Stealing Emma

Chapter 16 - Against All Odds

For the love of god, when will I get her alone again? Max thought.

This idea of a group outing was totally backfiring at the moment. It was like his family was intentionally sabotaging any alone time he could have with Emma. First, Teresa was acting all weird around him for some reason. Then, he didn’t get to ride with Emma in the cab and now Mia was all over her during dinner, making conversation with her as if they’d known each other for years. It was especially strange coming for her, as she usually was reserved with people at first. He felt like he was in the twilight zone.

“Who’s ready for some drinks?” Max suddenly said. If he had any chance at all of getting an hour in with her before the night ended, it had to be now. At the bar. Just the two of them.

“Alright Maxi wants to get his drink on!” Teresa exclaimed. “Why couldn’t you be like this the other night we went out? You were sulking the entire time.”

He stole a quick glance at Emma, who had a curious look on her face. “That’s because the waiter kept hitting on you during dinner, and then your French friends showed up.”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” she asked completely clueless.

“Forget it,” he said rolling his eyes. “Can we just go? We already paid the bill so I see no reason to still be sitting around.”

“Fiery, too! Max, I gotta say I’m just loving you right now,” Teresa smirked. She got up and ran her fingers around the back of his shoulders as she passed him by.

Seriously, what was wrong with her tonight?

He turned to Emma and offered her his hand to stand up. Instead, she pretended like she hadn’t seen it and looked the other way.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she announced to the table. “I’ll see you at the bar.”

Great, just great. By the time he got to the damn bar, he felt like he was about to explode.

“Bro, you need to relax,” Leo said, apparently noticing the invisible fumes coming out of him.

“How am I supposed to relax? I’ve barely spoken to her all night and now she’s probably pissed at me or something.”

“She’s fine. C’mon you need some tequila shots,” Leo said, motioning towards the bartender. “We’re going to need five shots of Riazul. No, make that four but make his a double,” he said pointing towards Max.

“Yo man, what’s up? Where’s Emma?” a voice suddenly said behind him.

He turned around to see Alex. He did show up after all. Maybe Emma would be happy about that at least. “Hey, man. Glad you came,” he said, shaking his hand. “She just went to bathroom, she should be back soon.”

“Um, excuse me? Who is this and why haven’t you introduced him?” Teresa asked, pushing Max back with her voluptuous ass and making her way in front of Alex.