Read Online To the Max by Elle Aycart - Free Book Online Page B

behaving. No puking.
    Now that she wasn’t throwing up, though, she was craving crispy bacon nonstop.
    Good to hear. How’s my aunt treating you? Has she paid you a visit already?
    Annie snorted. She was here the very first day after you left. Filled the kitchen up. And the extra freezer in your garage.
    Max had been right; in this house, food appeared faster than one could eat it.
    Told you, Ace. Got to go. We’re getting ready to rampage and pillage.
    Do your worst . Then she added, Be safe.
    What he did didn’t sound like the safest of jobs. Props failed and accidents happened.
    Her phone beeped again.
    Always. Besides, I’m the big badass honcho doing all the pillaging.
    She shook her head, closed her phone, and went to feed the rats. She put some lettuce on the second floor and waited. Nothing. Still a bit insecure, she placed the food on the first floor and hurried to close the door. She studied the wooden ramp for a second. She was going to get Tango and Cash upstairs. If for nothing else than as a way to repay the immense favor Max was doing for her.
    While they ate, Annie sat on the deck and surveyed the huge backyard, listening to the birds and wind ruffling the surface of the lake. Her condo was smack in the center of Alden. It was a small town, but still. Nothing compared with this. This was like living in the woods. It was beyond beautiful. And it had Max written all over it: a chill-out area with a table, chairs, and barbecue equipment; a hot tub; a huge hammock hanging from two trees; a big, circular trampoline; a speedboat on the shore of the lake; and a long wooden pier, probably for the daredevil to throw himself headfirst from.
    She moved to the hammock and, holding tight, tried to lie there without being rolled over to the ground. The whole thing felt too shaky, so she went to the sun lounger. She turned on her e-reader and one-clicked several books on the romance book list. More Highlanders. A biker. Great. If the hot flashes got too hot, she could always throw herself in the lake.
    * * * *
    It was only nine o’clock, but the bar Max and half the film crew frequented at Manhattan Beach was already full.
    The girl sitting beside him gestured to the stage, where a local band was playing. “They are good. Entertaining.” Then she trailed her finger down his chest. “I’m much, much better.”
    He smiled at her. Susan was her name. Pretty. Chatty. She’d been angling for him since he’d entered the place. Film-crew groupie. “I’m sure you are, sweetheart.”
    His phone beeped, and he reached for it. It was a picture from James. He and Tate had made it back from Italy but were spending several weeks in Florida at the Eternal Sun Resort before returning to Boston. Tate was sitting on James’s lap, as usual. Both were grinning. Max’s dad was beside them. Mr. Nicholson and several other senior residents were there too. All of them were holding cards. Max chuckled softly. Poker night.
    Pity he couldn’t be there. He loved those seniors. They were a riot.
    “Who are they? Are they in the movie too?” Susan asked, peeking over his shoulder. Then she pointed at James. “He surely looks like it.”
    Yep. Film-crew groupie. Stacked fluff. Not that he had anything against it; he loved stacked fluff.
    As he closed the picture, Max noticed the weather app on the home screen and frowned. “Excuse me,” he said to the girl as he stood up and moved farther from the music.
    There was a storm over Boston. It was midnight back home, but without thinking twice, he dialed. She answered right away.
    “Ace, you all right?” He knew how hard the branches would be whipping at the windows. And those late-summer storms were killers. The rain would be pouring.
    “Hi, Max,” Annie answered, her voice a bit shaky. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” She tried clearing her throat to sound more steady, but she wasn’t fooling him.
    “I hear there’s a storm cooking. I thought about checking up on my