Hmm. “It’s Ben. He wants to know if we can meet with Max and him,” I call out as I read the message.
Joshua looks at me deadpan and I smile a little too sweetly and fake-bat my eyelashes.
“Fine,” he mutters.
I text back.
Sure. Come in now.
So here we sit around the dining table: Joshua, Ben, Max and me.
Ben is the first to speak. “So I think we just need to air out this situation and work out if you two can work together because Natasha and I are tired of being the meat in the sandwich.” His eyes flick to me and I stifle a smile and look at the ground. Ben’s being tough and has obviously gone over this conversation in his head.
Joshua inhales deeply as his eyes bore into Max. Shit. I interject.
“Joshua, I would like Max to keep being my guard. He was very good to me and my family after my father died and we became friends,” I announce.
Joshua runs his tongue over his top teeth as his eyes flick to Max again as he thinks.
Ben’s eyes flick between the two men who are staying silent. “I think that Max has crossed a line and, Joshua, because you are unwilling to forgive it is damn uncomfortable around here,” Ben contributes.
Max crosses his arms angrily in front of him. “Don’t tell me if you were guarding Natasha that you would have left her alone in another country, Ben. That’s complete bullshit and you know it.”
Ben scratches his head uncomfortably.
“I wanted you to bring her to me,” Joshua snaps.
I screw up my face. Hello, I’m sitting right here. “Joshua, Max tried repeatedly to get me to go back to you and when I refused he had no choice. He had to make a decision to guard me or know that I was going to run off the first chance I got and be alone,” I reply.
Joshua’s angry eyes turn to me and I wither under his glare.
“What exactly has bought this to a head?” Ben asks.
Oh god, he had to bring that up didn’t he?
“I will not have him pawing Natasha,” Joshua sneers.
Ben frowns and Max rolls his eyes and sits back in his chair in disgust.
“I don’t paw her,” he snaps.
“What’s with walking around my house with your arm around her then?”
I frown. Oh god, this conversation is turning to shit.
Max shakes his head in frustration. “We were talking and I didn’t realise I was doing it. We are friends.”
Joshua sits forward in his chair. “Well I realise you are doing it and I don’t fucking like it.” His angry eyes hold Max’s.
I hold up my hands in a stop signal. “Let’s just calm down, shall we. Joshua, Max puts his arm around me because I have set the precedent. I often link arms with him as we walk or talk, or I will grab his hand if we are crossing a busy road. It’s how I am with people I trust and it means nothing. I would do the same to Ben or Adrian or Cameron,” I reply.
My eyes flick to Ben and he frowns slightly as if to say leave me out of this and I nearly break into a smile.
“Let me make this clear to you, Natasha,” Joshua sneers as he leans into the table in anger. “I will not have my wife’s security guard touching her in any way. So you and Max make the decision right now because I can tell you if I catch him with his arm around you again it will be fucking Armageddon.”
“Joshua,” I snap—talk about an over-reaction.
Max shakes his head in frustration.