He smiles. “It will be fine, worrywart. It will eventually sort itself out.”
“Get your fucking hands off her!” Joshua snaps from the other side of the kitchen where he stands with Ben.
Max’s hand immediately drops from my shoulder. “Joshua,” I stammer, embarrassed.
Joshua stands furious before us. “Let me make myself clear, Max. You do not fucking touch her. Got that!”
Ben winces from his position behind Joshua and pinches the bridge of his nose with his other hand on his hip.
Max stands defiantly before him. “Yes,” he replies sarcastically.
“Joshua, Max and I are friends… that’s all,” I whisper horrified. How in the hell can he be jealous of Max?
“No, Natasha. Max is your guard.” His angry eyes flick to Max. “And I don’t trust him,” he sneers.
Max shakes his head angrily. “I’m not putting up with this shit,” he snaps. “I’m out. I quit!” He then storms from the room. My horrified eyes meet Ben’s and he shakes his head in frustration.
“Stan, calm down,” Ben sighs.
“No. Fuck off. I will not have him pawing my fucking girlfriend. He’s lucky I didn’t sit him on his ass,” Joshua snaps angrily.
I roll my eyes. I really want to chuck a tantrum right now but I know Joshua has a lot on his mind and now is not the time to do it.
Ben scratches his head in frustration and looks at me and I know that he knows something is going on that he doesn’t know about.
“Has anything been stolen?” I ask flatly. Nothing would give me more pleasure than fighting you right now, asshole.
“Who knows?” Joshua snaps and then leaves the room in a rush.
Ben lingers in the kitchen and waits till he leaves. “Can you ring Max and tell him not to be stupid and that I will ring him later?” he asks.
I smile and rub his arm gratefully. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“Don’t touch me. I like my job,” he teases as he pulls his arm from my grip and I smile stupidly.
“That was innocent, Ben. Joshua is overreacting,” I whisper, mortified.
“I know. He’s acting crazy.” He sighs and heads off after Joshua.
I walk out to the front garden and I see all of the guards checking things. Then I head over to the pool area to ring Max. I need somewhere private. I dial the number and it rings.
“Yes,” he answers and I can tell he’s walking briskly from his breathing.
“Max, Joshua has a lot on his plate at the moment and I can’t tell you what but I was hoping that you could just ignore him.” I am talking in a rush to try and get the words out. I can’t believe Joshua spoke to him like that.
“Natasha,” he sighs.
“Ben asked me to ring you and he said don’t do anything stupid and that he will call you later.”
He stays silent.
My mind is in overdrive and I know Joshua is going to be stressed as hell over the next few weeks. I need to keep them apart. “Have a couple of weeks off with full pay and you can both calm down. Go and see your folks.”
He stays silent.
“And then when you get back we will have a meeting and if you two can’t come to an agreement then that’s ok, but just don’t do anything rash. Max, I know you can’t get this money anywhere else. Please, for me will you think about it?”
“Natasha, I can’t see this improving,” he replies.