Chapter Eight- Frozen Ice
Max stood, her head spinning, not one rational thought filtering through the empty mass that her mind had become the second Logan had flicked the light on. He was sitting comfortably in Delaney's chair, leaning back with his feet propped up on the best, his arms crossed behind his head. He was wearing all black; black pants, a snug black turtle neck sweater, and a black leather jacket. The only thought that ran through Max's head, strangely enough, was 'He got new glasses.'
Logan sat where he was for a moment, before rising out of the chair. He slowly walked around the desk and stood in front of Max. "Hi, Max." He said softly.
Suddenly, Max whirled into motion. Wordlessly, she whirled away from him, and stalked to the door. Logan took a running step after her, grabbing her arm. "Max, wait--" He was cut off as Max turned back to him. "I suggest you let go of my arm." She said icily. Logan was about to protest, but she wrenched her arm free and walked out the door, her heels clicking on the marble hallway as she walked away.
People in the hallway stared at her as she walked down the stairs, wondering how she was came out of a room they never saw her go into.
Max resisted the urge to run. 'Don't make a scene. Don't make a scene.' She repeated over and over again, like a chant, as she weaved around people to find the exit. A young woman stopped her as she made a beeline for the door.
"Jules, I've got to...ah...go. I'll call you." She said as she rushed past her. Julia stared after her quizzically. She'd never seen Max once get flustered in the three years that she had been working as an Eyes-Only informant. Yet she watched Max exit Delaney's office through the door, which wasn't planned, then run out of the building. Julia turned to see a man with spiky blonde hair, dressed in all black, staring after her.
Max ran into the parking lot, frantically searching through her small handbag for her keys. She hit the 'unlock' button as she stumbled closer to the dark purple BMW Z-3 she had treated herself to after Eyes-Only had gone international. She slid into the car, started it, and whipped it into gear in one fluid motion, desperate to get the hell out of there.
Logan made it to the ground floor in time to see a sports car peel rubber on to the road. He'd expected Max to be pissed as hell. He expected her to throw things, scream, and make a scene. He never saw the icy disdain coming till it slapped him in the face. Walking to his own car, ignoring the fact that thirty or so people had trailed out of the building to see what was going on.
Max made it three steps inside the door to her apartment, without breaking down. Of this she was proud. She dropped her keys blindly, heard them hit the floor with the ring of metal against the hardwood, then she stumbled and fell, curling into a tight ball, once again falling into the darkness.