Johnny Zacharra cradled his head in his hands as he sat on the couch bent over. Maxie Jones was the most exasperating person he had ever met, a pretty amazing feat considering the DNA he shared with his father and sister. She was a constant paradox in the way that she was constantly contradicting in herself. She was pledging her undying love and devotion to Spinelli one minute and clearly coming onto him the next. He could never quite figure out if she believed what she said but he didn't buy it for a minute. He could see right through her bravery to the scared little girl inside that svelte body of hers.

That careful fragility was something Johnny had in common with her. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was just as broken as she was. They were both walking contradictions determined to hurt themselves before anyone else could. They never gave their hearts fully to someone, no matter their intentions. Just as Maxie had tried to love Spinelli, Johnny had tried to give his whole heart to Lulu. He could go on for days about all the things he loved about her, but he would still end up kissing Maxie in the backseat of the limousine every single time.

Maxie's weapon of choice was her body, but Johnny preferred to use his power. While she would act, as she put it in her words, petty and selfish and trampy, Johnny would be cocky and threatening and dangerous. They both took what they wanted when they wanted without a second thought. When she wanted him, she would make sure she had him. When he wanted her, he would stop at nothing to possess her. They could dance around it all they wanted, but it wouldn't make it any less true. Her words echoed in his heads. She insisted that it would be easier not to care but Maxie would never be that kind of girl. Try to hide it as she may, she would always care. Sometimes the caring just hurt too much.

He jumped from the couch and went to her bedroom door, tapping lightly before letting himself into the room. Maxie whirled around, her arms crossed across her bare chest as she stared at him angrily. "Couldn't you knock?" she yelled as she turned back around. Johnny caught her eye in the full-length mirror, tryinig in vain to hide his smile. Any other girl would be in here crying in resolution but not Maxie. "Listen, if you wanted a free peak, you know all you have to do is ask."

"As tempting as that sounds, Jones, I think that you better find a shirt and come back into the living room. We're not finished talking."

"No, I'm pretty sure I was finished," she said innocently as she let her hands fall to her side. Johnny's gaze slipped from hers as he took in her reflection. Maxie put her hands on her hips as she turned around and started toward him slowly. After the fight they'd had, Maxie knew Lulu wouldn't be back for hours. She stopped just short of him, threading her hands around his neck as she crept against him. "This, on the other hand, is just getting started."

Johnny turned his head to the side as Maxie started her attack on his neck. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back slightly, cursing beneath his breath at his inability to just give in. "Come on, Maxie, I'm not going to let you do this," he murmured. She stuck her bottom lip out in a feigned pout as she posed in front of him, not at all ashamed at showing off her perfectly toned and tanned body. "Seriously, find a shirt. We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk. I'm tired of talking. It's all we do – talk, talk, talk. I talk to Spinelli. You talk to Lulu. Aren't you tired of talking so much and saying so little?" she taunted as she ran her index finger up his chest. "I know that you want me, Zacharra. You are looking at me right now and I can see it in your eyes. Just give in."

"Maxie, this is just going to hurt you."

"Promise?" she whispered as she leaned on her tiptoes. There was no warning her now. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his unapologetically. Johnny couldn't help himself as his arms slipped around her waist and pulled her firm to him. She moaned in his mouth, trying frantically to get closer to him without breaking the kiss. "See, that wasn't so bad was it?"

"Very bad," he grunted as he lifted her off the ground. Her legs wrapped around his waist just before he pressed her back against the wall. "So bad." Maxie nodded as he kissed her again, their tongues dancing for control. "You want it like this?"

Maxie rolled her eyes as she pulled away and reached for the discarded white tanktop off her bed. She flopped on her stomach on the mattress and looked up at him. He didn't quite understand the sudden change in her mood, but Maxie had definitely put space between them. She didn't want him to question it, to make her have a conversation about hooking up. She just wanted it to happen. It was thought that led her to guilt and she refused to feel bad about this. When they finally gave into temptation, she wanted to enjoy it. "You wanted to talk so let's talk."

Johnny sat on the foot of the bed, careful to keep some distance between himself and Maxie. He knew that even in her pajamas, it would only take one twinkle in her big blue eyes and he would be hers completely. "You said that you are who you are with or without Spinelli, but that's not true. I saw you before him, and you were not a happy person. I know that you lost a lot in a little amount of time. I get that kind of loss, I've lived it. The thing is, even as much as I pretend not to, I still know that I'm a different person because I have Lulu in my life."

Maxie tilted her head to the side and looked up at the mob prince. "Yeah, an unhappier person," she retorted. She heard it in the way he spoke of his supposed girlfriend. Lulu had quit making Johnny happy months ago. "Johnny, maybe this isn't really about me. Did you ever think of that? Maybe, just maybe, you are the one that needs to come to terms with you are. Lulu can't change you anymore than Spinelli can change me. He might make my life better, but I'm still going to be myself when I wake up the next morning. Lulu hasn't changed you in the last year. We're not any different, you and me."

"Don't talk about Lulu and me like you know what happens between us."

His voice was angry but she didn't back down. "How is that any different from how you talk about Spinelli and me? You barge in here, talking to me about how I am lying to myself? You are such a hypocrite, Zacharra. I know that everyone has tiptoed around you your entire life, whether it was because your dad paid them to worship you or they were just too afraid to question your authority. Well, I'm not afraid to stand up to you. If you are going to dish out opinions on my relationships, you better be ready to hear mine on yours."

Johnny was across the bed in two seconds, pressing her back against the mattress and covering her mouth with his. He just couldn't stand to hear her talk anymore. He didn't want to admit that she was right. Instead, he would take comfort in the expert way she sucked on his tongue and entwined her fingers in his dark locks. "You were right," he grunted as he leaned back on his heels long enough to toss away his shirt. "We definitely talk too much."

Maxie licked her lips in anticipation just before he returned to her. He managed to get her skirt up around her waist while maneuvering her hands down to his belt buckle. The expensive strip of leather was tossed across the room carelessly. She pressed his jeans over his hips, wanting him to be connected to her immediately. Her tanktop followed his jeans to her plush carpet, and before either of them had a chance to think, they were both completely naked and wrapped in each other.

Johnny tried to stop the thoughts flooding his mind as Maxie pressed a tantalizing trail of kisses along his collarbone. Salty sweat pooled on his skin and across her tongue. He knew that his life was fated to go into flames at some point, and right now, Maxie Jones was the perfect wick to start the inevitable explosion. "I want you inside me now," she demanded in his ear. There was no time to foreplay, no sweet nothings to whisper in her ear. "Come on, Johnny, make me forget."

He didn't have to be asked twice. He took the small foil packet from her outstretched hand and sheathed himself without breaking their kiss. Wrapping his strong arms around her tiny frame, he dragged her to the floor without even bothering to put anything down first. They would both have carpet burns the next morning, but neither of them seemed to care. Looking into her eyes, he expressed a question of permission, to which she answered with a quick thrust so that he was inside of her. "Oh, God!" she cried out involuntarily. Johnny smiled impishly as they found their natural rhythm.

It felt like it lasted hours and mere seconds at the same time. Johnny cradled Maxie against his chest as she fell over the edge, pulling him into blissful oblivion with him. He pressed his forehead to hers as they came down off their natural high together. Her legs wrapped around his waist, they stayed connected until their breaths evened out. "You okay?" he finally whispered, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She nodded silently, her wide eyes lackadaisical and hazy. "Man, we are headed for trouble."

"It's our favorite kind," came her answer as she buried her face tiredly in his shoulder. She wasn't sure what was supposed to come next, only that everything would change once he pulled away and they left the safety of her bedroom. "Johnny, about this…"

"Jones, I don't want to talk about it." His voice was kind and quiet. He tilted her chin so that their eyes met. She tried not to feel anxious about their transgressions. She had been so determined not to feel guilty before, and now that it was over, she really didn't. She was more scared than anything – afraid that this would be just another thing that ended up not mattering. "I just want to enjoy you while I still have you."

"This changes everything."

Part of him wanted to go the cliché route and ask her to promise him that this really did change everything. However, he was Johnny Zacharra, and he was supposed to be cooler than that. If that was true, he wasn't sure why he felt so nervous with Maxie. He had hooked up with so many random girls in the past that his one-night stand list read like a who's who of society divas. However, Maxie was more than a debutante. She wasn't just some random bar skank or a prep school princess. She was someone that mattered.

He kissed her again, allowing the moment to linger. "Lulu and I are done."

"Johnny."

"Maxie, we were finished the minute she had a problem with me going to see Claud," he confessed softly. "You know as well as I do that family is everything. You've seen how this world works with Jason and Spinelli. I will never fully be out of this life. I love having the garage. Working on cars is my dream. Having that doesn't mean that I suddenly quit being a Zacharra. Claudia is the one person that is always going to care if I live or die. We're all that we can really count on. I won't walk away from her for anything in the world."

Johnny was right; she understood exactly where he was coming from. She had shared that bond with Georgie and now looked at Mac as her only true family in the world. He was the one person that had never left her. She loved Robin, but she had her own life. To Mac, Maxie was his life. "It's possible to have your dream and your family, too." Maxie was living proof of it. Thanks to B.J.'s heart, she was living out her dream of working in the fashion world. "Lulu loves you. She'll come around."

"Stop trying to talk me out of breaking up with her, Jones. It's not going to work."

"As long as you're the reason it's over and not me."

"Like I said, Lulu and I were done when we got into a fight over my sister."

"I'm not going to be your girlfriend, Johnny. I mean, if you think you can just replace her with me, it's not going to work. I'm not very good at belonging to anyone," she informed him. "You were just supposed to make me forget. Now you're making me remember."

"I won't apologize for that, Jones," he smiled before kissing her again. She tilted her head to deepen the moment. "This is going to get a whole lot more complicated."

"That's me, a beautiful complication," she grinned. "What does all this mean?"

"Seriously, Jones, you're trying to have that conversation?" he asked. "I'm disappointed in you."

"Hey, I'm still a girl," she reminded him. "We ask these things."

"I don't want to define the indefinable," he said. "For now, I just want to stay like this with you."

Maxie couldn't help but smile as Johnny lifted her in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He crossed the room to make sure that the door was locked before slipping beneath the covers with her. His long body fit against her small frame perfectly, her soft curves finding a home against his toned angles. This could be the love of a lifetime. This could be a disaster waiting to happen. This could change everything. This could change nothing. There was a lot to figure out, so much was left to define. As her eyes fell heavy and Johnny's breath became shallow against her neck, Maxie decided to let go of her anxieties and embrace the comfort of being in his arms.