eyes don't lie ✸ max verstappen

27. you don't get to decide around me

( yes im inserting a ch in between two existing chs, pls read the end note to understand why i did that 😅😭 )

"Kara."

A hand at her shoulder. Careful. Persistent.

"Kara, hey."

She blinked awake slowly, disoriented. "Mm...?"

Max was sitting beside her, hair still damp, t-shirt half pulled on like he hadn't bothered finishing.

Something about that alone made her frown.

"What happened?" she asked groggily, pushing herself up slightly.

"Nothing," he said quickly. Then, quieter, "I just-there's something I need to tell you."
That woke her up properly.

Kara shifted back against the headboard, watching him now. "Okay..."

Max exhaled, like he'd been rehearsing this.
"I spoke to Pietro today."

Her brows knit together. "About what?"

"Security," he said. "For you. For the apartment. Just... extra precautions."

A beat.

Kara processed that.

Then-

"You spoke to Pietro about that?"

The question was soft.

Too soft.

Max nodded. "Yeah. I just wanted to-"

"You already talked to him?" she cut in, sitting up straighter now.

Max hesitated. "...Yeah?"

Silence.

Thick this time.

Kara stared at him like she was trying to place him somewhere unfamiliar.

"What do you mean, you already talked to him?" she asked, now fully awake.

"I mean I asked him what he thought," Max said, a little more defensive now. "He agreed it's probably a good idea, given everything that's happened."

"And you didn't think to ask me first?"

There it was.

Max frowned. "I’m talking to you now."

"You already decided," Kara said. "Now you’re informing me."

"I haven't decided anything-"

"You went to my stepdad," she said, the word landing deliberately, "and had a whole conversation about my safety without me being part of it."

Max's jaw tightened. "I was trying to handle it."

"I’m not something you need to handle."

The words came out fast. Instinctive.