Maddening Max

Chapter 4: Torture

Marriage is an exercise in torture. — Frances Conroy

( Unedited )

Max's POV

Or course! But I'll keep it discreet.

Her words kept ringing in my head like a mantra as I drove here, and the rage kept growing, swirling within me like a vortex.

Jealousy.

It's like a ticking bomb, ready to explode.

When she said those words, my vision had turned red. Wrath consumed me.

My insides were in turmoil, blood boiling with fury. 

She finally awakened that green-eyed monster I've been trying to tame ever since I impulsively offered my place to her.

I am a private man, and after allowing Angel into my domain, I knew my life was not the same.

I don't know when did she start affecting me. All I know is that she can rankle me in a way where anyone hasn't succeeded, not even Noah or Cyrus, especially when she's flirting with the male department, and that's what alarms me.

"A penny for your thought?" Noah's voice rang in my ears.

I lazily opened my eyes and turned my head to face his approaching lean figure.

Noah Theophilus has been my closest friend since university. He's a cardiologist, and we have also worked together at the Royal Hospital since we started residency. 

Noah sat on the adjacent lounging chair after handing me another beer bottle.

"Thanks," I murmured as I pulled my upper body up and sat upright. I took a swig of the beer.

The bitter taste exploded at the back of my throat, and I welcomed it, anything for a diversion.

"Still thinking of her?" Noah asked causing me to frown.

Noah was staring at me expectantly. 

I shook my head. 

He's talking about Miranda.

"She's dead, man," he reminded me, and I let out a deep sigh.

"You never like her," I commented in a dry tone as I stared at the sparkling blue water of his pool.

I drove here in his place after that blood-boiling talk with Angelik. To blow off some steam. Otherwise, I might have dragged Angelik to her room and proved to her that no one could ever make her scream as I do.

Just thinking of someone touching her made me incensed. My hand clenched tightly around the bottle of the beer.

"She's a manipulative bitch, and I'm sure her brothers had to do with her death," Noah remarked gravely, and I nodded my head.

"Sometimes, it crosses my mind where they could be hiding. I haven't gotten a note from them, not that it bothered me," I said, and Noah just stared at me.

I'm glad I have a true friend.

He was there to save me when Miranda or her brothers set me up. I'm always grateful to him.

I was indebted to him.

"They probably realized their threatening is useless," Noah snorted. He took several swigs of his beer.

"What was the threat, by the way?" Noah suddenly asked, and I just realized Noah had been a close friend, but I've never really divulged anything to him until he arrived that night and took me back to my rented place before the cops came to the scene.