Chapter 5 #2
His pulse had been racing under his fingers, erratic and uneven, matching the stutter of my own heartbeat.
He wasn’t looking at me now, but I could read his thoughts by the way he was sitting. He was stiff, quiet. There was a muscle ticking at his temple. His fists curled in his towel, as if he had no idea what else to do with them.
Max never unraveled. He was steady in storms, composed when everyone else lost their heads. But this? Me, half-naked and pressed against him, his hands between my breasts while Jackson stood there ready to explode? Yeah, that had rattled him.
His chest rose and fell too fast, color creeping up the side of his neck. I’d never seen him look so unsure of what to do next. But I knew one thing. He’d touched me with a hunger that I’d never seen from him. He’d crossed a line. And he’d wanted to.
Hell. I think he wanted to do it again.
“Alright, counselors. Welcome to the first day of camp,” Graham’s voice cut through the air. “We’re going to play a few icebreaker games. Everyone, pick a partner.”
Max’s hand was on mine instantly, lifting my arm. “She’s mine,” he said, too fast.
“You need to pick someone new, Max,” Graham replied lightly.
“I don’t want to.” Max’s voice dropped. It was actually kind of scary. I had never heard his voice that deep before.
I was seeing a new side of him—territorial and a little possessive.
It was a little off-putting. I wasn’t sure what to think of this new Max.
Graham hesitated, then let it go. “Alright. Jackson, partner with Heather since you’re new.”
I looked over at the girl sitting next to Jackson. Her red top clung to her curves, her beach-blonde hair catching the light. Jackson’s gaze slid from me to her and back, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were locked on Max.
“Shouldn’t we be with an experienced counselor?” Heather said, voice playful, chin tilted toward Max.
“Yeah,” Jackson said, “dibs on Mackenzie.”
Max’s grip on my hand tightened, his irritation pulsing through his fingers.
“You have a point,” Graham said, “Sorry, but Mackenzie. Max. Pair off.”
Heather and Jackson closed in like it was a game.
Max didn’t look away from me, his grip grounding me. “You’re going to be okay,” he said under his breath. “I’m right here.”
Heather stepped closer to him, pushing her hair over her shoulder. Max gave her the crooked smile he’d given me minutes ago, and I hated that it wasn’t reserved for just me. She leaned in, chest forward. His eyes dropped, briefly, but long enough for my jealousy to flare hot and sharp.
I forced my gaze to Jackson. The sunlight caught in his dark eyes, his gold chain flashing against his olive skin. He looked exactly the way he had the first day we collided in the hallway of our senior year: beautiful, but impossible to trust.
Jackson sat down beside me, reaching for my hand.
I pulled away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Come on, Kenz. Don’t act like that.” He said in that broad southern drawl.
“Oh? Such as?” My voice was razor-sharp. “You know what you did, you psycho. I don’t owe you anything.”
“Psycho, is it? The last I checked, that’s what you liked…”
The smile on his face was unnerving. It was cocky, arrogant, and borderline unhinged.
Behind me, I could feel Max go still again, every muscle wired tight. He was listening, and if Jackson pushed me, Max wasn’t going to stay quiet.
Max didn’t know what had happened between Jackson and me, but I could see the unease beginning to take hold in his chest. Everything now felt dangerous. I could sense the slow, peaceful story of summer slipping into a dark abyss. One where only one of us would come out alive.
Graham’s voice carried over the lake, all cheer and obliviousness. “Alright, it looks like everyone’s paired off. Time to put you into groups of four!”
He pointed to Max and me, and then Jackson and Heather.
“You four, together.”
Graham handed me a bowl of folded slips. I drew one, fingers brushing scrap paper, and unfolded it.
“Two Truths and a Lie,” I read aloud, my lips curling into something I hoped passed for a smile. The words caught in my throat halfway through the rules.
Heather gave a nervous laugh. “Oh wow. This is going to be hard.”
Max leaned back on his hands, voice carrying. “How are we supposed to win if we don’t know each other?”
“That’s the point,” Graham called back. “It’s like speed dating. But you’re getting to know your other counselors.”
Heather grinned at Max. “Aw, cute. Max, I’m ready for our first date. We should do this romance-themed!”
Max gave her a polite half-smile, but his shoulders were tight. “Fine,” he said, low. He was definitely not into that idea.
I could do romance. Safer than digging too close to my history.
Jackson shifted beside me, his fingers skirting down my spine. He was too close. “We’ve got this, Kenz,” he said, smiling like he owned the air between us.
I hated his nickname for me. Kenz. It made my blood boil.
I rolled my eyes and glanced across at Max. He was watching us. Arms crossed. Jaw tight. His expression wasn’t just dislike. It was something darker.
I had never seen that expression on Max’s face before.
Jackson’s hand found my arm. His fingers gripped like a warning. His smile was casual, but the press of his thumb on my skin marked me as his.
I remembered his hands on my throat, the bruising pressure, the way my vision spotted at the edges. He liked to choke me, whenever anything didn’t go his way.
“You’re such a fucking slut, Kenz. You liked it? When you saw me fucking her? You like to watch. Don’t worry, baby. She doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s always going to be you and me. Til death do us part.”
The memory wasn’t just in my head; it pulsed through my skin, stuttering through my body.
Max saw it, the way I reacted. His body coiled, jaw ticking like something dangerous had just been switched on inside him. He looked like a predator about to go on a hunt, and the prey was Jackson.
Jackson noticed, too. His smirk dared Max to step over a line so that he could cut deeper. His hand slid to my waist, his fingertips skating over my hips.
“Don’t touch me,” I snapped.
Max stood. His fists clenched. He looked at me, silently asking permission to intervene. I shook my head. He sat again, but the heat in his eyes didn’t dim.
Jackson’s gaze cut between us. Cold calculation was there now, like a man cataloging weapons.
Graham’s voice broke the tension. “Alright, time to start. Go.”
I felt unease rip through me, and I nervously started the game, stumbling over my words.
“Once I kissed someone so well, they fainted.” My gaze slid between both men, letting the moment hang. Jackson wore his usual smugness. Max’s jaw was stone.
“Two: I’ve faked an orgasm.” The words landed heavily. I watched Jackson, waiting for his reaction, but it was Max who flinched.
“Three: I’ve been head over heels in love.” The last statement came out softer and more unguarded.
“The second’s the lie,” Jackson said immediately. “I’d know.”
Max’s eyes narrowed. “It’s the third. You’ve never been in love. I’d know.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a declaration, and the way he said it… like the thought of me loving someone else was a blade he wasn’t ready to take.
He was glaring at Jackson. Max had always been so competitive, and I was beginning to realize that the prize in this game was something I wasn’t ready to give up: myself.
“You’re wrong,” I said softly, looking at them. “The lie was the first.”
Jackson muttered something under his breath, clearly pissed. Max didn’t move, but I could feel his thoughts closing in on me.
“You’re serious?” He asked, his voice quiet. He had said it more for me, but everyone else could hear him.
I nodded once, not breaking eye contact. “I wouldn’t lie twice during two truths and a lie. That’s cheating.”
His gaze searched mine, eyes flicking from my mouth to my eyes and back again. I could practically feel the shift happening inside him.
“Like really in love?” He asked slowly.
“It’s obvious it’s me. Let’s move on,” Jackson said, sitting up straighter. “I dated her for a year.”
Max looked at Jackson with a fierce glare, full of anger. But as usual, Jackson was oblivious to the threat.
“I have to point out that, for the record, I have a huge dick, and Mackenzie would’ve never faked an orgasm with me. So not sure why she even made that an option,” Jackson added like an asshole.
Max’s jaw tightened the second Jackson mentioned us having sex.
“How would you even know if I faked it or not?” The words came out like a splinter.
Jackson’s eyes darkened, and he licked his lips as he looked at me.
“You came all over me, babe. I can still smell you, taste you.”
Max’s face twisted. He was about to blow up.
“Okay, Jesus. Max, you go next. I’m ready for my turn,” Heather said. “This is getting so boring.”
Max finally looked away from me, just enough to acknowledge Heather again. But his body was still angled toward me, as if I were a magnet he hadn’t decided to stop following.
He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.
“Alright.” His voice was steady, but it carried the weight of a war he was battling.
He was holding himself together, thinking about every word before speaking it.
It was as if he was choosing the right sentence to keep the character of the golden boy he played so well.
But underneath, I felt it, his desire to burn the mask away and be reckless, and uncharacteristically bad.
“First,” he said slowly. “I once broke my arm falling out of a tree trying to impress a girl.”
That got a laugh out of us. Even Jackson cracked a grin.
“Second,” Max continued, glancing at the ground now. “I’ve had the same best friend since I was twelve, and I’ve never once gotten tired of her.”
Max’s gaze slid to mine for half a second before moving on as if nothing had happened.
“Third,” he said, his voice barely above a murmur. “I think I’m in love with someone who makes me want to do insane things. Things I didn’t even know I’d like.”
No one laughed this time. A heavy silence settled over the group. I couldn’t sit still. My skin was buzzing, and my heart was hammering in my chest. Max’s words replayed in my head on a loop. I think I’m in love with someone who makes me want to do insane things. Things I didn’t even know I’d like.
“Which one is the lie?” he asked.
“It’s not the first one,” I said suddenly, cutting through the noise of the group’s guesses. My voice was steady, but inside I was a storm. “You did fall out of a tree during summer five, right after lunch.”
Max’s eyes locked on mine. His eyes held a look of soft surprise. He didn’t think I remembered.
“And the second truth?” I added a smile, tugging at the edge of my mouth. “You’ve never shut up about how much you love your best friend.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch, like he was trying not to smile.
“So,” I said, voice a little lower, more vulnerable now, “the third one is the lie. Right?”
I sensed the implosion before it happened. At first, it was a silent detonation, gradually spreading among the four of us like a bomb. And then, he took us all out one by one.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Jackson barked, sitting up so fast. “Are you serious, Mackenzie?”
“What?” I asked.
“He’s fucking talking about you. Are you seriously going to stand there and pretend you don’t get it?”
Jackson let out a bitter laugh, running a hand through his hair, eyes wild.
“God, of course. You always had this little thing, this… attachment to him. Always ditching me to call him on your fucking landline phone, laughing at his dumb jokes. And I was cool with it. I was chill.”
“Jackson…” I started, but he cut me off with a sharp, humorless grin.
“No, no, no. I get it now,” he said, his voice tipping from anger into something unstable. “You never even looked at me the way you look at him. I can finally see it now. And don’t try to deny it because everyone fucking sees it. I’m not stupid.”
I didn’t say anything. Max remained still beside me, eyes fixed straight ahead, jaw locked.
Jackson’s voice dropped, venomous and chilling now. “So, what is this? Some big reveal? After all these years, Max finally drops his pathetic little crush, and now we all have to clap for him?”
“Stop,” I said quietly, but he was spiraling further, fueled by bitterness and jealousy.
“He’s been in love with you since that first summer. Everyone knows it. I knew it. I just thought you were smart enough not to fall for it.”
“That’s uncalled for,” Max said. “We haven’t even finished the game, and you don’t know anything about me.”
“I’m fucking done with the game, bro,” Jackson snapped. He leaned forward, his smile twisting into something darker. “But don’t you hate it?”
“What?” Max said, fists clenched, tension thickening.
“That I fucked her first. That I was fucking her while you were talking every night.”
Max’s face soured, as if his soul was being torn apart.
“Ohhh… You’re so in love. It hurts, doesn’t it?” Jackson jeered, unhinged.
“Jackson, shut the fuck up,” I snapped, my voice trembling with rage. Jackson’s glare bore into me, his fists clenched tightly, as if he were about to wrap them around my neck.
I instinctively flinched, retreating from him. Max refused to look away from Jackson, but I caught the flicker of fear in his jaw and the raging fire in his eyes. He had seen me flinch.
“That mouth of yours ever stop running?” Max said, voice low and deadly as he scooted closer to me.
“Nope, Mackenzie keeps it busy,” Jackson smirked. “Or I guess not anymore. Just letting you know she sucks at giving head.”
“Funny. She had me moaning her name earlier while that sweet mouth was wrapped around my dick.”