The New Butler

Chapter Thirteen

"Hello, I will be your waiter for the today" the kind lady smiles at me as she waits for Max and I to give her our order. I close the menu and smile up at her, "I will like a water and I'll just have a grilled chicken salad" I tell her. She writes it down with her pen and then takes Max's order.

At the moment I find myself sitting outside a cafe with Max sitting across from me. We decided to come here first because Max and I, were both hungry. "Sweetie?" I look at Max as I barely notice that the waiter left with our order. I force myself to smile at him.

"Is everything alright? You seem out of it" the waiter comes back and sets our drinks down. She then leaves and Max puts his hand on top of mine, his touch is warm but it's not what it use to be, "I heard you talking to Aeneas earlier" I tell him. I can't keep holding it on, I need to know if they know each other on a personal level or not.

Max gives me a weird look, "you know his name?" He ask. I then realize my mistake, I pull my hand away from underneath his. "I heard you call him by that name" Max nods with a look that says he doesn't really believe me.

"Yes, I know Aeneas. We have known each other for awhile now" he tells me. I wait for him to say more but he doesn't, he doesn't say anything else about the kind of relationship that they have. "Why did you ask?" He ask me, I grab my glass of water and take a sip from it, "just curious, about the kind of relationship you two have" I tell him.

Max nods, not really caring about what I said, "just a work one, sweetie" the food comes and the conversation dies down. He only has a work relationship with Aeneas, does that mean that they both have some kind of business together? Or does he mean that it's just strictly about Aeneas working for him?

"Max" I set my fork down, Max looks up at me while chewing his food, I take a deep breath. I have to know and I will know. "Who is Aeneas?" Max raises an eyebrow, I watch him swallow back the food that he was chewing.

"What do you mean? Aeneas is Aeneas" he says, he then sighs. "Why are we even talking about him, today is about us, not about him. It doesn't matter who he is, he's the butler for now and that's all that matters" Max says. He's right though, it doesn't matter who Aeneas is, he's just the butler and nothing else.

*

"Max, look" we walk by the park while holding hands. We're both able to hear children playing and laugher but my attention goes to a white small dog that's walking alone, it's fur is dirty and the dog seems a bit thin.

It's eyes are black and it's ears are brown and gray. Max looks to where I'm pointing, he sees the dog and just stares at it. "Max, I think the dog is lost" I pull my hand away from his and walk towards the dog.

As soon as the dog sees me coming towards it, it starts wagging its tail. I kneel down in front of it to see that it's fine, just a bit thin. "Max" I look up at him as he stands beside me, Max knows what I want but he seems hesitant about it. "Max, we can't just leave him here" I pick up the dog and Max just looks at it with a blank look on his face.

"I'm sure it belongs to someone" he says, I shake my head. "It probably did but the dog looks like it's been out here for awhile now, I'm taking it home with us and giving it some food" Max doesn't say anything else as I start walking towards his car.

I make sure to put the dog in the backseat before getting in the front with Max. The dog lays down and doesn't make a sound. "Are you planning on keeping him?" Max asked. "For now yes, I'll make sure to put up some banners" I tell him. He doesn't say another word on our ride back home.

We arrive home and I'm quick to get out, I grab the dog and head inside. As soon as I enter the mansion with the dog in my arms, I see Aeneas coming down the stairs. His eyes fall on me, "you're back" he whispers, his eyes slowly travel down to the white dog. He suddenly, brightly smiles. "Where did you find that dog?" Max walks inside the house and Aeneas quickly looks at him.

"Aeneas, take the dog, make sure to give it bath and feed it" he orders him. Aeneas nods and takes the dog away from me, I watch as Aeneas leaves with the dog to the kitchen. "Athalia?" I turn my attention to Max when he calls out my name. "Let's go upstairs" I nod, I am tired and I would honestly like to get some sleep for the moment. I walk up ahead of Max and walk into our room. I hear as Max closes the door and locks it.

I fall back down onto the bed, "we're keeping that dog" I speak up. "I want it and I'm sure its owners aren't even looking for him, if he even has owners" a few seconds pass by when Max finally speaks up. "Fine, if you want the dog keep it" I smile to myself, it doesn't matter if he wanted the dog or not, I was planning on keeping it from the start.

I look up to see Max get in front of me with a look that I know very well in his eyes. "Max" I stand up from the bed but he blocks me from going around him, he cups my face in between his hands and stares down at me. "Do you love me?" He whispers, my heart starts to beat faster from his question. I nod my head, I do love him and I always will, no one can replace him.

Max smiles and his lips meet mine, the kiss feels the same as the last one. Nothing is there, nothing is behind the kiss, no feeling or anything. As the kiss starts to get more intense, I pull away from him, I know where he's heading with this and I'm not ready for any of that. "Not today Max, I'm not ready for that" I tell him.

Max looks at me with a look that says if I'm kidding, "isn't this what you want? Isn't this what you have been asking for?" He tells me. "What are you talking about?" I almost shout at him, not once have I told him that I want sex from him. "You don't want to sleep with me?" I shake my head no, "is this what you thought I wanted? For us to lay together again?" Max looks at me with a bit of confusion in his eyes and that only angers me.

I groan out loud as I stomp my way towards the door and open it, "what I wanted was for us to fix this and work out like we use to! Not for us to have sex!" I shout at him, "we are, we're fixing this. Having sex as a married couple is something normal" he tells me.

I glare at him, I know that having sex as a married couple is something normal, and I know that we have already had sex before but it's different now. I want us to try to work on our relationship first and later the rest can slowly come.

"Get out, go sleep somewhere else. I can't bare to look at you right now or even have you near me" Max looks at me as if I'm stupid, "whatever" he mutters after I don't say anything else.

"I don't see what the big deal is but you're obviously being dramatic, again" he walks out the room and makes sure to slam the door shut behind him.