pairing: mjf x f!reader
word count: 4k
warnings: 18+ mdni; unprotected sex, quickie, use of 'daddy', very minor choking, degradation, name calling, rough, dirty talk, mentions of slapping, brief physical altercation (not involving reader), that should be all?
Max is angry the moment he walks into the house, that’s evident to you only. Having dated him for years, it’s easy enough to read when his emotions change, especially if he’s angry. It isn’t his fault this time, not really. The airlines cancelled his flight due to inclement weather conditions, leaving him stuck in the city, his plans for the holiday officially cancelled. Despite the end of your romantic relationship a year prior, you have remained good friends, so, naturally, you invited him along to your family’s dinner. Which is why the scowl on his face is all the more annoying for you.
“Max, what the fuck is your problem?” you hiss, unzipping your hoodie and glancing around to make sure no one is in earshot.
“What?” he asks, agitation apparent in his tone.
“You’re mugging right now,” you whisper. “I know you’re pissed about missing your family’s party, but can you at least try to have a good time?” Max appears indignant for a moment, parting his lips to reply, but he stops and takes a deep breath before he answers.
“Whatever,” he sighs, moving away from you, following the sounds of the football game on the living room television.
As the day continues, Max seems to relax for the most part, spending time talking to your family to catch them up on his life over the past year. He speaks like a used car salesman, selling your family members on himself like he needs to convince them he deserves to be there. Out of all of Max’s personalities he chooses to portray, this is your least favorite one. It’s inauthentic, cheap. When his bragging gets the reaction he wants, he builds on his stories, exaggerating beyond believability, but your family continues to devour every word. It’s both refreshing and annoying that they still treat him as a member of the family.
Along with Max’s ego, another unwanted guest is at the party: your cousin, Pete. Every year, he drinks too much, and finds a way to instigate an argument. Today, he’s made his rounds to all of the attendees of the party, antagonizing them as best as he can, only to be dismissed or given the silent treatment. It’s clear from the way they all roll their eyes that they’ve reached their wits end with Pete, and you wonder if he’ll receive an invitation for the next gathering.
After dinner, the party winds down, and the remaining guests find their way into the back patio to start the customary gossip session about the other family members. When you look for a place to sit, you find your options limited: laying in the grass with your younger family members or sitting at the patio table with Pete. You search for Max, finding him leaning against the wall of the house, talking animatedly with your uncle. You’re tempted to join their conversation, but you’re happy to see Max smiling for the first time that day, so you leave him alone.
“Hey, cuz!” Pete exclaims as you take the seat across from him.
“Hey, Petey,” you reply, trying to keep the reluctance out of your tone so he doesn’t see you as an easy target. “How’s it going?”
“My dad said I’m cut off for the night,” he groans, and you try not to laugh before you respond.
“Your dad left like twenty minutes ago,” you say. “Besides, you’re, like, fifty years old, Petey. Can’t you make up your own mind?” Your aunt flicks your ear as she passes the table, wagging her finger at you to discourage your instigation. “But yeah,” you say, rubbing your ear to soothe it. “Maybe you should ease off or you’re gonna be crashing on the couch.”
“I’m surprised you brought Max tonight,” Pete says, stumbling over his words as he ignores you altogether. “Your breakup was messy.”
“No, it wasn’t,” you sigh, immediately catching what his intentions are. “I wouldn’t have invited him if we weren’t friends, shithead.”
“That’s not what Max was saying,” Pete sighs, shaking his head. “He said you two broke up because you cheated on him.”
You have to hand it to Pete: he may gossip like a teenager but he’s determined. You’ve never known him to make up accusations before, though you’re inclined to believe he only does it since the night is drawing to a close without any chaos. Sitting back in your seat, you fold your arms over your chest and smirk at Pete, rolling your eyes.
“Your desperation knows no bounds, Petey,” you say. “Don’t be surprised if you don’t get invited back for the next one.”
Pete responds with a barrage of slurred curse words as he takes his leave from you, wandering around the party in search of another victim. You lock eyes with Max, who stands with his arms folded, back against the brick wall of the house, a stony expression on his face. While you can’t read his emotions completely, you can tell he’s still frustrated, but you’re unsure what the cause is. That is until Pete finds his way into Max’s personal space.
Though you can’t hear the conversation completely, you can tell from Max’s body language that he doesn’t want to talk to Pete. You’re almost certain that Pete is going to get the response he’s looking for from Max, judging from the way your ex clenches his jaw and rolls his eyes. You’re glued to your spot, watching from several feet away, trying to hear what Pete is saying because you’re curious who he’s trying to set Max’s ire on.
Just as you stand from your seat to intervene in the conversation, Pete puts his hand on Max’s arm, nodding his head as he continues to speak. In that second, you can see the switch flip in Max’s head, his eyes immediately lighting up with anger. Before you can reach them, Max punches Pete, his fist connecting with the older man’s jaw hard enough to send him tumbling towards the ground.
“Max!” you call out, hurrying over and putting your hand on his chest to back him away from where Pete lays on the ground groaning quietly.
“I told him to back the fuck up,” Max says. Though you expect him to sound apologetic, his tone is reminiscent of the times he’s in the ring cutting a promo, condescending and exact. “He’s been fucking with everyone all night,” he adds.
“Yeah, that’s what he does, Max,” you say. “You know that.” You glance over your shoulder to see Pete struggling to roll onto his side, still groaning and muttering under his breath. The only person who has made the move to check on him is your uncle, who stands with his hands on his hips, chastising the other man for his actions. “Get in the house,” you tell Max, gesturing to the door as you continue to push him by his chest.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” Max scoffs, his face scrunched in an amused confusion. You ignore his response and shove him towards the door, pushing it open so you both can enter the house. “That pathetic fucking loser is lucky that I didn’t hit him again,” Max seethes, pointing past you as you close the door. “The things he was saying, and then putting his hands on me?” Max stops and puts his hands on his hips, a wry chuckle leaving his lips. “That dipshit would be on his way to the hospital if I wasn’t feeling generous,” Max adds, the condescending tone tipping straight into MJF territory.
That’s when the feeling hits. You haven’t seen Max like this in person in a long time. Pissed off, practically shaking with anger, but also cocky. Listening to him speak, and knowing that he was holding back when he hit Pete, a flush spreads across your skin. Try as you might to hide the change in your demeanor, Max can read you just as well as you can read him, and you know you’re caught when you see the smirk on his face.
“Doesn’t take much with you,” Max laughs. “Never did, really. I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It’s unconvincing, you both realize that, but it’s a quick, futile effort to keep that last shred of dignity. Max tsks in response, shaking his head.
“Don’t lie to me, sweetheart. You were never good at it.” Max’s smirk is faint now, but the fire is still visible in his gaze. “You were much better at other things, though,” he continues, crossing his arms over his chest. “That’s what you want to do in your family’s house? Is that why you invited me tonight?” He uses the disparaging tone he’s perfected, adding the extra sharpness that he saved just for moments like this with you. It amazes you how quickly he’s able to switch gears, but you don’t bother to think about it too much; right now, your thoughts are elsewhere.
You brush past Max, hurrying up the stairs as you hear him following closely behind you. When you duck into the bathroom, Max pushes his way in with you, grabbing you by your waist so he can back you against the door. He keeps you pinned there as he presses a rough kiss to your lips, your head knocking back against the door from the force. A moan escapes your lips as he deepens the kiss, and you grab his hips to try pulling him closer. Much to your disappointment, Max breaks from the kiss and he grabs both of your wrists.
“I never told you that you could touch me,” he chastises, dragging you to the sink. You brace yourself on the counter, your back to Max as he moves to stand behind you. He sets one hand on your shoulder, urging you to bend over enough to press your ass against his crotch. When he pushes his other hand beneath your skirt, fingers coming in contact with your panties, he locks eyes with you through the mirror, his expression returning to anger once again. “Take ‘em off,” he demands, taking a small step away from you. “You know better than that.”
“Sorry,” you breathe, reaching beneath your skirt to drag your panties down your thighs and kicking them away from your feet.
“I should make you throw them all out,” he says. “I bet you’d do it if I told you to; you always do everything I tell you. You’re such a fucking slut.” You nod your head, your eyes watering already as your cheeks heat up even more. “Let’s see,” Max mumbles, shoving his hand between your thighs to drag his fingers through your folds. “Jesus Christ, you filthy little whore. All of this because I was a little mean to you?”
“Yes,” you nod your head, maintaining eye contact with him through the mirror. He retracts his hand, looking at your slickness that covers his fingers, and his expression shifts to something detached and almost annoyed at you. “Please,” you say, without thinking.
“What are you begging me for?” Max scoffs. “You don’t even fucking know what you want. I can tell from your eyes: you just miss my cock, and you’ll take it to you however I give it to you, right?” You nod your head quickly, never breaking eye contact. “Have you fucked anybody else since me?” Max asks, unfastening his belt.
“No,” you reply, shaking your head, arching your back to invite him in. Max drags the zipper down his slacks, flicking the button open so he can slip himself free of his briefs. You angle your head to peer over your shoulder, watching his hand stroking your slickness over his length, and you clench at the sight of him. “Fuck,” you mumble, the flush returning to your body.
“Come here,” Max mutters, hooking his arm around your body so he can grab you by your throat. He pulls your body flush against his, leaning his head against yours to speak into your ear. “You missed it, didn’t you?” Max asks, his fingers tightening on your throat just enough to make you gasp in surprise.
“Yes, so much.”
“Then beg me for it. Act like the pathetic slut I know you can be, babe.”
“I need it, Max,” you hurry, your voice strained. “Please, I have to feel you. I missed your cock so much. I couldn’t fuck anybody else because my pussy belongs to you and no one else will ever be able to compete with you.” Max’s grip tightens on your throat again, pulling you closer when he peers between your bodies to drag his tip through your folds. “Please, please, it’s yours,” you whine. “Fuck me. Please.”
Max eases himself inside of you, letting out a steady breath as he buries himself as deep as he can at this angle. Your only option is to stifle your moan, so as not to be heard by any of your family members who may be nearby. Placing a hand firmly to your shoulder, Max forces you to bend over once again, and you grip the edge of the sink to support your new position.
“Fuck,” Max mutters, pressing his hips forward, grinding against you. “You’ve been keeping this pussy tight for me, haven’t you?” You whine, nodding your head, listening to Max chuckle at the way you clench around him. “Tell me,” Max commands.
“I didn’t even touch myself without you; I couldn’t.” The words flood out of your mouth faster than you can hear them, and you begin to realize just how much you missed him. “It’s all yours, daddy,” you continue. “Take it.”
Max shoves you forward again, adjusting your positions just enough to keep your head away from the faucet. You grip the edge of the counter for support as Max draws his hips back slowly, dragging himself out of you until you can only feel his tip before pushing in hard. Biting your lip to stifle your surprised yelp, you try to tip your head to peer over your shoulder at him, but the action proves difficult in this position.
“Don’t try to look at me with those pathetic eyes,” Max sneers. “If you wanted someone to be sweet to you, then you wouldn’t have invited me.” You nod your head, your eyes squeezing shut as Max begins a slow and steady pace with his hips. “You never liked me to be gentle, did you?” Max mutters. “You need this: cheap and nasty, just like you.” Max adjusts his hands, his fingers digging into your hips with more pressure, helping pull you to meet each of his thrusts.
“You’re gonna leave—”
“What, I’m gonna leave bruises?” Max interrupts. “Your body is mine, so I’m gonna leave my mark on you.” You whimper, clenching tighter around him from his words. “What happened to my slut, hm?” Max asks, slightly breathless as he continues at the same steady pace. “The one that begged me to slap her and choke her. What happened to daddy’s girl?”
“Oh, God,” you whine, as you feel the ache in your hips from the edge of the countertop.
“Maybe you don’t want to be too loud for your family to hear,” Max continues, pressing his hand between your shoulderblades to keep you in place. “I should stop…we wouldn’t want someone to walk in…”
That’s when it hits you: neither of you locked the door. You whimper, struggling under Max’s grip as you try to break free, but he pushes you down harder, a quick thrust of his hips jamming you against the counter’s edge. Your knees buckle and your moan echoes in the sink basin, but Max still doesn’t free you from his hold. Instead, he buries himself all the way inside of you and pauses, angling his head so he can catch your gaze when you glance over your shoulder.
“You just remembered that the door is unlocked, didn’t you?” Max whispers, his tone devious, proud. “Anyone could walk in…find you bouncing back against my dick like this.” Much to your shame, your body reacts to the idea of being caught, and Max feels it. “There she is,” he laughs. “Pussy clenching around my dick just from the thought of someone walking in. Jesus Christ, you’ll probably gush down your fuckin’ legs if it actually happened.”
“Please, Maxwell,” you whine.
“What, are you going to come already?” he scoffs, his hips thrusting again, moving just a little faster now. “I almost forgot how easy it is to get you off. Do you remember the time you came from me teaching you how to wrestle?”
Max’s tone is demeaning, like he was disgusted by what he is saying, but you know that he loved that night just as much as you did. The two of you hadn’t had the opportunity to be intimate in a few weeks, and a sweet, playful training session quickly turned into something much different. It was quick, and you didn’t expect it, but the built up tension mixed with the way Max’s hands felt on your body, the way he felt pressing against you with each move…you didn’t realize that you were clenching your thighs together, and you definitely didn’t realize the way you were grinding against Max when you were on top of him for a pin. You were humiliated at the time but Max calmed your emotions before taking you back to his house for some more privacy.
“You’re so fucking pathetic,” Max breathes, pulling you from your memories and back into the moment, where he now has one hand pressed to the counter beside you so he can have better leverage. “I’ll bet it doesn’t even need to be me,” Max goes on, his hand on your hip now holding on with a bruising grip. “You’ll come like that for anybody, won’t you?”
“No, no,” you reply, quickly, your breath escaping you when he resumes his thrusts, this time much faster. “I need you, Max. It’s only you.”
Max breathes heavily as he thrusts harder, small grunts that he tries to silence just loud enough for you to hear. You reach one hand behind your back, feeling for him, but he grabs your wrists, pinning them hard against the small of your back with both of his hands. When he pushes his weight into your back, your legs tremble beneath you before giving way, leaving your body held in place solely by Max’s grip.
“You don’t get to come,” Max hisses. “Not yet.”
“No, Max, please,” you whine, tears beginning to sting at your eyes.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” he grinds out, thrusting harder.
“But–”
“I’m going to come inside of you,” Max cuts you off, the pace of his hips increasing, the force driving you harder against the counter. “When we get to your place tonight, if I think you’ve been a good girl for the rest of the night…”
“Fuck,” you whimper, your eyes slipping closed as you struggle to hold back your climax.
“You can use your toys to get yourself off while I watch you,” he goes on. “That’s your punishment for lying to me.”
“What–?”
“I told you that you’re not good at lying, sweetheart,” Max mutters. “I know you fucked Will.”
You didn’t expect Max to know the truth, but you shouldn’t be surprised. The encounter was months ago, once and never again because that wasn’t your intention when you went to the show that night. It doesn’t seem like the time to argue with Max over the situation, especially not to tell him that you were jealous when you saw him flirting with someone else, and Will was the perfect person to really make Max jealous in response. No, you’d save that for another time when you have a little more privacy.
The possible options of how to handle this moment play in your head quickly: deny it, ignore it, or accept it. Before you have the opportunity to make a decision, Max’s thrusts begin to fall out of time, though he doesn’t relent. He mutters under his breath, something bordering on praise for you, but he keeps his voice low enough that you can’t be sure.
“Jesus Christ,” Max grits. “This is all you’re good for.” You whimper, and clench around him as his thrusts become shorter and more shallow. “Fuck,” he mutters, pushing his weight harder into your wrists. “Don’t you fucking come, do you hear me?”
You open your mouth to speak, but you lose your breath as you struggle to maintain your composure. You’re teetering on the edge of your climax, so close that you’re afraid you’ll pass out when Max finally reaches his own end. He thrusts harder and harder through his orgasm, filling you up until he’s spent. When he finally stills, his length still buried inside of you, his grip on your wrists loosens, and he grabs you by your shoulder to pull you upright again.
“Look at yourself,” he pants in your ear. “Who is the only one that makes you look like this?”
“You are,” you breathe, studying your disheveled appearance in the mirror. “Please don’t leave me like this. I need to–”
“You need to what?” Max scoffs. “You can fucking wait until we get back home. Then you can tell me all about what you and Ospreay did while you play with yourself. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to let you come then either.”
“Maxwell, you said–”
“And you said you didn’t fuck anyone else,” Max interrupts, a smirk on his face. “We’re both liars, I guess.”
When Max finally pulls out, you let out a whimper, the ache left in his wake causing a thrum through your entire body. Only for a split second does Max break from his character when he locks eyes with you in the mirror, an almost indiscernible shift in his expression as he checks in with you. You give an equally discreet nod of your head, before adjusting your appearance to something more presentable.
You both are silent for a few moments as you dress, until Max grabs your panties from the floor, peering at you with a mischievous smirk. He appears to weigh his options for a moment before taking a step towards you and putting the clothing into your hand. In an uncharacteristic move, at least when he’s like this, Max presses a gentle kiss to your lips and peers into your eyes.
“Don’t get used to it,” Max whispers, undoubtedly seeing the confused expression on your face. “This is the nicest I’ll be to you all night. The only reason you’re getting your panties back is so that you don’t leak anything onto your family’s couch. Petey will never let me hear the end of that one.”
Max leaves the room before you are able to respond, allowing you a few more minutes to yourself. Giving yourself a final once-over in the mirror, you exit the bathroom on shaky legs, hoping it’s not too obvious. Descending the stairs, you find Max talking to your uncle again, now much more relaxed than he was before. His eyes find yours for a moment, a devious glint in them that sends your mind racing with excuses that will be able to get you both out of there.
“You okay?” Max asks, when you reach him, concern on his face.
“Yeah, I think I’m ready to call it a night,” you reply, nodding your head.
“It’s only halftime,” Max says, gesturing towards the living room where television still plays. “We can’t leave before it’s over.” It’s another instance where you know Max well enough to read his tone and expression: he’s toying with you, trying to make you sweat as long as he can. Instead of playing into his hand, you let out a sigh and shrug your shoulders.
“I guess we could stay the night here,” you suggest, watching the amusement drop from his face as you call his bluff. “All of the rooms are occupied, though, so you’ll probably end up sleeping on the couch with Petey.”
“Hmm,” Max hums, something igniting behind his eyes. “You’re right.” You both take a moment to say goodbye to your uncle, before he exits the room, leaving you alone with Max again. “You thought that was cute, huh?” Max asks, nodding his head.
“A little.”
“Well,” he sighs. “When we get home, you can show me just how cute you can be.”
Walking to the ring with Max next to me, I start high fiving some of the fans when Max grabs my arm pulling me away from them since he is the grumpy one and I'm the happy go lucky one in this fake relationship. We climb into the ring and Max grabs a microphone from someone off to the side. I wave to some people in the crowd as Max rolls his eyes at me. He taps the mic making sure it is on before he starts talking.
"Hello all you losers!"
I shake my head at him as he smirks at the camera to the sea of boos he is getting.
"Say hello to the best couple in AEW! My stunning, beautiful girlfriend Y/N! ...... And me! MJF!"
Before he can keep talking about us, Adam Cole's music hits cutting him off. I look over at Max as he leans on the corner of the ring waiting for Adam to finish his entrance, grabbing a microphone in the process. I stand in the middle of the ring face to face with Adam. He taps it making sure it's on.
"Max! Y/N! The best couple in AEW!"
Adam takes a long look at me, flicks his gaze over to Max than back to me smirking.
"Let's be honest Y/N. This little romance? It's fake. Everyone knows it's fake."
The crowd starts murmuring as I look over at Max. His jaw twitches and it looks like he is grinding his teeth. I take a deep breath as Adam steps closer to me and runs his finger along my jawline.
“I mean look at you. You expect us to believe she’d actually choose you Max?”
Before I could even roll my eyes, Max steps in front of me so fast, I barely see him move. He brings the microphone to his mouth staring at Adam.
“You wanna know what’s real?”
Max snaps, his voice cracking just a little. The arena goes dead silent. I feel my heart stop in my chest. He turns toward me, only a little, just enough that the cameras could catch the way he was looking at me, like this wasn’t a promo anymore.
“The fact that she’s the best damn thing in my life—on TV or off it!”
The crowd erupts as I stare at him frozen, eyes wide in shock. That wasn't in the script. None of that was in the script. Adam actually looks at the camera than at me like "Is he allowed to say that?" before backing away from Max. He tosses the microphone away and steps closer to me, lowering his voice for me to hear.
"I'm tired of pretending. I'm tired of acting like this just for the cameras. Tired of pretending you are my girlfriend."
I gulp, feeling my mouth and throat starting to dry out as I stare up at him.
"Max, what are you doing?"
"Telling the truth. Just once. For the first time in my damn life."
His hands slow run up my cheeks, holding my face. In front of the whole world, he leans in and kisses me. Not a staged kiss either. A real nice, slow, claiming kiss. The crowd is absolutely losing their minds. Commentary is screaming. Cameras are shaking. I pull back from him, taking a deep breath.
"M-Max…"
He presses his forehead against mine, staring straight into my eyes.
“Tell me you don't feel this connection.”
I absolutely do. But all I can do is grab his jacket, drag him back in, and kiss him again—because screw it.
Hi can you write an MJF x reader where reader is MJF wife and is sitting at the barricade at Double or nothing where he returns and mentions how he isn’t leaving AEW?
I’m so happy that MJF is back!!!
Double or Nothing
MJF x Wife Reader
MJF Masterlist Main Masterlist
It didn’t matter how many times I’d been fortunate enough to experience Max’s returns ringside. Every return was bigger and better than the last. It has been five months since I last found myself in this position. 5 months ago I sat in this exact spot cheering on my husband against his match with Joe at World’s End. I know that match didn’t end the way we wanted but that just meant his return would be ungodly. I watched Adam Cole enter the ring, devil mask in hand. It didn’t matter what he was saying, it would soon mean nothing. I couldn't help the nervous feeling in my stomach, I was internally counting down the seconds until the lights went out and the devil came home. As if on cue the lights went out. I watched Adam Cole frantically pace around the ring waiting to get jumped and yet nothing happened. Just then the video package played on the screens. I could sense the confusion in the fans. Some chanted his name while others questioned who was filming the video. It was obvious the hands were one of a female. I was the one that helped Max film it, we just had to throw them off just a bit. Just then my focus from the screen was broken when a fan yelled “Wait isn’t that MJF’s Wife!” Fuck, I got caught. I tried my best to ignore the comment as I awaited his entrance theme to play on the speakers. I thought the pop was big when Max returned at All Out back in 2022 but this was nothing in comparison. The crowd went crazy as Max made his way to the ring, ready to kill Adam Cole. For a moment it was as if Max would reunite with Cole but of course, that was false. For the past 5 months, Max hated how he allowed himself to get soft, he hated that he trusted someone other than me. Max was out for revenge. For a moment in time, some thought we would never see MJF in AEW again but AEW was his home. The other company would ruin him. Maxwell Jacob Friedman is NOT a PG guy. I couldn't help the smile on my face, he was home. The people loved him, they needed him. I can’t wait to see where this next adventure takes us.
As they made their way back to their hotel room, the tension between Y/n and Max was palpable, hanging heavy in the air like a thick fog. Each step seemed to widen the gap between them, burdened by the weight of their unspoken grievances.
Y/n felt a simmering frustration bubbling beneath her calm exterior, Britt and Adam had left again to go into town to grab some things we needed. Y/n knew she would have to stay in the room with Max for at least an hour The strained silence between them had become unbearable, a constant reminder of the growing rift. She couldn't shake the sinking feeling that their once-strong connection was slipping away, leaving them adrift in a sea of uncertainty.
Meanwhile, Max's brooding silence only served to intensify the tension, his impassive demeanor a stark contrast to the turmoil raging within Y/n. His eyes bore into her, a silent challenge that left her feeling exposed and vulnerable.
Finally breaking the stifling silence, Y/n let out a frustrated sigh, her patience wearing thin. "What's on your mind, Max?" she asked, her voice tinged with exasperation.
Max's jaw clenched at her question, his expression a mixture of frustration and hurt. "You really want to know?" he retorted, his tone sharp with emotion. "Maybe if you weren't so damn stubborn—"
Y/n's temper flared at his accusation, her frustration boiling over. "Stubborn? How I literally haven't talked to you almost all day" she shot back, her voice tinged with disbelief. "You're the one who refuses to speak—"
Max's eyes flashed with indignation, his resolve hardening as he stepped closer to Y/n, closing the gap between them with deliberate intent. "Refuses to speak about what, exactly?" he challenged, his voice low and dangerously seductive.
Y/n felt a surge of defiance coursing through her veins, her own resolve matching his as she met his gaze head-on. "The truth on—" he interrupted her once again.
Their proximity ignited a firestorm of emotions, the air crackling with tension as they stood locked in a battle of wills. In that charged moment, there was no denying the magnetic pull drawing them together, a primal attraction that defied reason.
Max's gaze softened slightly, a flicker of vulnerability slipping through his steely exterior. "What? You wanna talk about the way you're obsessed with me huh?" He spat. "W-What I'm not obsessed with you, you're so fucking full of yourself that it's suffocating." she stuttered. "Oh come on just stop lying, I can tell by the way you look at me, the way you respond to my touch—" as he started to snake his hands around Y/N's waist.
Y/n's breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding erratically as she struggled to maintain her composure. "You wish I would never like a piece of sh—"
With a sudden surge of boldness, Max closed the distance between them, his lips crashing down on hers in a heated kiss that stole the breath from her lungs. It was a kiss fueled by years of pent-up desire, a reckless abandon that left them both reeling with emotion.
Y/n's hands found their way to Max's chest, her fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt as she melted into the kiss, her senses overwhelmed by the heady rush of passion. He started to back Y/n onto the bed. Now he was on top of her and in that moment, there was no past, no future—only the intoxicating present.
Their lips moved in a frantic dance of longing and desire, each touch igniting a wildfire of sensations that consumed them both. The world fell away around them, leaving only the pulsing rhythm of their hearts and the searing heat of their shared passion.
But as they finally broke apart, breathless and dizzy with desire, she couldn't even think Max was the only thing on her mind. As they stared into each other's eyes, Max's hands started traveling down Y/N's body and stopped at the top of her gym shorts.
"I thought you hated me?" He said as he toyed with the top of her shorts. "I do" She whined. "Oh okay, then I'll stop". "No No Please don't stop" He laughed "You're so cute when you beg"
A beat, as Max’s hands continue moving, pulling down her shorts. Y/n lets out a small gasp, her voice trembling with vulnerability. " I bet you're so wet right now just by the way you're reacting"
Max is not fooled though, and his playful smile only grows wider. He pulls her closer, his hands still moving down the hem of her shorts, his lips almost teasingly close to her face. Still staring into her eyes, he whispers playfully. “You really think I’ll let you go that easily?” His hands finally reach the elastic of her shorts, pausing for a split second before he slowly starts to pull them down. Y/N lets out a small whimper as her heart begins to beat louder and faster.
He sticks his hand into her shorts and panties to run his thick fingers through your slick folds making your head throw back in pleasure, eyes squeezed shut as you try and stave off your moans.
“What’d I say? you’re fucking soaked, your pussy is begging to be fucked by me”
A small whimper escapes your lips when Max shoves his index finger into her soaked core, thrusting it in and out of you slowly as his dark eyes stay locked on hers. You could see the enjoyment on his face, he enjoyed watching Y/n fall apart for him, and he loved the control he had over her in the moment.
And as much as she wanted to push him off, tell him to go fuck himself, She was enjoying this too much.
“Max” Y/n breathed out, chest heaving up and down.
He swipes his tongue across his bottom lip, shoving another finger into her cunt. He begins harshly thrusting them in and out of her, his palm firmly pressed against her clit.
Y/n feels your orgasm building inside you, the band threatening to snap when he curves his fingers slightly, hitting that sweet spot deep inside you.
“i-i’m gonna cum, Max. fuck, s’close!” She whines, grinding herself against his hand, chasing her high as he pushes his fingers roughly into you. She begins clenching around his fingers,her release threatening to burst out of you.
Max stops, pulling his fingers from inside Y/n and sucking them clean. “Mmm, the princess tastes so good, who knew?”
Y/n throws your head up, eyes narrowed toward him in annoyance. “Max what the fuck, why’d you stop?!”
He chuckles darkly, his hands flying to the back of your hair as he smashes his lips to yours, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth. She moans against his lips when she tastes herself on his tongue.
He pulls your lips from his, holding your head back as his dark eyes burn into yours. “bratty little sluts like you don’t get to cum that easily”
She pouts. “but-“ you begin but your words die on your tongue, Max’s tight grip on your hair pulling a whine from your lips. he begins pulling you to the couch by your hair, your legs failing to keep up with his long strides causing you to stumble and trip over your own two feet.
“Take your clothes off, now”
She hesitantly pulls her shirt over her head, tossing it onto the floor in front of you before you move to pull your shorts and panties down your legs. you feel your face heating up, feeling a little too exposed in front of Max for your liking.
Max sucks in a sharp breath, his bottom lip between his teeth as his eyes scanned the length of Y/N's naked body.
he takes a step toward you, making you flinch and scoot yourself further into the couch. you weren’t afraid of him, but after the way he’s been all night, it was out of instinct to flinch away from him.
“Don’t be scared, gonna fuck the attitude right out of you, and then we can go back to acting like the other doesn’t exist, got it?”
“o-okay”
He pulls at the waistband of his sweatpants, shoving them down his legs and kicking them to the side. Her eyes go wide when she sees his impressive length pressed against his thigh through the fabric of his briefs. you’d always heard rumors about Max’s size, but seeing it for herself, he looked much bigger than you’d expected.
Max leans forward, gripping your arms and yanking you upright. he pulls you to your feet, sitting on the couch and patting at his legs, making her cock her head to the side in confusion.
“C’mon, lay across my lap”
She wasn’t sure what his plan was, but she was too turned on to care. Whatever he had in store for her would be worth it.
She winced, feeling Max's hand land harshly on her ass, making her whimper. “What're you—” Slap! Max’s hand landed another harsh slap against her ass, tears forming in her eyes from the pain left behind.
“Just a little discipline. You need to learn not to talk back all the fucking time, not to have such a fucking attitude,” he growled.
He landed another harsh slap to the other side of her ass, the burn she felt from his hands making tears flow quickly down her face.
Max began rubbing at her ass, his large hands kneading at the flesh. She sighed in relief when she thought he was finally done with the spanking, but her mind went blank when she felt him land yet another rough smack.
He pulled her up, sitting her on the hotel bed and wiping his thumb across her cheek. “Stop fucking crying.”
She sniffled, nodding her head and wiping her tears away.
She watched as Max made his way to the bathroom , returning quickly with a condom in hand. She watched in awe as he slid his briefs down his legs, his large cock springing free and slapping against his stomach.
“Stop staring, princess. S’not nice,” she met his eyes, an amused smirk on his face when he saw the look of fear in her eyes. He stroked himself a few times before ripping the foil packet open with his teeth, sliding the condom down his length and stepping toward her. “It'll fit, don't worry. And if it doesn’t, I’ll make it fit.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding as she watched him fall onto the bed. “Come sit on my cock. Want you to ride me.”
She stood from her spot on the bed so quickly she tripped over her own feet, stumbling forward, hands pressed firmly into Max’s chest. She threw one leg over his waist, straddling him and gripping his cock in one hand. She began grinding her hips over his length, a low groan pulled from him.
“Stop fucking teasing me, I don’t want to have to hurt you again, but I will.”
She nodded her head, reaching behind her and grasping his cock in her hands, stroking him softly and lining him up with her entrance. She pushed the head in slowly, gasping when the thick head pushed into her.
Max groaned. “Fuuuck.”
She fully sank herself onto him, a loud moan falling past her lips. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders, resting her head in the crook of his neck as she sat still, trying to adjust to his size.
Max gripped her hips, sliding her up slowly before pushing her back down harshly. Her breath hitched in her throat when the head of his cock hit her g-spot. “Fuck, Max, fuck!”
He landed a slap to her ass, a whimper falling from her lips at the action. “Move, now,” Max demanded, both his hands landing harsh slaps to her ass cheeks again.
She quickly did as he said, bouncing herself up and down his length. The sounds of both their skin slapping together, soft whimpers, and loud moans filled the room.
Max ran his hands from her hips to her ass, gripping at the flesh hard, landing smacks as she continued to bounce herself up and down. “Such a good fucking slut, bouncing yourself on my cock, the cock of the man that fucking hates you.”
She whimpered, Max’s cock pushing into her so deep she could feel it in her stomach. The head of his cock continuously hit at her sweet spot, the band in her belly beginning to tighten, her vision blurred with tears. “Max, I’m gonna cum—fuck! I’m gonna cum!”
She heard Max tsk, his hands making purchase on her hips again as he stopped her movements. “You don’t fucking cum until I say you can, got it? Brats don’t get to cum whenever they fucking want.”
She whined, her hand slithering between the two of them, fingers finding her clit instantly. She began rubbing slow circles around her sensitive bud, trying to chase her orgasm despite Max’s telling her no.
Max’s hand grabbed hers, pulling it from her clit and twisting her arm behind her back. “Are you disobeying me, princess? I would recommend you not do that.”
Max began pounding his hips up into hers, his cock repeatedly hitting her g-spot, a string of curses and moans falling from her lips at his continued abuse to her cunt.
“Such a tight fucking pussy. Who knew the girl I fucking hate would feel so fucking good?” Max groaned, his voice low and raspy.
He began placing sloppy kisses around her neck, his teeth nipping at the skin. She felt his thrusts getting sloppy, letting her know he was close to his orgasm. “Max, can I please cum? Please,” she whined, tears flowing down her face from the pressure she felt between her thighs.
Max sank his teeth into her shoulder, his dick stiffening as he burst into the condom.
“Fuckfuck, go on, cum. Be a good slut and cum all over me.”
His words were all it took to send her flying over the edge, her release bursting from her in body-shaking euphoria.
“Max, shit, feels so fucking good, Max,” she cried out, his hips pounding into her a few more times before he went limp beneath her.
She rested her head on his shoulder, trying to slow her breathing. Max slapped at her ass, making her lift her head as he lifted her from his lap, tossing her to the side.
She wasn’t sure what his plan was, but she was too turned on to care. Whatever he had in store for her would be worth it.
She winced, feeling Max's hand land harshly on her ass, making her whimper. “What're you—” Slap! Max’s hand landed another harsh slap against her ass, tears forming in her eyes from the pain left behind.
“Just a little discipline. You need to learn not to talk back all the fucking time, not to have such a fucking attitude,” he growled.
He landed another harsh slap to the other side of her ass, the burn she felt from his hands making tears flow quickly down her face.
Max began rubbing at her ass, his large hands kneading at the flesh. She sighed in relief when she thought he was finally done with the spanking, but her mind went blank when she felt him land yet another rough smack.
He pulled her up, sitting her on the hotel bed and wiping his thumb across her cheek. “Stop fucking crying.”
She sniffled, nodding her head and wiping her tears away.
She watched as Max made his way toward John B's room, returning quickly with a condom in hand. She watched in awe as he slid his briefs down his legs, his large cock springing free and slapping against his stomach.
“Stop staring, princess. S’not nice,” she met his eyes, an amused smirk on his face when he saw the look of fear in her eyes. He stroked himself a few times before ripping the foil packet open with his teeth, sliding the condom down his length and stepping toward her. “It'll fit, don't worry. And if it doesn’t, I’ll make it fit.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding as she watched him fall onto the bed. “Come sit on my cock. Want you to ride me.”
She stood from her spot on the bed so quickly she tripped over her own feet, stumbling forward, hands pressed firmly into Max’s chest. She threw one leg over his waist, straddling him and gripping his cock in one hand. She began grinding her hips over his length, a low groan pulled from him.
“Stop fucking teasing me, I don’t want to have to hurt you again, but I will.”
She nodded her head, reaching behind her and grasping his cock in her hands, stroking him softly and lining him up with her entrance. She pushed the head in slowly, gasping when the thick head pushed into her.
Max groaned. “Fuuuck.”
She fully sank herself onto him, a loud moan falling past her lips. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders, resting her head in the crook of his neck as she sat still, trying to adjust to his size.
Max gripped her hips, sliding her up slowly before pushing her back down harshly. Her breath hitched in her throat when the head of his cock hit her g-spot. “Fuck, Max, fuck!”
He landed a slap to her ass, a whimper falling from her lips at the action. “Move, now,” Max demanded, both his hands landing harsh slaps to her ass cheeks again.
She quickly did as he said, bouncing herself up and down his length. The sounds of both their skin slapping together, soft whimpers, and loud moans filled the room.
Max ran his hands from her hips to her ass, gripping at the flesh hard, landing smacks as she continued to bounce herself up and down. “Such a good fucking slut, bouncing yourself on my cock, the cock of the man that fucking hates you.”
She whimpered, Max’s cock pushing into her so deep she could feel it in her stomach. The head of his cock continuously hit at her sweet spot, the band in her belly beginning to tighten, her vision blurred with tears. “Max, I’m gonna cum—fuck! I’m gonna cum!”
She heard Max tsk, his hands making purchase on her hips again as he stopped her movements. “You don’t fucking cum until I say you can, got it? Brats don’t get to cum whenever they fucking want.”
She whined, her hand slithering between the two of them, fingers finding her clit instantly. She began rubbing slow circles around her sensitive bud, trying to chase her orgasm despite Max’s telling her no.
Max’s hand grabbed hers, pulling it from her clit and twisting her arm behind her back. “Are you disobeying me, princess? I would recommend you not do that.”
Max began pounding his hips up into hers, his cock repeatedly hitting her g-spot, a string of curses and moans falling from her lips at his continued abuse to her cunt.
“Such a tight fucking pussy. Who knew the girl I fucking hate would feel so fucking good?” Max groaned, his voice low and raspy.
He began placing sloppy kisses around her neck, his teeth nipping at the skin. She felt his thrusts getting sloppy, letting her know he was close to his orgasm. “Max, can I please cum? Please,” she whined, tears flowing down her face from the pressure she felt between her thighs.
Max sank his teeth into her shoulder, his dick stiffening as he burst into the condom.
“Fuckfuck, go on, cum. Be a good slut and cum all over me.”
His words were all it took to send her flying over the edge, her release bursting from her in body-shaking euphoria.
“Max, shit, feels so fucking good, Max,” she cried out, his hips pounding into her a few more times before he went limp beneath her.
She rested her head on his shoulder, trying to slow her breathing. Max slapped at her ass, making her lift her head as he lifted her from his lap, tossing her to the side.
Max chuckled, standing from the bed and pulling the condom off of himself, tossing it into the trash. “Thanks for that, I’m gonna sleep good now.”
He opened the mini fridge, pulling out a soda and opening it. He took a long sip as he made his way back into the bathroom, grabbing his underwear and sweatpants from the floor and slipping them back on.
“We don’t talk about this, ever. Got it? It was just...hate sex? Someone had to fuck the attitude out of you. This changes nothing, you mean nothing to me, and I still hate you.”
warnings: injury (concussion), mostly fluff, probably ooc for max idk i’m trying. for simplicity i’m using ring names, slightly nsfw at the end
summary: when you sustain a concussion during a match, someone has to watch over you. who better than your older brothers new bff?
your vision blurred as you were slammed onto the canvas, your head hitting it harder than it was supposed to. you were supposed to get up and move to do the next spot- supposed to kick out of the pin, but you couldn’t find the strength to move, instead you eyes fluttered closed as your chest rose and fell heavily with each breath.
it should’ve been like any other match- it was only a power bomb- a simple move that just went slightly wrong. you couldn’t even remember who your opponent had been, your head was spinning so fast. you heard the bell signalling that the match had been ended prematurely, but it sounded like it miles away.
officials rushed over to check on you, and you could feel their hands carefully lifting you onto a stretcher and taking you out of the ring to medical. you could tell people were talking around you, but couldn’t hear what they were saying as you drifted out of consciousness, and everything around you went black.
•••
when you woke up, you were in your hotel room, the bright lights had been turned off so that the only light in the room was lamp on the side table. your head was pounding, but you managed to sit up on your own, albeit slowly, and take a look around. to your surprise, you weren’t alone; none other than maxwell jacob friendman sat in the arm chair in the corner of the room, his head on his shoulder as he slept. max had become friends with your older brother adam in the last few months, and while you were still wary of max due to his reputation as a bit of a scumbag - how much of that was his character you weren’t sure- you had no personal issue with him. if you were correct, he was around your age, maybe a year or two older, and you had been a little surprised at how fast he and adam had become friends.
max seemed to notice that you were awake, as he stirred in his seat.
“hey- how’re you feeling?” he asked, walking over to the side of the bed to check on you.
“i have a headache but i’ll live,” you sighed. “don’t take this the wrong way but-“
“what am i doing here?” he laughed, and you nodded, regretting the decision instantly as pain shot through your head. max placed a hand gently on your shoulder, before seemingly realizing what he’d done and removing it.
“take it easy. the doctor said you need supervision for 48 hours, and your brother asked me if i could keep an eye on you since he’s at home with britt this weekend,” he explained. “but if you’re uncomfortable with it i’m sure we could find someone else to-“
“no not at all. i just didn’t expect to see you when i woke up you know? we’ve hardly talked,” you replied, and then realized that may have come across as rude. “but i am grateful, it’s nice of you to do this for adam.”
“we’re brochacos for life,” he smiled, and you couldn’t help but think that he looked cute when he had a genuine smile on his face instead of the usual cocky smirk.
“i’m assuming if i’m not in the hospital i can’t be hurt too bad,” you thought aloud, and max nodded, pointing to the end of the bed silently asking permission to sit. you pulled your feet up under you to sit cross legged and he took it as a yes.
“yeah, somehow just a minor concussion. you should be back to kicking ass in a few weeks. just gotta take it easy and avoid bright lights for a few days.”
“i can do that,” you sighed contently, relieved to hear it wasn’t a more serious injury.
“we were all really worried about you. that bump looked really fucking scary,” he admitted, and you felt even more grateful that you were in as good a condition as you were. a smile crossed your face.
“maybe it has something to do with the wonderful nurse i have,” you teased, gesturing to max, who mocked offence.
“please, you wish you could see me in one of those little nurse outfits- i would look fantastic,” he joked.
“i don’t think they really wear those anymore. or you just have a perverted idea of it.” you both laughed, and you found yourself enjoying his company more than you expected. you trusted you brothers judgment, and if he was friends with him you knew that max must have some redeeming qualities. it also helped that he was so handsome,
“you should get some sleep, it’s late,” max said, and you glanced over at the clock, seeing that it read 2:05 am. even though you had just slept for almost 4 hours, you were exhausted. your eyes landed on the uncomfortable looking arm chair in the corner of the room, and you felt bad thinking about max having to sleep in it. your room unfortunately didn’t have a couch or pull out bed but it was a king sized bed, so there was more than enough room for two people.
“you don’t have to sleep in that chair. it’s probably terrible for your back and i would feel bad making you sleep there after you’re being so nice and taking care of me,” you offered.
“it’s not a big deal; and i don’t know how much adam would appreciate-“
“adam doesn’t have to know. besides, it’s not like that,” you rolled your eyes, and max smiled.
“thanks,” he said softly. he stood up, pulling his hoodie over his head, leaving him in a black tank top, a good chain around his neck. he walked over to the other side of the bed, and sat down before switching off the lamp, leaving the room dark. you both laid down, the large bed leaving a comfortable amount of space between you as you found yourself drifting off to sleep with ease.
“goodnight, y/n,” you heard max softly say, but you were too tired to reply, already nearly asleep.
•••
sometime around 10 am, you began to stir awake, not yet conscious enough for your brain to register the feeling of arms around your waist. your head hurt significantly less than it had last night, and you shifted slightly, before you felt yourself being pulled closer to max, who you realized had at some point in the night, pulled your back against his chest and caged you safely in his arms. you knew you shouldn’t, but you found yourself enjoying it; he was so warm that you couldn’t help but turn over in his arms, curling into his chest as he hummed slightly, still asleep as he tucked you under his chin. you couldn’t have got up if you wanted to now, tightly in his embrace as he koala hugged you, and you felt yourself fall back to sleep.
max woke up about an hour later, and looked down to see you securely in his arms, and his heart sped up. this wasn’t supposed to happen- what would adam think if he saw this? of course nothing like that had happened, it was just sleeping; but would adam believe that? would anyone? the worst part is how much he enjoyed waking up next to you. while agreeing to watch over you had not been an elaborate attempt to get in your bed, but he would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it before. he knew it was wrong, your brother being his best and only friend after all, but he couldn’t stop himself from the growing attraction he had to you, and it was only getting worse the more time he spent with you. how the hell was he supposed to survive 24 more hours alone with you? max felt you move slightly in his arms, but rather than waking up, you nuzzled into his chest more, and at that moment he realized just how screwed he truly was.
max placed a soft kiss to your forehead, and this time you did wake up, and he was worried he had fucked up. but as your eyes opened and you looked up at him, he was relieved when you didn’t freak out. instead, you mumbled a soft ‘good morning’, and max let you out of his grip.
“how’s your head?” he asked, and you smiled before responding.
“i haven’t had any complaints,” you smirked, and it only took max a second to get the joke. he laughed, rolling his eyes as you sat up against the headboard.
“very funny.”
“i feel a lot better. i think sleeping definitely helped,” you gave a real answer now, and he smiled a genuine smile again as he looked up at you, still laying with his head on the pillow. “is the bed more comfortable than the chair?”
“definitely,” he scoffed. “it could have something to do with the cute teddy bear i had.” you felt your cheeks heat up, and you grabbed the pillow from behind you and whacked him with it. he laughed again, the pillow over his face before he moved it to his chest, and a comfortable silence fell over the room.
“adam…” you started.
“doesn’t need to know,” he finished the thought you were having. you nodded, thankful that it didn’t hurt your head this time.
“do you want to order breakfast?” you asked, carefully standing up for the first time since the match. max noticed you wobbling, and rushed out of bed to offer a shoulder to you. “i guess chivalry isn’t dead,” you teased.
“what can i say i’m a gentleman,” he smirked, helping you over to the chair in the corner.
“thank you,” you said, as he passed you the room service menu. “i was right - this chair is awful,” you laughed, confirming your suspicions having now actually sat in the rock hard piece of furniture.
“yeah, i think i might’ve lost years off my career if i slept in it,” max laughed, rubbing the side of his neck as if imagining the stiffness he would’ve felt. you continued reading the menu options until you found something you wanted, and then extended the paper to max.
“do you know what you want?”
“do i,” he mumbled. he was distracted looking at you and hadn’t meant to say it out loud. you looked at him funny, assuming you had just misheard him and honestly thinking nothing of it. “uh no i have to look at the menu.” he cleared his throat.
“here,” you smiled, and he took it from your hand before sitting on the end of the bed. as he looked over the food options, you couldn’t stop yourself from admiring him. how did he look so good first thing in the morning? his brown curls were slightly messy, and his sweatpants hung low on his hips. you were sure you looked horrible in comparison, and decided to try to walk on your own to the bathroom. max looked up at the movement in his peripheral vision, and offered to help again.
“i’m okay - i’m gonna have to figure out how to stand on my own at some point. unless you’re going to help me shower?” you joked, and max raised his eyebrows, and you swore his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
“i mean if you NEEDED me to i-“ he teased, grin on his face. you had much better luck walking on your own this time, and managed to make it all the way to the bathroom door, grabbing a change of clothes from your suitcase on the way by.
“nice try, friedman,”
“just trying to be helpful,” he smiled, and you shook your head.
“you can go ahead and order the food; i’ll just have whatever you’re having. they should just charge it to my room but if they don’t my card is in my wallet,” you pointed to your bag on the dresser, before stepping into the bathroom.
“just yell if you need anything,” max offered, before grabbing the phone to order the room service. he heard the water turn on, and after he had ordered gave his credit card number - no way in hell he was using yours.
after he hung up, max flopped dramatically onto the bed, landing on his stomach with his face in the pillow. he noticed it smelled slightly of your body spray, and groaned softly. get it together, he thought to himself, but the thought of you in the shower was doing nothing to help his brain from thinking all too much.
•••
you turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, feeling a lot better after letting the hot water relax your muscles. you wrapped a towels around your body and dried off before putting on your clean clothes, a simple t shirt and some shorts since you would be staying in the hotel room all day. deciding in the mirror that your appearance was acceptable, you walked out of the bathroom to find max laying face down in the bed.
“what are you doing,” you asked, laughing slightly.
“i’m relaxing- what does it look like i’m doing?” he replied, and you walked over to the side of the bed next to him. he rolled over so he was looking up at you, and sat up with his back against the headboard. “the food should be here soon.”
“awesome. want to find a movie to watch? you can pick since you’re stuck here with me,” you offered.
“you feel up to staring at a tv screen for 2 hours?” he asked, and you realized you hadn’t really thought about that.
“good point. i think i’m fine, if my head starts to hurt i’ll close my eyes,” you promised. max looked at you unsure, but sighed.
“fine, but don’t push yourself. come here,” he said, gesturing for you to sit next to him, and you resisted the urge to curl into his side. what had gotten into you, you thought.
•••
the food had arrived and been eaten, a movie playing on tv that you weren’t really paying attention to. it wasn’t really bothering your head thankfully, but the constant thought of how close max was to you was plaguing your mind, the scent of his expensive cologne driving you crazy. you decided to make the most of the opportunity, and rested your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes. he looked down at you, immediately wrapping his arm around your back to hold you close.
“you okay? is it bothering your head?” he asked. “i’ll turn it off.”
“it’s okay, can you just turn it down a little? i’m just gonna close my eyes for a minute,” you mumbled, and max turned the sound nearly to mute, before you felt him pull you into his lap, your legs over his sideways. you were a little surprised, but nuzzled your face into the crook of his neck, a without thinking, placed a gentle kiss below his jaw. you both froze, and you pulled back to read his expression. you began to apologize, when his finger reached forward to gently hold your chin. you nodded softly, before max leaned forward and pressed his lips to yours. he tasted sweet, a hint of maple syrup on his tongue from breakfast, and you felt your heart skip a beat. he kissed you so gently, like you were made of glass, and when you finally separated, you both stared at each other, catching your breath.
“i-“
“i’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” max admitted, his cheeks flushed, and you were sure yours matched.
“really?” you asked, surprised.
“uh, yeah?” he said, like it was obvious. “god, adam would kill me if he could read minds.” you laughed, leaning forward to kiss him again, gently nibbling at his bottom lip. his hands landed on your hips and adjusted your position to straddle his lap, the blanket gathering around your waist.
“adam’s not here,” you pointed out. max screwed his eyes shut.
“i’m starting to think that you’re a very bad influence,” he groaned, his voice a little deeper than usual.
“how can i be a bad influence on someone who calls themselves the devil?” you asked. his fingertips dig into your sides,
“i’m trying really hard to behave myself right now, but you’re not making it easy….” he trailed off, looking up at you as he breathed heavily.
“i don’t know what you’re-“ you played dumb before he interrupted you with another kiss, rougher than the previous ones. his teeth tugged at your bottom lip, before his tongue slipped past and explored your mouth. you moaned into the kiss, and max bucked his hips upwards slightly at the sound. he pulled away, breathing heavily as he apologized.
“i’m sorry- i don’t think we should do this right now. i really don’t want to hurt you.” he admitted, and you could tell that it pained him to say it. you kissed him one more time, gently again, as if to say you understood.
“you’re probably right. i’m sorry.”
“it’s okay. don’t think i don’t want to,” he assured you, and you nodded. curling into his side again, you rested your head back on his shoulder, kissing him on the cheek quickly before you closed your eyes.
“thank you for taking care of me,” you mumbled, feeling sleepy again. max pressed a kiss to your forehead, and you hummed softly.
“anytime. although, maybe next time you don’t have to get a concussion to convince me to spend time with you,” he teased, and you playfully punched his ribs. “okay, okay, sorry.” his hand rested on your thigh, his fingertips drawing little shapes and patterns on your bare skin.
After their reunion goes south, Max makes one last desperate attempt at changing their fate. But with a lifetime of history and baggage, have they missed their chance at getting the timing right?
Find Part One here
Ship: MJF x Actress!Childhood Friend!OFC
Rating: Explicit - 18+
Warnings: Smut (minors dni), Angst is their second language, Maybe even a little fluff this time, Cheating, Rough Sex, Choking, Hair Pulling, Oral Sex(f receiving), minor degradation, daddy kink, and breeding kink, biting
-One Missed Call-
-Two Missed Calls-
-Three Missed Calls-
*Riley, please pick up the phone. Please, I’m begging you.*
-Four Missed Calls-
*Please, we can’t leave things like this...*
*I went to your hotel but they said you already checked out. How did you get here so much faster than me? I’m going to be so late for this convention*
-Five Missed Calls-
*I’m going to the airport. They can fucking fire me if they want, I’m not sitting around in some loser convention while you walk out of my life*
-Six Missed Calls-
*Riley, pick up. I’m going crazy here. Please, pick up the phone.*
*I’m trying really hard not to be a psycho right now but i’m running out of options.*
-Seven Missed Calls-
*Please, Riley. I can’t say this stuff to you through text. Please pick up.*
YOUR CALL COULD NOT BE COMPLETED AS DIALED. PLEASE HANG UP AND DIAL AGAIN.
“Why aren’t my calls going through?”
MESSAGE NOT DELIVERED.
YOUR CALL COULD NOT BE COMPLETED AS DIALED. PLEASE HANG UP AND DIAL AGAIN.
“Riley?”
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—————
-One Month Later-
Max hesitated in the cool night air before stepping up onto the sidewalk. He took in a long breath through his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. The ‘for sale’ sign out front was a daunting reminder that this was his last shot.
He had heard through the grapevine that she put her townhouse on the market, but seeing it for himself was a different story. The place looked just like it always did, a gem tucked away on a quiet street near Washington Square Park. The wave of nostalgia that hit him nearly bowled him over; he missed this place and the fact that he didn’t do this years ago was making him itchy.
Her porch light was on and he could see the light on in the living room. She was home and she was still awake. It wasn’t until he was halfway here that he realized that it would be nearly one in the morning by the time he got here and some people actually slept.
His expensive shoes scuffed along with pavement, turning onto the walkway up to her porch. He wondered if she heard his car pull up and his stomach was suddenly turning. Climbing the few stairs up to the door, his heartbeat pounded in his ears. Fuck, he had been so confident the entire ride here but now that he needed to raise a hand to ring the doorbell, his arms were suddenly made of concrete.
It had been a long time since he had been here. Probably five years by now. It seemed like a lifetime but he couldn’t help but feel like it was still a second home. How many times had he parked in that same spot, walked up those same stairs, knocked on this same door? How many times had he not bothered to knock because he had a key and she had an open door policy for him, and him alone? How did he manage to screw things up this colossally? Fuck, he was in his own head.
Acting before he could double guess it, he reached up and jammed on the doorbell that he suddenly wasn’t sure he had ever used before, wincing as it let out a stuttered double chime throughout her house. Swallowing hard, he shifted his weight and tried to train his face into something she might not want to spit at. His fingers fidgeted as he waited for a response, one hand fiddling with the bag that was strangled tight in his fist. Then, he could hear the soft pad of her footsteps approaching the door, and his mouth went dry.
Without stopping to think, Riley swung the door open, spoon still dangling from between her lips from the ice cream she had just sat down to eat. She caught sight of him and screeched to a halt, pulling the spoon from her mouth. Time stood still as she took in the sight of him, hair slightly disheveled, beard more grown out than she had ever seen. He was dressed in a t-shirt and sweats, his eyes clearly bloodshot even in the flickering porch light. A well in her chest grew astronomically fast and she slammed the door shut before he could even get out a ‘hello’.
Max deflated on the other side of the door, cursing himself for being so dumb-struck that he couldn’t manage to conjure up a single word in the time she was looking at him. He drove over an hour, practicing what he was going to say when he finally got here and now he was totally blank. The sight of her, hair tied up, wearing those tiny silk pj’s that he knew he bought her for some birthday a million years ago, it knocked the wind out of him for a second. He knocked pointedly at her door.
“Riley, come on, I obviously know you’re in there.” He tried to speak loud enough for her to hear through the door. It was quiet, only the sound of some drunk kids down the street. But importantly, not the sound of her walking away. “Please, just talk to me, Ry.”
“Go away, Max.” Her voice was faint on the other side of the door but if she was responding, he could at least get somewhere.
“No, I’m not going anywhere until you hear me out. I will camp out on your porch if I have to.” He insisted, fully prepared to settle in. It wouldn’t be the first time he fell asleep on this porch.
“You can’t just show up here unannounced.” She slid down the door, sitting on the floor, back flat against it. Her stomach was in knots and she was doing her best to suppress the thrill that was so desperately trying to peak through.
“Well I would’ve called but you blocked me.” He settled into the brick porch, leaning his shoulder into the door, as if it made him any closer to her.
“Maybe you should have taken that hint.” She laid her head back, eyes closed, willing herself to get up and go back to the couch; to eat her ice cream and finish her movie and go to bed and pretend this was just another futile dream.
Max fell quiet at that. He had been trying; he really had. He crawled back to the life he had blown up with his tail between his legs and tried to accept that it was over. And his efforts at seeming unaffected to everyone around him were valiant - they worked for a while, and they probably would have continued to work if he had been sleeping at night. But a month of sleepless nights took its toll, and his perpetual bad mood was making him hugely unpleasant to be around. The news that she was moving just pushed him over an edge. An hour of staring at the ceiling in bed and he finally cracked, jolting upright and barely stopping to throw on a shirt before he got in his car.
“I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Go home, Max.” She pushed off the floor to get to her feet and he could hear the movement on the other side of the door, scrambling to get to his feet himself.
“I got your shoes fixed.” He offered, holding up the bag in his hand like she could see it through the door. She stilled, brows furrowing. “You left them in my room after...” Trailing off, he ground his heel into the porch. It was a blatant tactic; they both knew it...but that was her favorite pair of shoes...
“You fixed the heel?” She breathed cautiously, almost not wanting to hear the answer, and Max closed his eyes in a relieved breath.
“I’ve got a guy.” That guy was his mom but none-the-less, it was fixed.
Ever so slowly, she creaked the door back open, bracing herself. She could accept the shoes and tell him to leave. That was well within her power. Presumably. She held out an expectant hand, trying not to let her eyes wander anywhere beyond the bag in his hand. His hands that were absolutely not distracting to her at all.
“Not even a ‘thank you’?” He gave her a lopsided grin that she ignored, just jutting her hand out more insistently.
“Do you think that this fixes anything?” She sat back on her heel, her other hand clung to the doorknob, ready to slam it shut at a moments notice.
“Well maybe not fixes…per say, but bit of an olive branch?” He suggested but the silence that hung in the air afterwards told him it wasn’t cutting it. Extending his hands, he offered the bag up to her.
“Thank you for bringing me my shoes. Drive safe.” She responded finally, taking the bag and swinging the door closed, but Max caught it this time, stopping it from closing. Riley panicked, trying hard to slam it shut, his fingers be damned.
“Riley, come on. I came all the way out here, please can we just talk? Five minutes, that’s all I’m asking.” He held her gaze through the small opening left in the doorway and she froze to the spot. It was a bad idea. Giving him any opening was giving him too much leeway.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Five minutes and then I swear to god I will leave you alone for the rest of my life.” He insisted and Riley hesitated. She had locked herself away with all these thoughts after making her escape from his hotel room and it had made for a jumbled mess of unchecked emotions.
“Five minutes.” She finally conceded and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I’m setting a timer.”
Reluctantly letting the door ease open, she dropped the shoes on the entry table and retreated, hoping to keep a buffer between them. She started down the hall without waiting for him - he knew his way around. Stopping short before heading to the kitchen island, visions of their last night together slammed back into her brain. She decided the living room was safer than the kitchen.
“Think I could get a glass of water?” He lingered just outside the entrance to her kitchen. He was pushing his limits but sometimes that was what he did best. Riley rolled her eyes, sitting back on her hip.
“I already agreed to five minutes. Now you need a drink too? What is this, ‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie’?” But she was already breezing past him into the kitchen, despite her objections. Max grinned, leaning against the arched doorway.
“Yeah, you know what they say.” He watched her as she struggled to reach a cup in her cabinets - same as always. “If you give a Max five minutes, he’ll ask for a glass of water…” Riley suppressed a smile. She wasn’t charmed by him. She wasn’t. She could will that into reality. “And if you give a Max a glass of water, he’ll probably need to use the bathroom, and if you let him use the bathroom, you’ll make him feel welcome in your home, and you’ll have to let him stay forever.” She got her pitcher of water from the fridge and poured it halfway up his cup.
“Only half a glass, then. No bathroom use allowed.” She seemed like she was teasing but her face was stoic and Max was having a hard time placing where her head was at. Hell, she was having a hard time placing where her head was at.
“You’re missing out.” He cocked his head but Riley just passed the glass to him and breezed past him into the living room.
“I’ll survive.” She sat down in the single chair, crossing her legs. The couch was much too dangerous. As Max came around to sit on the loveseat nearest to her, she fiddled with her phone, pulling up an alarm.
“Are you seriously setting a timer?” He leaned over to see as she placed it on the coffee table in front of him. Glancing over, he noted the bowl of ice cream that was melting, then up at the Sex in the City reruns that were up on her tv.
“Deadly, and it starts now. So I recommend you skip past the cute comments and make whatever point you wanted to make, so I can get on with my evening.” She said, leaning forward into his space to press start on the timer, and Max caught the scent of her shampoo, sending something shuttering inside him that withered the cute comment he was going to make about how exciting her evening looked. The timer ticked down. His brow furrowed and the corner of his lip twitched.
“You’re selling the house?” It tumbled out before he could stop it and her face scrunched for a moment. She had imagined him showing up on her front porch a hundred times in the last month; she had made herself thinking he was going to come chasing after her. But in all the times she had pictured it, this was never his leading point.
“You drove over an hour, after midnight, to demand five minutes…all to ask about my real estate dealings?” Her brow raised. It may not have been what she expected but it was easier than his apologies and guilt. Max shrugged and she shook her head. “Yeah, I’m selling the house.”
“Why?” His voice was soft and genuine and it unsettled something deep in her chest. Her head tipped from side to side; there were a lot of reasons she was selling this place, she just needed to figure out the safest reason to admit to him.
“Because my show is over and my chances of finding something new are drastically higher in Los Angeles than New York.” It was simple; clean. It made sense; in fact it was hard to argue with. So why did it feel like such an excuse?
“You’re moving to LA?” Max felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. If he picked up on how phony her reasoning felt coming out of her mouth. he didn’t show it. His finger tips felt numb. “There’s plenty of acting jobs in New York.”
“Not nearly as many and usually not as good.” She held her tongue about the ghosts of her bad decisions that haunted every inch of this house. She knew that if she even hinted that this move was more about her need for a fresh start, he was going to be able to needle his way in until she couldn’t think straight. And this felt like the first time she had been thinking straight in years.
“But you love this place.” He finally took a moment to look around. It was staged for viewings but, underneath it all, it was still the same. From the vinyl records in the corner to the vintage chair she was sitting in, but also in the bones of the old townhouse, those great wide beams that stretched across the ceiling and the hundred year old floor boards. He was with her when she first toured this place when she was finally ready to move out to Manhattan; he watched the way the pieces clicked into place when she stepped inside. It was instant for her.
“Well sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.” She meant for it to sound like she was being mature, but it felt oddly petulant coming out of her mouth.
“Do you, though?” He took a sip of his water, trying to occupy his hands anyway he could. Riley tilted her head, brow inching up. “Do you have to?” Her face fell, jaw shifting. “I mean, have you even tried finding something here?”
“I don’t need to try. I got lucky the first time and that’s not going to happen again. There’s nothing left for me in New York.” She focused her gaze down on the ice cream that was melting on the table. Max wet his lips, brow furrowed, before he shook his head.
“Riley...” He pleaded, trying to voice a dozen things with just her name, but her eyes snapped to him, narrowed. She understood perfectly what he was trying to say.
“Don’t. Don’t even try to pretend you’re a reason to stick around.” She snapped with the smallest shake of her head. Her chest ached and she glanced down at the timer. Three and a half minutes. She could handle another three and a half minutes. Then she could put this behind her.
“I could be.” He was more serious than she had ever seen him and something rolled in her stomach. Maybe three and a half minutes was too long. “But you shouldn’t stay for me.” Their gazes lingered on each other, the stillness in the air rippling through them. “Stay for you because you love this city and you love this house and because California is a wasteland.”
“California is beautiful.”
“It’s not New York.” He pinned her down with his eyes and she squirmed, struggling to meet his gaze.
“Well I think...New York and I have outgrown each other.” She said, finally looking up at him, and Max couldn’t help but feel like she was talking about more than just New York.
“Not possible.” He said definitively. “Soulmates don’t outgrow each other.” He watched her swallow, fingers toying with the seam on the couch cushion. That was a lofty word and it was difficult to pretend he was talking about the city. He thought he had laid all his cards on the table back in his hotel room but dozens of nights laying awake gave him plenty of time to think about all the things he didn’t say. In the moment he felt like he had bared his soul out to her but, thinking back, he wasn’t sure he said anything substantial. God, she jumbled his brain.
“Then maybe we aren’t soulmates.” She couldn’t stop the hurt from seeping into her voice. It didn’t matter what she wanted, some things just weren’t meant to be.
“Bullshit.” He stated like it was indisputable. Because to him, it was. Whether he was talking about himself or New York, it was bullshit. This is where she was meant to be. “You were made for this city. You’ll miss snow too much if you go to California.”
“I’ll live without it.” She looked away from him, eyes fixed on a small plant on the bookshelf on the other side of the room.
“Yeah? How many of the things you love are you going to leave behind when you run this time?” He abandoned all sense of pretense and her eyes snapped back to him. He was running out of time. In under three minutes, he needed to either convince her to stay or weasel his way into more time. The pressure was building in his chest. Riley scoffed, uncrossing then recrossing her legs, sitting back in her seat.
“You won’t get me with that twice.” She insisted with a small shake of her head, ignoring the tug at her gut that it caused. “Sometimes running is the smartest thing you can do.” No matter how many times she repeated it to herself, she couldn’t manage to get it to sink all the way in, though. “I’ve seen enough of your wrestling career to know that.” She deflected. Ever the masochist, she had found herself tuning in lately. Max’s brow furrowed, face scrunching up.
“That is not the same and you know it.”
“How is it not? I’m running from a fight, just like you do.”
“Okay, first of all,” He held up a finger. “I don’t run from fights, I make strategic decisions to conserve my energy.” He defended with exaggerated hand gestures, and she rolled her eyes. Her mouth opened to protest that she was doing the same thing, but he continued before she could. “Second of all, I’m not trying to fight you.” His voice was softer this time, more genuine, and it knocked her off balance.
“Yeah, then what are you trying to do, exactly?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? It always was. What did Max want? He may not have had an answer if he was asked a few years ago but he didn’t have to think anymore. He had done enough of that for a lifetime and it always led him to the same place.
“I’m trying to spend my life with the only person that has ever mattered to me at all.” He came all this way; none of it meant anything if he didn’t lay it all on the line. And the look on her face, even if for just a few stunned seconds, was enough to make it worth it, because he could see, at her core, that she wanted it as badly as he did. But then, oh boy, did her expression shift quickly, into something much colder than he had hoped for.
“Really? So Kelsey didn’t matter to you?” Her voice wasn’t angry but it was certainly frosty, and Max shrank back. “You were living together but she didn’t matter at all?” For the past month, her emotions had been all over the map but she kept coming back to that sickly guilt. That look on Kelsey’s face when she looked back at Riley - she knew that pain, she had worn that face, and she was angry that Max made her inflict that face on another person. He sighed, scrubbing his hands over his eyes, then back through his hair.
“Not compared to you.” He knew that wasn’t fair to Kelsey but it didn’t change the facts. The moment he saw Riley walk into that bar, Kelsey may as well have stopped existing.
“That’s not how it works, Max! You lived together, she trusted you! Why would you move in with a person that you don’t care about?”
“Because you were gone!” He shouted back, barely containing the urge to jump to his feet. “The same reason I’ve ever been with anyone - because I couldn’t be with you!”
“To what end?” She was frustrated and her chest was aching and she was stumbling down that same impassioned path that always brought her to ruin but she didn’t know how to stop. “If we hadn’t run into each other at that convention, how long would you have stayed with her? Would you have married her? Even though you don’t care about her?”
“Would you have married Lucas if he’d ever manned up and bought a ring?” He demanded and Riley’s eyes narrowed. “I was following your lead, Riley. Always. For the last twenty fucking years I’ve just been following your lead and you know what, maybe I would have married Kelsey.” He tried not to falter when he saw the way her face shifted. “Or maybe it wouldn’t have been her. Maybe it would have been some other girl I don’t care about. But it was always going to be some girl I don’t care about unless you came back into my life. And it would have been the same for you - just rotting away in some pointless fucking marriage, sitting awake at night, knowing that it was never going to touch what we have here.“
Riley sat back in the chair, swallowing hard and trying to keep her breath from noticeably trembling. This was too much. She knew letting him inside was asking for trouble. Any time around him was too much time around him. She was immensely grateful for the distance her chair was providing, unsure she would have been able to keep her head on if he was any closer.
“So what do you suggest, then?” Her voice was barely a squeak, legs knocked out from under her. Max swallowed hard and she watched his adams apple bob before he captured her gaze.
“Marry me.” Said without a hint of irony. Riley felt her spine turn to jelly, skin buzzing.
“What?”
“Marry me, Riley.” He rooted around in his pocket for a moment before brandishing a loose ring and sinking off the chair, to the floor between them. Fire raged through her bloodstream, catching on every raised hair of her arms. “No more fucking around. No more wasting time. This is where we’re supposed to be and we both know it. So marry me.” There was no time to think through the words flying out of his mouth. They weren’t the ones he had so perfectly practiced in the car but they were out now and there was no taking them back.
And the blood was pumping so strong in her head that she couldn’t hear herself thinking. A life with Max. How long had she been dreaming about that? Surely since before the make-believe weddings they held in her backyard when they were seven and life was easier. Her eyes drifted to the ring, clutched between his fingers, nearly trembling as he held it out to her, and she recognized it in an instant. Almost twenty years later but it was hard to forget the ring that got Max grounded for the first time after he stole it out of his mom’s jewelry box. He wasn’t allowed to watch wrestling for a month after that but the picture of her with that ring, in her prettiest dress out in the backyard, with him in his dad’s suit jacket, was one that was pinned to her dresser for most of her life. The fond warmth that crept through her dulled the feelings that had been threatening to suffocate her. A life with Max...
But then the alarm on her phone echoed through the electrified silence of her house and she snapped back into her body. He reached for her hand but she snatched it back, pulling her legs up off the floor and retreating as far back into the chair as she could get.
“No.” She said with a finality but none-the-less followed up with, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no.“ Ice water flooded through Max’s veins as he sat back on his heels. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Why is that so crazy?” He looked up at her from his defeated position on the floor, eyes so genuine it made her chest ache.
“You want a list?” She practically laughed and he shored himself up quickly.
“Yeah, I think I do, actually. Tell me why we shouldn’t get married.” He replied, as if this wasn’t a completely outlandish thing to do. And maybe he was sleep deprived and floundering a little bit but he knew this was right.
“Well for starters, we’ve barely spoken in the last four years.”
“So what?” He crept forward on his knees until he was against her chair. “I have thought about you every single day for the last twenty years.” She stayed, recoiled as far back in the chair as she could get, as if his touch would singe her skin. “And I’m gonna think about you every day until the day I die.” He pressed his luck, finger trailing, light as air, up her bare calf, sending electricity skittering out through her veins. “And I’m pretty sure you’re thinking about me too. So why are we wasting all this time fighting where we’re supposed to be?”
“Thinking about each other isn’t enough.” She shook her head like she was convincing herself too.
“You’re right, it’s not. We should be doing way more than thinking about each other.”
“That’s not what I-”
“We should be living with each other, cooking with each other, waking up next to each other, spending our lives together.” He laid his palm, warm and strong across her knee, and she struggled to swallow. “Aren’t you tired of the constant effort it takes to stay away from each other? I feel like I’ve been swimming upstream for years now and I’m just…really exhausted.” His hand pulled away from her and she sucked in a breath at the loss, watching as he lifted himself up to sit on the edge of the coffee table, directly in front of her. Her brain was sending out alarm flares but the way he was looking at her was much louder.
“Max, please...” She wasn’t entirely sure what she was asking, all she knew was this moment was excruciating, and it was all too much. And now he was so close and, god, that look...
“Tell me you don’t want a life with me.” He didn’t give her the time to decide what she was asking. “Tell me you don’t want Sunday Morning Pancakes and shower duets and nights curled up watching your trashy reality tv together until I end up annoyingly invested.” She couldn’t pretend she didn’t. She might have been an actress but Max knew how to see through her.
“It’s not that simple.”
“We can make it that simple!” He exclaimed, trying to reach for her knees again but she flinched this time, worried she would burst into flames if he touched her again, and he sat back. “The only thing standing in our way is us. If we want this, all we need to do is take it.” Holding her gaze was an Olympic sport sometimes but he was performing exceptionally well. “I know you want this too, Riley. You told me as much last month.” Finally, she stopped avoiding his gaze, eyes glued right to him. He didn’t have a right to use the things she had said that night against her.
“Yeah, then I woke up and met your girlfriend. Suffice to say, my plans changed.” She didn’t sound angry and he almost wished she would be. She was almost easier to handle when she was yelling at him, but she only sounded hurt and that was something that made his stomach ache.
“Look, I fucked up, I know. Okay? This obviously isn’t how I wanted this to play out.” He leaned in as close as he could get but she only scowled at him. “I need you to understand, I was fully planning to head home and pack my shit up at Kelsey’s. I hate that it went down like this but my protocol is, and always has been, to drop everything the second you become an option. I knew going in that things with her could end like this.”
“Oh, well isn’t that nice? Did you ever think that maybe you should let me know about your relationship?” She scowled and he just wet his lips, stammering for a response.
“I know…I know I should have but I knew that was my only shot at this and that you would have run the second you heard about Kelsey.” He heard it coming out of his mouth and wondering how he thought that would make for a good defense.
“Oh really, you thought that maybe I might not behave the same way if I knew you were in a serious relationship? So weird.”
“Okay but that what I’m saying! It wasn’t a serious relationship - it was always going to be second to anything you and I have.” He tried to sway her, his hands warm on her knees but the withering look she gave him had him retreating.
“How sweet. Did you let Kelsey know that or was that just supposed to be a fun surprise for her one day?” She demanded and he was suddenly regretting his words and location as she unfurled her legs down to the floor.
“I mean...I feel like she must have known from the way I talked about you.”
“Right, the unspoken exception to the rule.” She scoffed, parroting back his own words from that night, and Max winced. This was not going to plan. “Was it as implied to her as it was to me?” He heaved a breath, eyes begging for an understanding he wasn’t due. His fingers tapped repetitively along the edge of the table and he fumbled for a response.
“I’m not gonna deny that I fucked this up on a major scale. But I can’t change that anymore and I’m not about to fuck it up more by letting you walk out of my life again.”
“People get hurt when we’re around each other, Max! I can’t hurt anyone else.”
“People only get hurt when we’re trying to fight what we have!” He shot back and Riley stilled for a moment. “We just need to close off the circle and other people don’t have to get caught in our crosshairs.” She was quiet at that, her mouth opening and closing a few times.
“Well maybe I don’t want to be caught in the crosshairs either.” Her quiet admission was stinging but Max cocked his head, brow heavy.
“I’m not firing at you, babe. Never have, never will.” He held her gaze with a pleading look.
“And yet, we’ve both managed to hurt each other plenty.” She shook her head decidedly. “If I stick around here, we’re only going to end up hurting each other again.”
“We’re hurting each other by staying apart. How is that any better?” He demanded, leaning toward her. “At least this way we’ve got a shot at being happy.”
“Well maybe we don’t deserve to be happy.” Her face was weary and Max could instantly see every ounce of guilt that she had been marinating in for weeks.
“That’s crap.” He didn’t hesitate. “Making ourselves miserable doesn’t undo what I did to Kelsey or what we did to Jonah. And it’s definitely not going to undo what we’ll do to the next unsuspecting sucker that has the misfortune of being around us the next time we snap and wind up together.”
Riley was quiet, eyes locked with his, her heart hammering in her chest and echoing in her ears. Her breathing was erratic, his scent filling her nose. How did he do this to her every time.
“What else am I supposed to do, Max? I can’t trust you.” She wet her lips, teeth just barely grazing over her bottom lip. It stung more than he expected to hear that.
“Yes you can. I swear to fucking god, I am all in on us, Ry.” He gestured to the ring, still clenched tight between his fingers. “Just give me one chance to show you that I’m right when I say we’re meant to be together.”
“Max...” She warned but he was already out of time. He wasn’t leaving anything left unsaid.
“I swear, the first, smallest indiscretion and you can kick me to the curb. If I don’t unload the dishwasher when I’m supposed to or I forget to take something out for dinner, you can ship me out with no fight. But please, just give me that chance.”
“I already gave you a chance.”
“Come on, that doesn’t count!” He pleaded, his hands warm as they covered her knees, the ring pressed into her skin. She wanted to shove them off but couldn’t bring herself to move that warmth. “We never even got started. I promise you, you spend even a couple days being with me, the way we were always supposed to be, you’ll never look back.”
That was almost what scared her most, though. She knew that this dive was one she would never recover from. If she let her guard down and gave him that chance, there wouldn’t be anything she wouldn’t overlook. Because she knew that it would feel right. She knew it would feel like finally coming home and that feeling was going to be too good to deny, no matter what he did. It would be cutting the last remaining thread of her self control and that was a dangerous line to cross.
“I can’t marry you, Max. That’s insane.”
“Then take an insane fucking leap of faith with me.” His thumb rubbed half circles over the edges of her knee and it obliterated a few braincells. “Tell me this doesn’t feel right.”
“That’s not the point…” She was exasperated and everything about him was starting to invade her senses. The feeling of the ring pressed into her was dizzying and distracting.
“No, it is the point. The point is that this feels right because it is right.” He dared to let his hands glide past her knees, smoothly journeying up her thighs, dragging the edge of the stones into her soft flesh. Her breath caught in her throat, eyes fluttering shut for just a fraction of a second, and she tried to ignore the fire that burned low in her belly. “We shouldn’t have to work this hard to stop thinking about each other.” His voice was raspy and hypnotic, her brain tearing itself to pieces to try to hold onto that last thread. “You told me you loved me, Riley. Did you mean it?” It was hard to breathe, his face inching closer and closer to hers.
“I wasn’t in my right mind.” She shook her head, latching desperately onto the unyielding anger she was feeling when she said that. The way she had been left feeling gutted like a fish. How that confession was a dying gasp from an overtired, overstimulated, over emotional girl.
“I think you were in your right mind. I think you said what you’ve been dying to say for the last ten years.” He wet his lips and her eyes snagged on it, digging her teeth deeper into hers. But that anger she’d felt back on that morning in the hotel was still lit in her stomach.
“I said what you didn’t have the balls to say.” She narrowed her eyes and Max stilled. “What you still haven’t had the balls to say.” Scoffing, she shook her head and it devolved into a full laugh. “You’re here with a fucking ring but you’ve still never said you love me.” And Max sat back, finally clearing her personal space, and she could breathe again. “This is a joke. We’re not meant to be together, Max, we’ve just got no self control. Go home.”
She stood up forcefully and eeked past him out of the living room, buying herself as much space as possible. Max’ chest was seized as he looked at the empty chair where she once was. He wanted to say the words. He had tried practicing saying it as part of his speech, on the car ride here but tried not to overthink it when he couldn’t get them out. But now he was wishing he had pushed himself because now he couldn’t make his mouth work. He couldn’t even make his feet work. He heard her hand rattling the front door and he jumped into action, shoving the ring back into his pocket.
“Riley, please...” Was all he managed as he headed around the corner, into the hall to the front door, where he saw her waiting expectantly with the front door held open.
“No, I said five minutes and you got way more than that, like always. Now its time to go.” She tried to sound unwavering but her voice wasn’t cooperating. Max slowed, halfway down the hallway, brow furrowed heavily as his tongue traced over his lip.
“Ya know, when I was growing up, my dad took me out to get my first shave.” He leaned back on his heels and Riley rolled her eyes with a huff, not budging from her spot by the door. “And he sat me down and told me ‘Kid, there are two things you gotta know about love: the first is how to know you’re in it.” Max scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “He said, ‘That’s important, but thankfully it’s easy.” He took a breath, eyes intent on her, “It’s hard to miss because its in everything - the way your skin...buzzes when they’re around; the constant magnetic pull to be near them,’” He drifted toward her but she kept a trembling hand on the open door, “’The ache in your chest that tells you to follow them anywhere. Its unmistakable and it can’t be ignored.”
He was inching toward her so slowly she might not have noticed if she wasn’t so laser focused on him. Her mouth was dry and struggling to form the words to tell him to stop. She felt frozen to the spot, anchored to the door as a final lifeline.
“The second thing, he told me, which was arguably more important, was to know when the timing was right.” He swallowed hard before licking his lips.
“Max...” She warned but he disregarded it.
“Do you remember when we used to have those neighborhood-wide night time manhunt games?” He diverted her and her eyes fluttered shut for a moment with a sigh before she finally nodded. “There was a game one night, not long after that talk with my dad. Derek Flynn teamed up with the Anderson twins and was decimating all the usual hiding spots.” Riley’s body deflated a little with a whisper of a smile flitting across her lips.
“The night they broke Mr. Garvey’s antique lawn statue and he chased them down the road with a wiffle ball bat?” She bit the corner of her lip to hold back the grin that was dying to peak out.
“The very same. But before that happened, I had been chased from the reliable spot behind Ms. Allander’s pool shed and forced to flee into the woods.” He watched the understanding dawn behind her eyes before being fogged over by confusion. Her arm lowered slightly on the door without her noticing. “I found my way to the fort we had made not long after you moved in. It couldn’t have been more than two minutes later before you came barreling down into the cramped space with me. You knocked me over, not realizing I was in there, and then swung both hands around like you were gonna hit me.” Her lips twitched as she remembered the night, the memory so vividly fresh she could practically hear the buzz of the cicadas. She had just narrowly avoided being caught down by the docks and run straight there - the safest place she could think of, somewhere that was just for them. “But then you recognized it was me and you got this dreamy little smile that I could barely see in the dark, and you laughed before pulling me into this tight hug like you had never been so glad to see me in your life. Then you handed me a nerf gun.” He said with deathly serious, and she blew out a breath that wasn’t enough to conceal the smile she had. “And I knew in that second what I have never questioned since - that my dad was right.”
Riley’s hand dropped to the doorknob and she wet her lips, staring, wide-eyed back at him. Her heart was in her throat as he crept closer to her, hair raised all across her arms. His pulse was hammering away, and he swallowed as he got just outside of arms reach of her.
“I have known that I’m in love with you for half my life already, Riley.” He confessed and it felt like time screeched to a halt. The clock ticked on the wall and the kitchen sink dripped and her chest swelled out of control. A tingling started in her chest but quickly spread down her arms until her grip slipped off the doorknob. She drew in a ragged breath, her pulse racing out of control. “And I’m tired of waiting for the timing to be right.”
He took another step closer and gave the front door a nudge to push it the rest of the way closed. Riley watched him, chewing a hole through her lip, frozen, desperately fighting against the way his words were lighting her up like a Christmas tree.
“Now, i’m gonna ask you again.” He kept his palm flat against the front door and angled his body toward her, a few mere inches between them now, and that was close enough for fire to catch. “Did you mean it when you said you loved me?”
His eyes were glued to her, intense and desperate and uncharacteristically vulnerable. The dark bags under his eyes were particularly visible this close and she wondered if hers were as bad. It had been a sleepless few weeks for her as well. Weeks of staring at the ceiling, spinning in circles in her mind, thinking about what could have been and how they ended up here. She knew, even as angry as she had been in that moment, that she meant it. Even if she hadn’t, she would be lying if she said she didn’t love him, then and still. Those feelings were burrowed so deep in her, she wasn’t sure she would ever be free of them.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not enough, Max.” Her voice was as devastated as she felt. She had been wanting to hear this for so long but it was too late now.
“It’s plenty.” He insisted but she was already retreating toward the wall.
“I’m moving to California.”
“Then I’ll come with you.” He didn’t miss a beat and she shuttered a sigh. Her stomach was turning, this all suddenly feeling too real. “Or better yet, just stay.” His voice turned pleading, starting to match a tenth of what he was feeling.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t.” She said as if that was ever going to be an acceptable answer to him.
“But you can. You can do anything you want.” He took a tiny step toward her. “I love you, Riley.” His eyes were glued to her, bared and genuine and maybe even a little scared. “Do you love me?” And maybe it was the look on his face, or maybe it was the lack of sleep this last month, or maybe it was the fact that his scent was clouding her head as he got close enough to touch, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie.
“Yes.” She breathed the word into the space between them, a lifetime of baggage hanging from it.
“And do you want a life with me?” He dared to move in dangerously close, mere centimeters separating them now, and the smell of her shampoo made his eyes flutter shut for just a moment. His stomach was running itself through a spin cycle as she hesitated, looking up at him with those wide, panicked doe eyes.
“I don’t even know what that looks like, Max.” She said finally, shaking her head. Their relationship was always just transient - she couldn’t picture what security with him looked like. As alluring as the life of cooking dinner together and shower concerts was, she knew that morning always came when it came to Max and that was a pain she couldn’t subject herself to anymore.
“It looks like finally coming home.” He said and her eyes were locked on him, warmth curling around in her belly, making itself comfortable. “It looks like laughing so hard we can’t breathe and dancing to show tunes on a rainy afternoon and waking up to my face between your legs. It looks like you being the center of my goddamn universe because you are.” Heat raced up her cheeks and he stepped into her, a hand brushing over the strand of hair that was dangling by her face, sending electricity pulsing through her skin, and her eyes fluttered shut. “It’s what we were so fucking close to before Lucas and Kelsey and all this stupid bullshit. And I don’t know about you, but that ‘what-if’ is the one that keeps me up at night. You’re the one that keeps me up at night.” His rough fingers gripped her chin, tipping it up, urging her to meet his eyes. “Tell me you don’t want the chance to see how it feels to give this an honest-to-God shot. To really do it right this time.” The heat of his body this close to her was intoxicating and her legs were starting to feel a little insufficient. She struggled to feel like there was breath in her lungs and the sheer number of thoughts ping-ponging across her brain was debilitating. Skin prickling head to toe, she wet her lips, blinking back at him, willing an answer to come out - any answer but the one that was begging, shaking at the gates, to come out.
Because, God, she did want that chance. She spent more nights than she would have liked, staring at the ceiling, thinking about what could have been if it weren’t for a million different things. But that was always the problem; there were a million different things that stood in the way, some his fault and some hers, but in the end, they were still in the way. Now, though, there was no one standing in their way anymore and she was running out of excuses. Her mile high wall of reasons had been whittled down to a measly few bricks and Max was kicking them over faster than she could layer them back up. And beyond that wall, there was nothing left but the fact that she was scared. Just positively terrified of ending up like her mother, bitter and heartbroken and lonely for the rest of her life. She knew plainly that Max had the potential to absolutely ruin her in a way she would never recover from, but when he looked at her the way he was looking at her right then, she kind of wanted him to.
He let his palm slide up her face, cradling her cheek, and she melted into him on instinct. Fuck, that felt good.
“Tell me you don’t want this.” He whispered, breath fanning across her face, and she shivered. “Tell me you don’t know in your bones that this is right.”
“I...” She murmured, his lips just a whisper from hers and she could practically feel the fire licking at her from here. Her breathing faltered, the hazy fog that he brought with him washing over her brain. “I...don’t want to...” But she didn’t move an inch.
“Don’t want to what?” He prodded, lingering close enough to breathe the same air; close enough that she would barely have to move to feel that familiar bliss of his lips on hers. He was taunting her.
“To want this...” She could feel the space heater that was his body thawing her from the toes up as if she’d been left outside in the dead of winter. It was impossible to resist but the longer she let herself bask in that warmth, the more likely it was she would end up burned.
“But?” He lent her the word she was clearly missing and she sighed. Shifting ever so slightly, he let his lips just ghost across hers. Her hands drifted up to his shirt, curling around the soft material, though he wasn’t sure if she was trying to stop him or pull him in closer.
“But I need it.”
She couldn’t physically stop the way she launched at him, arms looping around his shoulders as she met him in a demanding, desperate kiss. His hands latched around her hips without thought, pressing her back against the wall. Her tongue invaded his mouth, needy for the taste of him, and she nearly groaned when she got it. Max’ pants tightened at the muffled noise and he let one hand drift up, under her shirt. The motion sent lightning coursing through her veins, straight through to her core. Her fingers curled up in his hair and he groaned when she tugged at it, biting down on her lip. He thumbed over her pebbled nipple and she hissed out a breath.
“Fuck, Max...” She whined his name and he snapped to attention, hands instantly reverting back to her hips and forcing a few inches between them, despite her whimper of a protest.
“No, no, wait a minute.” He insisted in spite of the way his skin was throbbing from the loss. She had caught him off guard before and his body took over before his brain had a chance to catch up. “What are we doing here, Ry?” But she was already gone, pupils blown with a need he had stoked too much. Her lips curled into a dangerous smile.
“I’m pretty sure you know what we’re doing.” She let one hand trail from his hair, down his neck, and over his chest. Her teeth raked over her already semi-swollen lips. “It’s a game you’re really good at.” She practically purred as her knuckles grazed their way over his stomach until her thumb caught on the edge of his sweatpants. Max swore under his breath, swallowing hard, his fingers digging hard into her hips. He gave a snake-like, swaying shake of his head before snatching her hand that was trying to creep beneath his sweats, holding it firmly in place.
“No more games, beautiful. No more running, no more pretending, no more waiting for the timing to be right. Be with me. For real this time.” He held her gaze insistently. She wanted to argue, she wanted to remember any of the reasons they were bad for each other. But god, if she didn’t just want him more than any reason she could possibly conjure.
“Maaaax.” She whined, fingers wiggling beneath his grip, unable to voice much more. “We don’t need to...” It was much easier to admit she needed him to drive her through this wall than it was to open herself up to dating him. But Max took her hand, pulling it up to his face, gingerly turning it and leaving a lingering kiss on the tender skin of the inside of her wrist that she could feel long after he let her hand fall.
“No, we do, Because I’m not doing this anymore unless we’re doing it right.” He almost sounded like he might actually mean it, even though they both knew he would fold like a house of cards if she so much as batted her lashes. “I need a life with you, Riley. I need to take you out to dinner, and go see a movie so we can fool around in the back row. I need to go to watch you on set while you blow away everybody around you. I need you backstage at my shows, making every last person in the building jealous that they can’t have a love like this. I need to fall asleep next to you every night because now that I’ve remembered how it feels, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to sleep again.”
Riley’s breath caught in her throat, thighs pressed together to try to quell her desperate need for friction. Her head was clouded by his warmth and his smell and the familiarity that made her feel safe even when they both knew he was her Achilles Heel. He let his body slowly settle back against her, arms supporting his weight against the wall on either side of her until he was the only thing that existed to her. Every inch of her was screaming for something different but every single thing revolved around him.
“Be my girl, Ry. Cuz I’m already all fucking yours.”
Blowing out a shaky breath, Riley stabilized herself, her own recent lack of sleep weighing on the situation. The dull throb between her legs was secondary to the way her heartbeat was pulsing in her ears. There was no slowly wading into the pool with Max; he was asking for a dive right into the deep end. Now it was sink or swim but she was still stuck shivering at the top of the diving board.
“This imaginary life of Pancake Sundays and movie dates sounds like a dream, Max. And I’m sure it would be for a month or two - hell maybe even a year or two.” She swallowed hard, struggling to keep her head above the water. “But what happens when all those promises run out and real life kicks in, and we both end up getting hurt?”
“Then we get hurt.” Max didn’t flinch but she did. “I really don’t think that’s how this goes down, but it doesn’t matter because I’d rather burn to the ground with you after one month, than live the rest of my life without breathing the same oxygen.”
He ghosted the back of his hand across the curve of her jaw, brow furrowed as he looked right through her. Wetting his lips, he leaned ever so slowly towards her and she froze, blinking back at him, breath stalling in her lungs. He stopped just before their lips could brush and began to sink down to his knees in front of her, holding her gaze on the way down. His hands followed his path, featherlight down the curves of her waist and resting at the swell of her hips, fingers bunching in her silk pajama shorts.
“Please, Riley...” He trailed one finger down the back of her bare thigh and she shivered, resisting the way she wanted to buckle when he traced along the inside of her knee. Thick fingers unfurled down her calf until they were wrapped around her ankle. She leaned back against the wall for support as Max lifted her foot off the ground. Moving in closer to it, he spared a glance back at her before laying a slow kiss just beside her ankle bone. His eyes drifted back up to her, trying not to visibly react to the way her face had become markedly more fucked out. “Give this a shot with me.” He laid another kiss just a little higher up her calf and Riley gripped at the wall as if it offered any support. As his eyes met hers again, he watched as she bit down at her lip, his hand meandering up her calf sending electricity shooting up to her core. He set a lazy pace of kisses up her calf until he reached her knee, holding her gaze pointedly. “Tell me you don’t want to be with me.” She met his eyes, head tilting to the side as her tongue dabbed at her lips. Her mouth was dry as she practically panted, watching him as he pulled her legs apart and nestled between them. His hand shifted so he could lift her thigh to his lips, and his fingers brushed the edge of her shorts. He pressed his lips just above her knee and Riley’s hand grasped in his hair for support, her panties getting wetter by the second. “Tell me you’d rather have anyone else in the world between your legs right now.” He didn’t bother to reconnect with her gaze and she was glad because the way her eyes rolled back in her head when he nipped at the inside of her thigh would have given him a firm answer. “Tell me you don’t want me to make you come on my face right now.” His eyes reconnected with hers with a twinkle of mischief, lips not leaving her thigh. Her fingers tightened in his hair, breathing ragged and her core pulsing. She tried to rut her hips towards him but he used his other arm to pin her hips to the wall, and a whine slipped out her lips.
“Max, pleeeease.” Riley practically begged, in spite of herself, and Max smirked against her thigh. She urged his head toward her center by the hair but he resisted with a groan that vibrated against her skin. He glanced up at her.
“Tell me you’re in this with me.” He kissed higher up her thigh, hand shifting to cradle just below her ass, angling her into him. “Tell me you want to try at a life together.” He nipped at her skin just at the edge of her shorts before firmly commanding her gaze, and she squirmed against him. Her chest heaved with her breathing and she swallowed hard. She wanted the imaginary life he was offering but it didn’t feel real. But if that life felt this good, maybe it was worth taking a risk on. His tongue swiped across the skin just beneath her shorts and her knees buckled for just a second before she stabilized, yanking hard at his hair.
“Okay.” She choked out the word and his eyes flashed up to her, fingers digging harder into her skin. “Okay, fuck, I want to try.” Her fingers dug into his hair and she nodded subtly.
“Yeah?” His eyes widened, fingers creeping up to the waistband of her shorts, digging down into them. She nodded more firmly with a cautious smile before she narrowed her eyes.
“I swear to god if you hurt me…”
“You can gave me drawn and quartered in Central Park.” He cut her off, quick to let his fingers curl around her shorts, inching them off her.
“Deal.”
She rushed the word out, hands flying down to where his were trying to pry her shorts off much too slowly. Max didn’t miss her signals, yanking her shorts and panties to the floor at once, guiding one foot out and promptly around his shoulder. He laid messy, open-mouthed kisses up her thigh until he reached her mound, dripping wet from anticipation.
As much as he wanted to wait and tease her until she was shaking and begging, but the smell of her arousal was so familiar and tempting that he wasn’t sure he could refrain a second longer. With a final enamored look up at her, he wrapped both arms tight around the bottom of her thighs, yanking her core straight to his mouth. No easing in, his mouth latched around her lips, licking and sucking at her soaked folds. His head bobbed between her thighs with a symphony of vulgar noises and her head fell back against the wall with a stream of curses and whines. Her hand wound through his hair, pushing him into her harder, her hips jerking against his face as she struggled to stay upright. Max hummed against her clit and her knees buckled.
“Fuck, Max, fuck pleeeeeease!” She couldn’t control the words flying out of her mouth. He reached down, forcing her to try to stabilize herself, brushing the pad of his thumb over her clit. Strumming over her, he let his tongue move in broad strokes across her pussy, his erection quickly beginning to press into his sweats.
“God you taste so fuckin’ good.” He growled the praises into her skin and her legs shook. His fingers slipped down, easing inside her, one then another, and her walls clamped around them. She whimpered when he sucked her clit between his lips. Not relenting in his pressure, he worked his fingers in and out until her body was twitching.
His fingers hooked right up into that spot that he knew made her brain melt. Stroking over the spongy spot, he sucked at her clit, and she shrieked, legs giving out before she could catch herself. But Max didn’t miss a beat, fingers pulling out of her just in time to catch her leg, shifting her weigh until both her legs were up on his shoulders, fully off the ground.
Tongue flitting over her sensitive bundle of nerves as he slowly rose back to his feet, driving her higher up the wall. Her body doubled forward, curling around his head, hands clenched tight in his hair for all she was worth. He lapped at her folds, alternating his speeds as she writhed against him, her cries getting louder and higher pitched.
“That’s it’s pretty girl, gonna come for me?” His words vibrated against her clit and her thighs trembled. “Gonna soak my face? Be a good girl and let me taste how good I make you feel.”
His teeth scraped over her bundle of nerves and she squealed, arching her back until her shoulders collided with the wall. One hand reached aimlessly beside her, desperately looking for purchase when she found the edge of some picture frame. Her hips chased the high she was so close to as her entire body shook.
Max’s strong arms kept a tight grip, curled around her thighs, and he dipped his tongue inside her. Her body grew taut as he fucked his tongue in and out of her. The tip of his nose circled around her clit as he worked her to the edge.
“Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, Max! Please! Don’t….I need…I…ahh! Oh my god!” Her cries devolved to a babble, her legs scrambling behind his shoulders. Her grip of the picture frame slipped and she vaguely heard the crash of the the glass shattering on the floor nearby. It hardly registered, though, as he sucked hard on her clit and sent her toppling over a cliff. Her body peaked and her eyes rolled back, Max not letting up, his hands keeping her fully supported.
As her soul drifted back into her body, he helped her maneuver her legs down off his shoulders. Supporting her entire weight, he eased her back down the wall, his lips following a slow and lazy path up her stomach as she came down, his fingers snagging in the fabric of her shirt. As her feet finally touched the ground, his lips ghosted across her nipple as it was temporarily exposed on his way up. He didn’t linger, letting her shirt flutter back down as he took her face between both hands, pulling her into an insistent kiss that knocked the breath from her lungs.
The overgrown hair on his face was slick with her orgasm and she could taste it on his tongue when it slipped into her mouth. Her arms snaked around his neck, half to support her still jellied legs, and half because he could never be close enough anymore.
“God, I missed you so much.” he murmured against her lips, face held tight between his hands, and her eyes flashed to his, heated with desire. Her fingers strummed down the back of his neck and his eyes rolled shut for a moment. The wave of relief that was finally hitting him was intoxicating and his chest was heaving with it. Carding his fingers up through her hair, his palm settled at the back of her head. He notched his nose against hers, pressing past the warmth that grew in his stomach from the smile stretched across her face.
“I’ve missed you too.” She said in an overdue confession before pulling him back to her lips, unsure she would ever feel like she could have enough to make up for all the time they missed. His fingers curled in her hair, the other hand dropping to her hip, pulling her flush against him so she could feel his erection pressing into her stomach.
With one arm still slung around his neck, her other hand skated down his chest, then stomach, not stopping before it reached the top of his sweatpants. She reached between their bodies, palming over his dick through the thick cotton and he groaned into her mouth. Her tongue swept into his mouth, silencing him as her fingers wrapped more firmly around his length, rubbing him through his sweats. His grip on her hair tightened, trying to keep pace with her lips as she reached down and caressed his balls.
He gasped at the loss when her hand drifted back up to his stomach, warm as it crept beneath his shirt. Her thumb hooked in the bottom of the fabric, dragging it up until she finally let them break a part so she could pull it off him. Her arms were quick to return to him, one tangling in the hair at the base of his head, the other clung tight to his back. He paused, eyes raking over her hot enough to burn the city down, and her teeth grazed across her lip before they curled into a smirk.
“Well are you just going to stand there or are you going to take my shirt off and fuck me through this wall?” She challenged with a raised brow and she watched the devilish grin rise to his face. Without another second, he yanked hard on her hair, pulling her attention to him, and her belly clenched.
“Ohhh my pretty girl,” he cooed before he bucked his hips hard against hers, driving them against the wall with a delicious thud. “You want me to fuck your sweet little pussy like I own it?” Her mouth fell open, panting as he drove his hips up into her again, urging her legs apart. She nodded eagerly. “You need my cock stretching your cunt until you cry,” He drove into her harder this time, hiking her up the wall, and her legs wrapped around his waist, “fucked so stupid the only thing you can remember is my name?” His hips ground into her bare core, erection throbbing as he rocked it against her. Her head fell back with a throaty moan.
“Fuck, Max, please.” She cried as he bucked into her center.
His lips settled into the crook of her neck, laying messy open mouthed kisses across her skin. Trailing down to the neckline of her shirt, he gripped it with his teeth, using his other hand to tear straight through the front of it, and she gasped. She went to voice an objection but it died in her throat when his lips closed around her nipple. His teeth latched around the bud, pulling it back, and she yelped, arching against him, providing exactly the friction he needed so badly.
Arms wrapped tight around her, he lifted her off the wall, bouncing her against the hard as steel erection that was begging to be buried in her. He fumbled backwards towards the entry table on the opposite wall. Tongue flittering over her nipple, he spun them and managed to get her seated on the edge of the table. Rocking into her center, he moved to the other nipple, licking and sucking and pulling a string of breathy moans from her lips.
Knocking her hips further and further back onto the table, objects around her clattered into each other. Her feet urgently pushed at the top of his sweats but his hips shifted, notching at just the right spot as he ground into her. Strangling cries, she reached for any purchase she could get on the table around her. Her fingers curled around an object but her eyes fluttered shut when his teeth raked across her nipple. The table knocked against the wall in time with his hips, objects clattering to the floor after she arched unexpectedly. She let out a wracked whine, delirious with need, and he grinned into her chest.
Letting his lips trail back up her neck, he stopped to nip at her earlobe before return to her lips. He laid gentle, pain-stakingly slow kisses against her lips and she practically squirmed in his grips. Tongue trailing across her lips and exploring every inch of her mouth, he let his hips drop to a drag up and down her core. Her hips stuttered against his, desperate to up the pace but his hand shot down to pin her in place and she let out a defeated whimper.
“Aww, what’s wrong?” He pouted, his other hand tugging her hair to make her meet his gaze. “Does my impatient little slut need something?” The humiliation burned low in her gut but she was too far beyond it to even register.
“Pleeeeeease, I need your cock, Max, please.” She begged without hesitation and Max pulled her straight to him by the hair, meeting her in a hasty, gnashing kiss.
“That’s my good girl.” He growled into her mouth, releasing her hip to push his sweats down with one hand. “Gonna fucking wreck this perfect pussy, baby.” Getting his cock free, he dragged it through her folds and she whined. “Gonna claim this body so well that people that pass you in the street will know who you belong to.” His cock throbbed against her as he coated himself in her slick. She moaned when he rubbed over her clit, and he pulled her in close until their foreheads rested against each others. “Tell me you love me.”
“Hmm?” Riley’s eyes fluttered, trying to stay open through the haze. Max lined his crown up to her entrance and she blinked back at him with heavy lids.
“Tell me you love me.” He repeated, loosening his grip on her hair, hips rocking shallowly against her entrance.
“I love you, Max.” Her voice was raked over but he heard just fine. Pulling her into a crushing kiss, he jerked his hips, driving them up into her until he was fully seated. Her lips hung open, a silent cry vibrating through her body.
“I love you too, Ry.”
Pulling back, he started a relentless pace from the start. Hammering into her, he yanked her hair back, giving him access to the thin skin of her throat. His thick cock stretched her to her limit at a brutal pace, quickly winding the thread tight in her belly. When his thumb connected with her clit in rough circles, her hands grappled for nothing on the table, sending a lamp to the floor with a crash. She brought a hand up, clinging to his back as he drove into her harder and harder. The thread inside her stretched thinner and her nails dragged down his back, driving him rougher.
The table shook with their motions, colliding with the wall over and over, and he could feel her fluttering around him.
“That’s it, beautiful, taking this cock so nice for daddy. Gonna let me watch you come undone?” His lips were hovering just above her gaping mouth, moans flowing out in time with his thrusts as she hurtled toward her high. “Squeeze this cock, princess. Let me feel you.” He shifted his angle and drove hard into her, brushing her special spot as he heard the ominous crack.
“There! Right there! Don’t stop!” Her head tipped back, legs trembling, and Max obliged, firing his hips into the same spot at a brutal pace.
She felt the vibration from the snap of the table leg before she heard it, one last thrust from Max destabilizing the balance and sending them to the floor. They both groaned amongst the carnage but she couldn’t stop writhing against him, her orgasm so close before it was snatched away.
Cursing, Max shuffled them a few feet away, just to the base of her stairs. After a sloppy, needy kiss, his fingers clutching her jaw, he flipped her so she was leaned over the bottom stair. Gripping tight at her hips, he drove into her from behind and she lurched forward. His arm snaked beneath her, holding her tight to him as he rocked in and out of her, getting even deeper than before. Working up a rhythm, his other hand gripped her hair, tugging it so her back arched.
His hips snapped against her and she pushed back, off pace and needy. Her moans filled the space and Max leaned over her back, breath tickling her ear.
“That feel good, baby?” He groaned, her walls squeezing around him at the words. Nipping at her earlobe, he set to work on leaving another mark on her neck. She moaned her agreement, nails digging into the stairs. “Who owns this pussy?” She squealed when he reached down from her stomach to pinch her clit.
“You do! Fuck! You own this pussy!” She cried out and Max throbbed inside her. His hand drifted from her hair, settling around her throat, giving a trial squeeze. She moaned and snapped her hips back into him in approval, and he squeezed a little harder.
“That’s fuckin’ right I do.” He growled next to her ear. Bottoming out over and over, he strummed across her clit, feeling himself creep closer. “Should fill you up with my cum. Fuck a baby into this perfect body so everybody fuckin’ knows I own it.” Her moans pitched, legs shaking beneath them, but he didn’t relent. “Bet you’d fuckin’ like that, huh? Daddy’s little slut just dripping with my cum.”
“Fuck, yes, Max please I’m so close, pleeeease.” Her body twitched beneath his and he moved his fingers impossibly faster.
“You gonna milk this cock, baby? Come on, come with me, beautiful.”
His pace was punishing as her screams echoed around the hall. Her head was swimming, the pressure on her throat limiting her oxygen until color started to dot her vision. Max pulsed inside her, rubbing just against that spongy spot deep inside and the thread in her belly snapped, sending her brain hurtling over the edge. Then Max released his grip on her throat with a final hard thrust, spilling inside her, and oxygen rushed to her brain in a wave that would have bowled her over if he wasn’t clung so tight.
They stayed there together, shaking over the bottom stair, gasping for breath for what felt like hours. Limbs hit their breaking point and Max reluctantly pulled out of her, thumbing over cum dripping from her entrance as he sat back on his heels. She slumped down flat onto the stairs and he pulled her up into his lap, smoothing her hair down before laying a kiss.
“God, I love you so fucking much.” He whispered into her hair. This felt like the first time in his life he actually felt satisfied. Riley nuzzled into his neck, letting her body weight rest on him. Scattering kisses anywhere he could reach, he squeezed her tight to him.
“I love you too. A lot more than I probably should.” She spoke loftily, her brain still floating somewhere above the Great Barrier Reef. He chuckled into her hair, fingers tickling at her sides and she squirmed with a laugh.
“So is that a yes on the wedding, then?” He prompted, trying not to laugh too hard at her undignified snort.
“Not a chance, baby. Try taking me to dinner first.” She scoffed but he could hear the smile in her voice.
“Okay, so dinner, then marriage, yeah?” He tickled again and she backed further into him as if it would stop his attacks. Shaking her head, she squirmed in his lap. “No? I’m getting some very mixed messages here. I’m going to just have to assume its a yes.” She attempted to argue the point but was cut off when he scooped her up and laid her over his shoulder. Squealing, she thrashed in his arms but he ignored it. “Sorry, can’t hear you. Gotta get to bed, so late. so tired. We can pick this up tomorrow, but for now i’ll jot down that its a ‘yes definitely’ on the proposal.”
He trudged up her stairs with her slung over his shoulder, smacking her butt as he rounded the corner onto the second floor. She squirmed and shouted her objections but she knew as well as he did that she was perfectly content just where she was. And bed with him suddenly sounded like the greatest idea in the history of this planet.
So when he kicked the door to her bedroom open and tossed her down onto the bed, she didn’t fight it. And when he started the long crawl across her king sized mattress, she reached forward to drag him in. Because this was everything either of them ever needed and they weren’t waiting another second for it.
I should've known that my pride and ego would land me in a situation like this. Challenging Max at the gym to see who could leg press the most weight, knowing he was stronger than me?
Now there I was, kneeling on the shower floor, the tip of his cock just inches away from my mouth, his hand guiding and smacking it across my lips, poking at me:
"You talked all that shit, so how about you finally put that smart mouth to good use?"
Even though I lost the bet, and this was the result, I had this feeling that I'd still end up in a similar scenario, keeping a smirk on my face while my tongue traced the slit of his cock:
"Planned on it, babe."
"Get to it then," He was never patient, let alone after a workout, pushing my head down onto his cock the moment my mouth opened wide enough.
He thought this was some sort of punishment for me, but my eyes were locked with his, a smirk still on my face every time my head bobbed up and down, grazing the muscle of his thighs as I began to deep throat his cock, keeping still when he thrusted his hips toward me.
"Such a slut for my dick, aren't you?" He was having trouble admitting how much he loved how I took him, hand taking a grip along my scalp, fucking my throat.
His speed did put some tears in my eyes, my chest burning from the lack of oxygen, the steam of hot water around us not making it easier either, but I only encouraged it, hands finding the v-line along his pelvic muscle, sliding to the side of his hips and guiding with a quicker tempo.
"Only proving me right," Locking gazes, we both began to feel how he was beginning to throb slightly, not bothering to stop, only bobbing my head quicker until he pulled me back by the hair, "Gonna be my little cum slut too?"
"Just tell me how you want it," I breathed out, taking the chance to gather myself before things got crazier like I knew they would.
I was already so turned on, barely containing my temptations, the smirk on my face growing as he sat on the bench.
"I already worked my ass off today. So, if you want this dick, you got to do it yourself," Of course, he acted like he didn't want me sitting on him, slicking his wet hair back, slouching some as I came to straddle him:
"Don't sound so bored," I teased, lining my entrance with the tip of his cock, "I'm capable of a lot of things."
"Is that ri-" Before he could finish, I dropped on all of his cock, laughing softly with a moan while seeing his lip get trapped between his teeth.
"You just tell me when you don't want to hang on anymore, baby," I kept teasing, whispering in his ear while bouncing my ass off him, adding a quick roll of my hips, "You probably used up a lot of strength lifting all those weights."
Hands running across his biceps, finding his chest and his abs next, his body proved how hard he worked in the gym, his muscles more sculpted and defined than ever before, which only excited me more, moaning louder and louder moving faster.
I could only feel as if I couldn't get enough, throwing my head back as a spank found my ass, the water making the impact sting more than it normally would have, nearly crumbling in his lap when his thumb found my clit and jumbled my nerves and made the feeling more intense.
"I better feel you cuming first," He warned, squeezing where he spanked hard, tense muscles showing that he was fighting his own orgasm.
"Just a little more," I panted out, fixing myself and grabbing his shoulders, back arching and making our chests meet, bouncing off and on his cock harder and faster, more lewd moans spilling from my lips, "I just need a little more."
"A little more?" The hand between us started rolling my clit, a pinch making me squeal and jump upwards, a newfound determination waving over me, walls clenched so hard it ached, but so close to bliss that I moved relentlessly, the wooden bench underneath of us creaking from the overwhelming speed and weight of us both.
"Hope you're ready," I barely got out, the smacks at my sweet spot trying to make me collapse again, biting my lip only to give up and moan salaciously, "I'm cuming, Max!"
From behind, his hand pulled my hair back by the hair, leaning back some more to watch how I came around him, free hand spanking:
"Who told you to slow down?"
Oh, so he wanted a flashy display? I still had some strength in me to keep bouncing, slicking his thighs after his cock, hips rolling up and against his, cooing to him:
"Fuck, you're throbbing so damn hard."
"What do you expect after riding my dick like that?" He chuckled, bringing me back so we were nose to nose, "Gonna keep being good and let me fill you up?"
"Please," I cooed back, kissing softly, moaning at the heat filling me inside, hips rocking with a stutter, rising on my knees some, both of us watching and feeling how his seed oozed out, but sat back down on his cock till I was stuffed, giggling softly as I met his lips again, "Good thing we're already in the shower, huh?"
Could I request “you are, without a doubt, the most annoying person i’ve ever crossed paths with. and don’t even get me started on the sound of your voice” For MJF? Maybe the reader is trying to comfort him after his promo last night bc she likes him?
Of course! Here’s some angsty and angry but a little soft MJF. I hope it’s alright that I combined it with another prompt! Please enjoy and sorry for the wait. <3
Pairing: MJF x OFC.
Prompts: “You are, without a doubt, the most annoying person I’ve ever crossed paths with. And don’t even get me started on the sound of your voice”. + Hiding their face in the other’s neck.
Rating: T.
Warnings/Content: Minor angst/fluff.
Word Count: 737.
Tag List (asked to be added/removed!): @alyhull @boutmachines @chrisdickinson @lghockey @rubyred1980 @sillynilly27 @simoneinside
(I don’t own gif; all credit to codymania!)
Anyone backstage could hear a pin drop with how silent it was. It took everything in her to not whittle her fingernails down to stubs as she watched one of the monitors. Watched the way that MJF’s face held that pinched, pained look for longer than anyone anticipated as he stalked back up the ramp. Away from his childhood hero, cheeks wet.
Everyone gave him a wide berth and she watched as no one made an attempt to talk to him. They eyed him as he went by, speaking behind their hands in low whispers. It was a vulnerable thing that he did and no one knew Maxwell Jacob Friedman to be vulnerable of all things. Prickly, venomous, sometimes even monstrous.
But she got him to laugh, smile even, in a way that didn’t bite once or twice. More times than he would ever admit. And that was the thought she held onto as she took in a breath and followed after him. She opened the door to one of the stairwells and She could hear his ragged, rattled breaths. Like he was trying to control it but it was too much. He sat on the second step, dark sleeves rolled up and his head slightly bowed.
“Maxwell?”
He didn’t look up at her and loosely wound his hands together. Cleared his throat to try to steady his breath but it didn’t work. She paused in the stairwell doorway, considered him for a moment, then stepped forward. He tched under his breath.
“Max? Are you okay?”
He scoffed and he slowly raised his head to look at her. His narrowed eyes fixed on her and his tongue pressed hard against the inside of his cheek.
“Are you okay? Are you serious?”
His voice dripped with that familiar malice and she blinked at him, measured and controlled as she waited him out. He stood up and halfheartedly sneered at her.
“It’s always you, huh? Fucking 'course it is. God, you're...”
His voice was strained, trying to get back that level tone of his but it was clear he was struggling. Max was only inches away from her and he ducked his head to meet her eyes.
“You…You are, without a doubt, the most annoying person I’ve ever crossed paths with,” he said. He worked his jaw and whether he knew it or not, the anger in his voice became tired the longer he talked. “And don’t even get me started on the sound of your voice. Always asking if I’m okay or how I’m fucking feeling. You wanna know if I’m okay? You wanna know how I’m feeling?”
He was almost nose to nose, chest to chest, with her and she felt every heavy, unsteady breath of his as he nearly crowded her back against the wall. One hand against it, just above her head as he looked at her. Max waited. Watched her intently with red-rimmed eyes, soft with tears. Then he couldn’t help but sniffle softly, another drop down his cheek, and she gently smiled at him.
“I do,” she said to him. Smoothed his slightly rumpled shirt with her hand and he let her. Felt him slightly brace under her touch. “So, Max, are you? Okay?”
Max stared at her, the hard edge of his jaw slightly softening and then the sharp stone of him collapsed against her. His head fell to the curve of her shoulder and his hand dropped, made a path down her arm. Fingertips brushed against hers but didn’t stay long and he pressed closer to her. His nose nudged against her skin as he turned into her and his breaths kissed along her neck, featherlight. Carefully, she settled a hand on the back of his head. Gently massaged the skin with slow circles.
“This doesn’t…” he murmured against her neck, a low vibration that made her hum. Quiet tears wet her skin but she didn’t mind it as he all but rested his entire body against hers. Sought out something he didn’t often look for or find. “I still think you’re annoying.”
She huffed a quiet laugh through her nose and she felt the curve of his smile against her neck. Their quiet and unspoken yet strange softness between each other settled unsteady waters. He breathed easier against her and she shut her eyes, welcomed him and told him without words that it was alright.
