Nina stared back at Max for the longest time. Misery resonated from her core as her honey-brown eyes glistened with defeat. Finally, she took a step toward him and asked in a shaky voice, "Can you... hold... me? Just for a minute?"

Max didn't hesitate to wrap Nina's small frame in his arms. He clasped her tight and rested his cheek on top of her head.

"I got you, mami," he said thickly. "You don't have to ask next time, okay? I'm here whenever you need me."

"Okay," she whispered gratefully.

He held her close. Nina didn't say another word or shed a single tear, but her hands crept up his chest, clutching at the fabric of his shirt in a way that made his heart ache. She was breathing harder than normal. Every inhale and every exhale dragged heavily through her lungs.

Without removing her from his embrace, Max slowly shuffled the two of them, step by step, over to the couch. He sat down first and then pulled her onto his lap. Nina tucked in her legs to curl up against him like a ball, resting her head on his chest, burrowing into his bigger body for comfort, and Max was more than willing to give her whatever it was she needed. His fingers traced mindless patterns across her back and shoulders until her breaths gradually slowed and eased.

Only then did Nina finally break the lull between them, "Thank you, Max."

"Of course," he mumbled. "I wish you had come to me sooner."

She laughed brokenly. "You know, believe it or not, I actually wanted to, but..."

Max searched her face questioningly, prompting, "But?"

"I guess... I wasn't ready to talk to you about... us... him... everything... yet. I felt like things between you and me were too weird."

Max groaned with remorse and readily confessed, "Oh, God. I was a total jackass to you that morning, Nina. I only pretended not to care because... I was scared. I kept wanting to apologize to you sooner, but your friends were around all weekend, and I didn't wanna intrude. Please don't take anything I said to heart. I fucked up. I didn't mean a word of it."

She glanced at him with a hesitant smile. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really."

Nina half-teased, half-chided, "Does this mean I have to forgive you now?"

"I don't expect you to forgive me, but can we set my shit aside for a minute? Right now, I only wanna focus on you, and make sure that you're okay.

Nina wrinkled her nose at him. "You were kind of a jackass, though."

Max's head drooped. His jaw ticked with regret. "I know."

"I should make you grovel and beg for forgiveness."

He nodded vigorously in agreement. "I should be groveling on the ground like a fucking worm!"

Nina's lips tilted up with amusement. "Oh, gosh. Don't be such a drama queen. I'm not gonna make you grovel like a worm. I believe you, Max. I don't think you were trying to hurt me or anything."

Max's eyes widened as his heart brimmed with joy. "No, wait. Shit. Really?"

"Really."

"Do you trust me enough... to tell me... what the fuck... that bastard... said to you? I hate not knowing what he did to make you so upset."

She sighed. "By 'that bastard,' I assume you mean... Ethan."

Max grunted sullenly. "Yeah. Him."

"So... you wanna know what went down?"

He grimaced. "Hell, yeah. It has been driving me crazy these last few days. The not knowing."

She grimaced, too. "I should warn you. It's pretty depressing."

"I wouldn't keep asking about it if I didn't care about you, like, a lot."

Nina bit her lip as though she didn't want to let the words out.

"Please... Nina?" he begged.

She relented. "Fine, fine, fine..."

"Thank you," he breathed.

In a somewhat hesitant voice, Nina mumbled haltingly, "To be honest... Ethan and I... didn't talk about anything new. It was mostly tit-for-tat type of stuff, petty shit, really, that we've argued about in the past, but, then, right as I wanted to leave, he stopped me... and told me... that he kept my ring. Ethan said he wanted to give it back to me."

Max's chest tightened. His heart pounded on edge. "He wanted to give back your engagement ring? As in, he was proposing again, or..."

"I dunno what Ethan was thinking," she replied, "I turned down the ring, and I didn't ask him to clarify what his intentions were, either."

Max breathed out a sigh of relief. His pulse evened out slightly. But he had to ask, "Would you ever... consider... going back to him?"

Nina grew quiet for what felt like an eternity to Max. "You know... that's what I've been trying to figure out this whole time in Santa Monica. There's something really fucked up that I've been keeping from my ex, and it's one of the main reasons why I decided to walk away from our relationship."

"Oh, shit. Why didn't you tell him?"

"Well," Nina mumbled, "the fucked up thing has to do with Ethan's mom, and it's the kind of secret that might ruin their relationship. I didn't feel right about dropping a bomb like that Ethan."

With a trickle of anger, Max exclaimed, "That's so fucking unfair to you, though! You shouldn't feel obligated to protect someone who hurt you."

Nina gave a sad, little shrug. "That's life. Karma is fucking unfair at times, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Max's heart went out to her. "Oh, Nina..."

A faraway look entered her eyes. "I mean, I've been doing a lot of thinking these past two days, and seeing Ethan again just made me realize how much everything has changed between us. I'm not the same girl that he fell in love with, and..."

"What?"

She shook her head dejectedly. "There's no point in telling him what I wanted to say anymore. None of the possible outcomes are appealing to me, and I don't see the point in making him as miserable as I've been."

Max watched her with bated breath. Curiosity was killing him. "I gotta ask. What was this big secret that you wanted to tell him so badly?"