Free Finding Us (Finding #2) by Shealy James

floor and led her out to the loungers on the beach. We used to lie there when we were kids and look at the stars. I knew she found it peaceful, and if I could give her a little bit of peace after an hour of chaos, then I had done my job. 
    After a while Maggie turned to me. “I know it shouldn’t bother me because it’s in the past, but it does. What if that’s what he wants in a relationship? I’m not going to do those things.”
    I looked at her and saw the worry in her sad eyes. Of course Maggie would turn this around so the problem was she wasn’t enough. I wondered if the words of her mother ever stop haunting her. I went with words of comfort rather than bringing up her mom again. “If he wanted what she had to offer, then he would be with Alexis or a girl like her. He doesn’t expect you to have threesomes or whatever else she said.”
    “You would think, but we only started having sex the other day. What if he thought we would get there eventually?”
    I was surprised. They had been sleeping in the same bed for months. I knew Maggie wouldn’t sleep with just anyone, but I was surprised to hear that Parker had waited so long. “Wait…your first time was here? What have y’all been doing all those other times you’ve been sleeping in the same bed?”
    “Sleeping. Cuddling. Talking. Not having wild monkey sex with each other and whoever else wants to join in. What did you expect? Just because we were behind closed doors, I was giving it up? Come on. You know me better than that.”
    “I do, but you mean to tell me that Parker Pryce, “sex god extraordinaire,” according to you girls, waited months to have sex with you? I think that alone is saying something, Maggie Anne.” I made quotations with my fingers when calling Parker a sex god to make sure it was clear that was not something that I would ever call him.
    “Don’t call me by both names,” she frowned then sat up like a light bulb just went off in her head. “You think he was sleeping with someone else?” She asked surprised.
    “No moron! I think he wants more with you. All he wanted from Alexis was sex, and had she held back, do you think he would have stuck around? No. With you he wants a life. It’s obvious to everyone how much he loves you. Don’t make him pay for making mistakes when he was seventeen years old.”
    “That wasn’t that long ago, Max.”
                  “No, but he was a different person then. He had just lost his mom. He stopped playing the piano. His dad was giving him a hard time. Alexis was available to take his mind off of it, and what seventeen year old guy would say no to an older girl willing to take her clothes off and do crazy things?”
    Maggie looked at me disgusted. “Really? That’s all it takes?”
    “Teenage years aren’t known as the responsible years. Beggars can’t be choosers and all that.”
    “Gross.” I shrugged as I laughed, and Maggie smiled as she leaned against my shoulder and slid her hand in mine. “Thanks Max.”
    “Anytime Maggie Anne. You ready to go inside?”
    “No. I just want a few more minutes of peace, and don’t call me by both names.”
    I rested my head on hers and whispered, “Ok.”
    A moment later she said, “Max?”
    “Yeah?”
    “What’s gonna happen after graduation?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What if you aren’t around anymore?”
    I closed my eyes to fight the stabbing pain I felt in my chest. Maggie and I had never been apart, and suddenly there was a chance that we were going to have to survive the real world without each other. We knew this and talked about it, but the idea of not being there for her if something bad happened physically hurt me. For years it had been me and Maggie against the world, and I couldn’t get my brain to be ok with the fact that Maggie would have to face some problems on her own. I didn’t want her to ever have to do anything alone.
    “Mags, we talked about this. I’ll always be here for you. I’m