didn’t have the heart to do it, since they were the last pictures she ever had of Max.
Max peeks over the screen and as he does, his entire body tenses up and his gaze becomes stormy, “Who?”
Maryanne shakes her head and takes a step back, relocking her screen. “That’s not important right now. I just want to know why you allowed those women to so clearly try and seduce you when we were supposedly going out. I know we didn’t have a label, but it still hurt.”
“Maryanne, is this why you pushed me away?” Max’s shoulders slump and his brow stitches up in concern.
“Yes,” Maryanne says softly, staring at the ground.
“I swear I had no idea. This isn’t what it looks like,” Max reaches out as though to touch her arms, but he decides differently and drops his arms. “I mean it. I didn’t do anything with those women. They were hanging all over me and I tried to push them away. They kept coming back. I never let them just constantly touch me. Those pictures were taken literally seconds before I pushed them off of me. Maryanne, I swear to you that I did not let them just touch me so easily. I loved you back then, like I do now, and I would never do anything to hurt you willingly.”
Maryanne fights the tears building in her eyes, her nose tingling. Her heart twists, “Can I really trust that?”
“Of course you can, Maryanne. I understand if it’s difficult though. Who sent you those pictures?”
She shakes her head, blinking away the droplets, “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does. Whoever it was wanted to break us up.”
Against her better judgement, Maryanne finally says, “Daniel.”
Max leans in, either not hearing her the first time, or not believing her. “What?”
Maryanne blinks several times to compose herself and clears her throat, “Daniel sent me the pictures.”
As a slow anger begins to build in the tension of his body, Max questions, “How do you know? Did he say it was him?”
“I kept the old messages and that day in your study when he called you, I noticed the phone number. It’s the exact same one that texted me these pictures.”
He shakes his head and stares off at the wall, thinking. “Why would he do that, though?”
Maryanne releases all of the insecurities that have been plaguing her since they left the company building, “Because he doesn’t want us together. He believes that I’m not good enough and that you need a higher-class woman that can proudly stand by your side in the spotlight.”
Now there is a rage burning through Max’s expression, his hands almost trembling, “He has no right to do that. Maryanne, I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I promise you; I never did anything with those women. I haven’t even been able to have a fling with anyone in the last five years ago.”
The shock at the statement has Maryanne’s entire body being wracked with a shiver, “What?”
“I couldn’t get over you. I went on a few dates, but I just ended up comparing them to you. Please, will you at least consider my question?” Max nears her, his hand back out to graze her arm.
Maryanne sways in the intensity of his presence, her mind going into a haze and the memories of the night before replaying in her mind. Will it really be different this time? She finds herself whispering, “Okay.”
Max tilts his head down to her mouth to hear her, “What?”
She raises her voice, “Okay, I’ll go out with you. If anything happens like it did before, though, I will never forgive you.”
Max pulls her into a tight embrace, “I promise, Maryanne, that I will never let you regret your decision.”