Make It Right by Megan Erickson Page B

so you don’t get hurt. And what are you doing in a self-defense class?”
    Max concentrated on counting the bills in the drawer before turning to his brother. “I was the . . . volunteer attacker. The instructor performed the self-defense skills on me.”
    Cal smirked. “Big bad fighter dude hurt little Max?”
    Max grabbed the credit-card slips and shoved them into a file folder. “More like a five-foot doll,” he muttered.
    Cal dropped his boots to the floor with a thunk. “What’d you say?”
    Max sighed and rested his fists on the counter. “It was a girl. A . . . friend of mine. She’s a black belt and she hits hard. Now don’t tell Dad.”
    Cal threw back his head and howled. “A girl beat you up?”
    “Well it’s not like I was allowed to hit back.” Max didn’t explain that he probably couldn’t have hurt her too badly. Her techniques were effective as hell.
    “So who is this badass chick?”
    Max felt the heat rise into his cheeks. “None of your business.”
    Cal stood up and leaned on the other side of the counter. “You like her?”
    Max didn’t answer, checking off the spreadsheet with the cash register totals.
    Cal slapped his hand on top of the clipboard. “You haven’t dated since Kat. You gonna change that anytime soon?”
    Max glared at him. “Since when do we do this?”
    “Do what?”
    “This heart-to-heart bullshit. You really give a fuck if I date?”
    Cal winced, a barely discernible wrinkle between his brows. “Hey, calm down. We all noticed you’ve been a little miserable. You got all flushed when you talked about her and acted like I was stealing your toy when I asked about her.” Cal took his hand away and shrugged. “I figure you should ask her out.”
    A date? Max hadn’t really dated in . . . well, ever. He’d picked up Kat at a party. He didn’t think they ever actually saw a movie together or something date-like.
    But that’s what Lea deserved. A date. But not from Max.
    “Nah,” he waved it off. “She’s a nice girl.”
    Cal didn’t answer and when the silence stretched on, Max looked up. Cal stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “This pity party getting old yet?”
    “What’re you talking about?”
    “You fucked up with Carrie and you fucked up with Kat. That doesn’t mean that’s who you are. That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a nice girl.”
    Max didn’t answer. The Max of the last three years didn’t deserve a nice girl. But maybe . . . well, maybe he could be a different Max.
    Cal unfolded his arms and rolled his shoulders. Truth time was over. “Whatever, just think about what I said.”
    Another clang. Another curse.
    “I better get out there to help. Finish the register.”
    Max watched Cal’s retreating back and then returned his eyes to the spreadsheet in front of him. But he didn’t see numbers. None at all. He saw Lea’s hair and her smile. The determination on her face when she had to face her hospitalized cousin.
    Lea was the real deal. And Max didn’t know if he knew what to do with something real.
    L EA STOOD OFF to the side of the class, listening to grunts and thuds as the students practiced the self-defense moves they’d learned today.
    There’d been another assault and theft the previous day. So the class had almost doubled in size.
    Max stood with a man and woman, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses in their technique. He met her eyes over the tops of their heads and then dropped them quickly, like he was embarrassed at having been caught. Lea smiled, watching her students again. But her gaze returned to Max like a magnet. And this time, those warm brown eyes of his met hers. He held her stare for a moment and as her smile began to drop, he tilted his chin up so she could see his grin. She returned it and then looked away with a blush.
    This was only the second self defense class and Max had taken to it with vigor. He said he enjoyed coaching the students because it gave him a total high when