Page 164 of Shattered Silence Duet

“What the fuck are you three laughing at?” Max asks as hecomes up to stand beside me. At the same time, Jasper stands up at my right side, and turns me to face him.

He grips my face in his palms as he whispers, “take a deep breath for me, Mina. Try to match your breathing to mine.”

“Oh my god, is she having a panic attack? What a fucking joke. She’s just doing that to get your attention, you know that right, Maxy?”

“Tiffany, you and your friends can fuck right off.” Tiffany, right, that girl that flirted with Max all those weeks ago at school. Was she still doing that when he was at school?

“Angel, focus on me, deep breaths now,” Jasper instructs again, and I watch his chest rise and fall, trying to match it. It starts to work as my breathing slowly starts to calm down. “That’s my good girl,” he whispers, giving my forehead a kiss, holding his lips there for a few extra seconds. I take the opportunity to wrap my arms around his waist and hug him. Just because I can. Because despite everything that’s happened between us, I love him, and he’s, once again, shown me how much he cares.

“You haveGOTto be kidding me?!” Tiffany shrieks. “Does she have a golden pussy or something?”

“What the fuck did you just say to my girl?” Max asks, anger lacing his tone in a way I've never heard before.

“You heard me. What are you gonna do about it? You can’t hit me, I’m a girl,” she says with a laugh.

I watch as Max takes a step towards her, a coy smile on his lips, making her laughter die out instantly.

“No, of course I wouldn’t hit you, Tiffany,” he says softly, almost like he’s trying to flirt with her. His hand slowly reaches towards her, making me frown. But instead of touching her he gently takes her soft drink cup from her hands. “I’m just giving you what you deserve,” he says quietly. I watch as she swallows, clearly turned on by his presence as she leans towards him.

Before she can figure out what’s happening, he pulls the lid off her cup and dumps her drink over her head. My eyes go wide insurprise as the orange liquid pours down her body. Jasper lets out a laugh and I cover my own mouth to hide my giggle.

Tiffany and her friends' mouths drop open as she looks at Max with shock and anger. “What the fuck, Max?!”

He tosses the empty cup at her chest before pulling me so I’m sandwiched between him and Jasper and they each have an arm around me.

“You ever say a word about our girl again, and what I just did will seem like nothing in comparison.”

“If you really want to know what Mina has, and you don’t, it’s everything. Literally everything about her is the opposite of you. She’s kind, sweet, funny, compassionate, brilliant, beautiful, sexy and the most amazing woman we’ve ever met. Maybe instead of bringing other people down, you should take a good hard look in the mirror to figure out why you hate yourself so much first,” Jasper says, keeping me firmly planted to his side.

Tiffany literally growls, stomps her foot then turns and storms off, her friends rushing to keep up with her.

The second they are out of view, Max drops to his knees in front of me, grabbing my hands. “Sweetheart, are you okay?” His eyes dance all around my face like he’s checking for injuries.

Before I can answer, Jasper takes a knee as well, and cups my cheek with his hand. “I’m so proud of you for handling that panic attack so well. You’ve come so far in such a short time.”

I stare at him like he’s insane. He wasproudof me? “I—You—I couldn’t speak, I tried, but nothing came out. I felt so worthless. You shouldn’t be proud of me for that,” I tell him, my emotions starting to climb again.

“No, Angel. You arenotworthless. Don’t say that about yourself. Don’t forget what you’ve been through. You were alone in the basement for over a decade. And look at you now!” He swings his arm out to indicate the arcade around us.

“Sweetheart, you’ve been amazing being in such a loud place with us tonight. Little things like this are gonna happen, and theymight feel like setbacks, but they’re not,” Max tells me, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand soothingly.

“No, this is a good thing. You stumbled for a moment, but you brought yourself back. I think this is a huge win,” Jasper says with a lopsided smile.

“Really?” I ask, my eyes dancing between them.

“Of course, Angel.”

“Thank you. For saying that and for helping me through it,” I say before stepping forward and wrapping my arms around Jasper's neck and hugging him tight. “I love you,” I whisper, unable to hold it back. It’d been too long since I’d said it, and I need him to know how much I appreciate him.

“I love you too Angel,” he whispers before kissing the side of my head. After a few more moments I pull back and turn to Max.

“Thank you, too. For what you just said but also for standing up for me with Tiffany.” I lean towards him and he wraps his arms around me.

“It was my pleasure, Sweetheart. Besides, I always wanted to throw a drink on her, it was pretty satisfying.”

I giggle into his neck before I whisper, “I love you, Max. Thanks for always making me smile.”

“Love you too, Sweetheart.”