Free Indiscretion: Volume Four by Elisabeth Grace Page A

sighed. “Things exactly like that.”
    “That couldn’t have been easy,” she noted. How was it possible that she was viewing me with any kind of empathy right now? Her voice drew me from my thoughts. “Have you ever considered telling your parents all this?”
    I shook my head. “I can’t tell my mother…it would be like taking another son away from her. My father…it was clear the day it happened and shortly afterward that he’d never forgive me.” Shame crashed over me, making me want to tuck myself into a ball and turn away from Chloe. I fought the urge.
    She was silent for a moment, thinking I could tell, then she said softly, “You can’t keep going on like this.” She paused. “What Max have I been getting to know? The real one or the one you think everyone wants to see?”
    “That’s the thing,” I started slowly, wanting to get the words right. I needed her to understand. “With you everything seems easy. I can be myself, relax. I don’t feel like I have to impress you or live up to what it means to be the only remaining son of Winston Richfield. I know those things don’t matter to you.” I said it with an easy confidence that belied my fear that she’d see me as a coward that hadn’t faced up to what I’d done. But instead of running as I expected, she was still here, lying in my arms.
    Chloe repositioned herself so she was sitting up, facing me, her expression serious. “Eventually you’re going to have to leave to go back to New York, though, and pick up where you left off. Living in a world where you don’t feel free to be yourself. Where you’re still punishing yourself for things that happened in the past.”
    I ran my hands through my hair, not knowing what to say. I hadn’t expected the conversation to take this turn. “Chloe—”
    “Is that what you’re going to do?” she said, cutting me off. “Are you just going to go back to New York and play that role for the rest of your life? Be unhappy and feel guilty every day, forever?” There was a challenge in her beautiful eyes.
    I clamped my jaw down. “You don’t understand what it’s like to—”
    “I don’t need to have been in your position to know that you need to forgive yourself, so you can live the life you want to.” She looked at me with fierce eyes, her jaw hard. “You know what you need? You need to take a long hard look at yourself and figure out which version of Max you really want to be. The Max I know and love is a wonderful man and anyone would be lucky to have you in their life, whether it be as a son, a friend, or a lover…Whether you choose to be the millionaire mogul that everyone wants you to be, or the person on the inside that you really are.”
    Love?
    Had I heard her correctly? She loved me? Or had it just been a slip of the tongue, a turn of a phrase? I didn’t know what to say. My mind was blank, so I just stared at her, registering both the hurt and anger on her face.
    “You need to talk to a professional about this,” she said.
    I scoffed. “I’m not going to some fucking shrink, Chloe.”
    “Why? Because he might actually make you see what a stubborn ass you’re being?” When I said nothing, she huffed and started to get up off the bed. “I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
    I tried to grab for her wrist so we could continue the conversation, but she pulled away. “No, it’s fine. I need some space.” She stomped out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
    Fuck, fuck.
    I dug my fingers into my hair and pulled at the roots, liking the pain, reveling in it. It was what I deserved, but also a momentary distraction from what had just happened. I shouldn’t have told her. Though she hadn’t felt as sickened as I’d always been with myself, the end result had been the same—the truth had pushed her away.
    I cursed my growing feelings for Chloe that had made me want to tell her in the first place. It’d been ridiculous to think it would turn out any other