A Matter of Trust Page 17

  Max played his trump card. He rubbed his thumb over the tips of his fingers. Nikki frowned in confusion. Max opened the desk drawer and pulled out a fistful of money.

  Her eyes widened then narrowed sharply. “I’m not sure I understand, but I’m starting to think I don’t like it anyway. What exactly do you want to know? If I’d play up to your father for money? No, I wouldn’t. Not for all his money.”

  That was not what Max wanted to know. He wanted to know if she was only there because of the money. If she had no interest in Richard, then was she only there for the money?”

  He pointed to her, then to himself, and then thrust the money at her.

  Nikki got up and walked to him. She thought she knew what he wanted to know. It wasn’t a question she wanted to answer because the truth was complicated. She decided to tackle the least complicated issues first.

  “When I first took the job, it was just for the money, yes. I was getting evicted, had no job and twenty-three dollars to my name. Your parents offered me more money than I’d ever dreamed of making and I jumped at the chance. And yes, even after I met you, for a while it was just the money. You were horrible to me and made me feel unwanted and if it hadn’t been for the money I would have been tempted to leave.”

  Max was shocked at the admission and also hurt. He started to turn away, but she grabbed both of his arms to stop him.

  “No, wait, I haven’t finished. It was the money, at first. But then after we finally were able to communicate, and I finally understood, the money stopped being important. It’s not the money now, Max. It’s you. I’m here because of you.”

  He wanted to believe her, but it wasn’t easy. Nikki’s fingers tightened on his arms. “I promise you that my interest in you has nothing to do with money, Max. Nothing. I don’t know how to prove it to you, but if you’ll tell me how I’ll do it.”

  Max shook his head. She could be lying, but he didn’t think so. And he was tired of trying to figure everyone out. Like Mr. Robinson. Why did he show up and say the things he did?

  “Max, do you want me to leave?”

  He shook his head.

  Impulsively, she stood up on her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”

  Max blushed from the kiss. The feel of her lips on his skin remained, tingling.

  He pointed to the papers on the bed.

  “Oh, yeah, the I.Q test.”

  He shook his head. I don’t want to take a test.

  Nikki frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. Nikki watched him for a few seconds. Again, he pointed at the papers.

  “Do you still not trust me?”

  He shook his head.

  “Then are you mad about me going to the library?”

  He shook his head. No, I’m not mad. But I don’t want to take a test.

  “Are you mad about the tests?”

  He held up his hand with his thumb and index finger about a half an inch apart.

  “Hey, I’m sorry.” She dumped the papers and got off the bed. “Max, I didn’t mean to insult you, I just…” She trailed off, for the moment unable to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t hurt his feelings.

  He cocked his head to one side, cupping his hand around his ear. Nikki grimaced and flopped down on the bed, looking up at him. “I don’t know how to explain it without feeling like I’m stepping on your toes.”

  Max took a seat beside her and lifted his feet off the floor.

  “Okay, I’ll try. I know you’re not stupid, but I don’t know exactly how smart you are. Understand? I need to know how much you know. I know it sounds like I’m trying to judge you, but it’s not that. If we’re going to figure out a system to communicate we need to know where we both are in terms of—of knowledge and understanding concepts and…and…shit, this is coming out all wrong. Just forget it.”

  Max narrowed his eyes slightly and she reached over to pick up the stack of papers she’d brought with her. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not making fun or judging. I just want to know—look, will you just go along with me on this? Please?”

  She made sense. Max nodded. Nikki dug the IQ test from the papers scattered across the bed. “Okay, I’ve eliminated all the questions that require you to compose words.”

  She handed Max the papers and searched around for a pen. Locating one, she handed it to him as well. “You’ve got forty-five minutes. Ready?”

  Max nodded.

  “All right, go.”

  Scanning down the first page, Max quickly checked the appropriate answers. None of them were difficult. He forgot about Nikki watching him and focused on the questions. In just under twenty minutes he marked the last question.

  “You’re done?”

  He nodded.

  “You sure you don’t want to check over it?”

  He shook his head.

  “Okay.” She took the test and started comparing his answers to the correct ones.

  She was happily surprised that all of the answers on the first page were correct, as well as a little surprised. As she progressed through the test, her surprise grew. By the time she finished she was stunned. He had only missed two questions. It was incredible. If the revised test had any accuracy at all, Max was not in the least stupid. Quite the opposite.

  But she wasn’t going to allow herself to get too excited. After all, it was only a sample test, and a revised one at that. She needed more to go on.

  Max was watching her curiously. She gave him a smile. “You did amazingly well—only missed two.”

  Satisfied? He regarded her curiously.

  “There’s just one other test I’d like you to try.”

  Max crossed his arms over his chest. Not another one!

  “Come on,” she pleaded. “I know it’s a pain but it’s important. This is the college entrance exam.”

  Max accepted the pages she handed him and flipped through them. He looked up, shook his head and showed her a page.

  “I know there’re questions that require written answers. Don’t worry about it. Just complete as much as you can.”

  He shook his head and put the pages down.

  “Please?”

  Max blew out his breath and held out his hand.

  “What?”

  He made the motion of writing.

  “Oh!” She handed him the pencil. “Okay, ready?”

  He nodded and started the exam.

  Nikki paced around the room. Max looked up and pointed to the door.

  “You want me to leave?”

  He nodded.

  “Well, okay. But I’ll be back in one hour.”

  He nodded again, and she left the room, went downstairs to her room and tried to work on her paper. She couldn’t concentrate and finally gave up and nervously paced the floor. Her phone rang, and she snatched it up. There was no one there. She hung up. It rang again. No one on the line.

  Then she realized who it was. Running up the stairs, she burst into Max’s room. “You’re done?”

  He nodded and handed her the exam. She snatched the pages from him. Using the answer guide Ben had provided she began correcting the exam.

  The results were surprising. His mathematical score was extremely high, as was the score in the sciences. In fact, overall he scored high on every front. As expected, in questions that required essay answers, Max failed. Still, it was clear that he was very smart.

  Nikki finally turned to look at him. “Max, this is incredible. How’d you ever learn so much?”

  He pointed to books.

  She put the exam down. She still wasn’t sure exactly what level Max was on intellectually, but it was for sure he would have had no trouble getting into a college, heck even a graduate program — even with his inability to compose words.

  She remembered Ben’s formula and scrambled around for it. “Just one last thing. Can you solve this?”

  Max took the paper from her. He looked at the formula and nodded.


  “Okay, do it.”

  Max stared at the equation

  His eyes had a faraway look in them. She sat and waited.

  Finally he looked at her.

  “Done?”

  He nodded and turned to the computer, keying in the answer on the numeric key pad.

  Nikki looked at the answer Ben had given her. Max was right.

  “Damn!” she whispered and grabbed the phone. “I have to call Ben. You know, my friend Ben I told you about?”

  Ben answered on the third ring.

  “Ben, it’s Nikki. He solved the formula!”

  “No way!”

  “Swear to god. And get this. He did it in his head.”

  “It’s gotta be a fluke. Got a pen?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Just write this down,” Ben called out another equation to her. She read it as she was writing it down.

  Max listened, mentally calculating as Nikki reread the equation to make sure she had written it down correctly.

  “Hold on,” she said to Ben and turned to Max. “Ben asked if you could solve—”

  Max turned away and rapped out the solution on the computer. Nikki looked at him in shock. “Ben, he’s finished. “ She read out Max’s solution.

  “Fuck me!” Ben sounded like he was stunned. “This guy’s a—”

  “Genius?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh yes! Gotta go. Talk to you later!”

  She hung up the phone and bounded to her feet in excitement. “You’re a genius, Max. A genius!”

  Max’s eyes grew round as she started jumping and dancing around. Curiosity turned to anxiety and then to dread as Max watched her movements cease and the look of dismay that came on her face. Without thinking he grabbed her hand.

  Nikki folded her legs into a sitting position and sank to the floor. “Oh god, Max. I’m so sorry.”

  He didn’t understand why tears spilled from her eyes. He held his hand palm up with a slight shrug and his eyebrows raised high.

  She swiped at the tears tracking down her face. “You’re…you’re smart, really smart—even a genius maybe.”

  He nodded. He had pretty much figured that out when he taught himself algebra in six weeks. At least he had suspected. But why should that upset her so much?

  “How could they not have known, Max?”

  He shrugged and she wiped her face with her hands again. “God, it’s just…Max, all this time, all these years—the way they treat you. It’s just…I’m surprised you didn’t go insane.”

  Max didn’t like to see her cry, but at the same time part of him felt an overwhelming sense of graditude. No one had ever shed tears for him before. Just as no one had ever bothered to take the time to realize that he wasn’t an idiot. Gratitude warred with other equally unfamiliar emotions within him. He couldn’t find an appropriate gesture and it would take volumes of words to explain such things to her, if he could sort it out for himself.

  All at once Nikki frowned. “I don’t get it. You’re smart and you understand, so why do you act the way you do? I’m not coming down on you, but in all honesty you can be pretty much of a shit when you want to be. What I don’t understand is why?”

  Max knew no way to explain. He looked around for something, anything he could use to help. His eyes fell on the dictionary. Snatching it up, he flipped quickly through it, found the word he wanted and pointed to it.

  Nikki looked down at the page. “Protection? You act like that to protect yourself?”

  He nodded and she studied him for a moment. “Against what?”

  Quickly he flipped through the pages and pointed again.

  “Spy?” She was completely confused. “You need protection against a spy? Who would want to spy on you?”

  The next word he pointed to made her eyes grow round. “Parents? You think your parents have people spy on you?”

  He nodded.

  “But why, for what possible reason?”

  He mimicked giving himself an injection and becoming zombified.

  “I know they have you drugged, but I still don’t understand. If you didn’t want to be drugged, then it’d seem to me you would avoid the destruction and violence.”

  But that wouldn’t get rid of the drones. He considered what word would best convey the meaning. There was not just one. He held up his hand then flipped the pages of the dictionary. Nikki read the word.

  “If?”

  Max immediately flipped the pages, she read the word he pointed to. He proceeded, with her reading and him locating words and pointing.

  “If…they…find…out…they…will…have…me…committed.”

  She gasped at the last word. “Committed? Why in god’s name would they do that?”

  Max shrugged. He had no idea. He had asked his grandfather many times, but had gotten no answer. All Max knew was that the only safety that existed for him was keeping everyone on the estate in the dark about his intelligence.

  “Why would your parents have you committed if they knew you were normal? It doesn’t make sense.”

  Max shrugged. Despite his efforts over the years to find the answer to that question, he’d yet to come across anything that would explain it.

  Nikki’s brows drew together in a tight scowl. “Max, we need information. Like who originally diagnosed you as being brain damaged. Do you know who the doctor was?”

  He nodded. He’d always known that. It was the same doctor who continued to prescribe the drugs they used on him. Charles Abernathy. Getting off the bed, he rummaged around in one of the desk drawers and pulled out a phone book. Finding the listing, he showed it to Nikki.

  “Charles Abernathy?”

  Max nodded and she looked up at him thoughtfully. “Then we’ve got to figure out a way to see what’s in your medical records.”

  Max nodded enthusiastically and Nikki smiled. “God, Max, this is…unbelievable.”

  Her enthusiasm over his intelligence returned. “You’re a genius, Max. A genius!”

  Max took a mock bow and she laughed. He grinned widely. For the first time in his life he felt like he had someone on his side. It made him want to jump and shout. Shouting was out of the question, but dancing was not. Rushing to the stereo he put in a CD and started it.

  Nikki looked at him in astonishment as he turned, executed a bow then extended his hand. He grinned and beckoned her with his fingers. With a smile she took his hand.

  Max swung her around and around until they were both dizzy. Falling onto the bed, she looked up at him as he supported himself above her. The smile disappeared from her face and transformed to a look he never expected to see directed at him.

  Something like a fever seemed to sweep through him. He felt like his temperature suddenly shoot up ten degrees and his stomach was knotting in a most peculiar way. Not to mention the pressure that was steadily increasing in other parts of his anatomy.

  Nikki put her hands on either side of his face. Her face was flushed and the pupils of her eyes were very dilated. He could feel the rapid pound of her heart and the swell of her breasts pressed against him. If he’d had the courage he would’ve kissed her.

  He felt the edge of reality start to fade and before he could stop it, the sight took him into another world. One that paralleled his own, but one in which he had no fear.

  He lowered down on her, feeling her body mold to his as his weight settled on her. Her lips parted under his eagerly, tongue exploring and tasting.

  Her hands moved up to tightened in his hair as she wound her legs around his waist, pulling him tight so that the heat from her sex burned against his erection. She moaned into his mouth as he pressed against her.

  He tore himself away from her lips to feast on her neck, feeling her arch her head back in invitation. His lips moved lower, mouthing her breasts through the soft fabric of her top.

  She ground against him, rocking her pelvis up and down to create a delicious torment on his erection. There was no doubt in his mind as to her
desire. She wanted him. He could feel it in the heat of her body, smell it in the air.

  And he wanted her just as much. He sat back on his heels, intent on divesting her of her clothing.

  And was suddenly back in the confined reality he called home, with Nikki staring at him with a flushed face and wide eyes.

  A knock at the door made them both jump. Nikki started grabbing papers and books, crumpling them in her arms. She rolled over the edge of the bed and scooted underneath.

  Max opened the door. Osgood stood outside.

  “We could not help but notice the music, Maxwell. It’s rather loud. Aren’t you supposed to be napping?”

  Max nodded and dropped his eyes. Osgood patted him on the shoulder. “Nothing to get upset about. Just turn the volume down and try to get some rest.”

  Max nodded again, and Osgood turned to leave. He closed the door and locked it. Nikki looked up over the edge of the bed. “Does he do that often?”

  Max nodded and she made a face. “God, don’t you get any privacy in this place?”

  He shook his head and brought his hand up with his index finger and thumb almost touching. Nikki understood. “Kind of makes you wish you could tell them to leave you the hell alone.”

  Max agreed, but unlike Nikki he knew that Osgood wouldn’t be back. Once he had made his perfunctory appearance he would leave Max alone until time for dinner.

  Nikki was still a little shaken from what had happened before Osgood’s interruption. To have fallen so easily into a vision in front of Max made her a little embarrassed. Had she said or done anything that revealed what was going on in her mind? To cover her discomposure, she dug out her papers and books from underneath the bed. “Well, I better get this stuff put out of sight before someone sees it and gets suspicious. We still need to go over the information I found on sign language and come up with a plan to get the information from that doctor, though. Want to discuss it somewhere else where we won’t be bothered, like at the pier?”

  Max nodded.

  “Great, I’ll put this stuff away and change and meet you there.”

  Max put out his hand to stop her as she started by him, trying to end the war that was raging inside him, fear battling curiosity. Had she sensed what he’d seen in the vision?