Chapter 19
MAX
Ishouldn’t have walked away. The second Rhett opened his damn mouth about Heather, I knew I had lost control of myself, the situation, and Mackenzie.
I didn’t know what fucking game Rhett and Heather were playing, but I wasn’t in the mood for it.
Earlier, I was too busy trying to play hard to get with Mackenzie when Heather stepped in like she’d been waiting for us to implode all along.
“Hey,” she said, stepping in line with me before I could even open my mouth. “You heading to the lake?”
“Yeah.”
“You, okay?” Her voice was honey-sweet and fake.
“Fine.”
“You don’t look fine.” She tilted her head, all doe-eyed and manipulative sympathy. “Can I help you take your mind off her?”
That made me stop.
“Excuse me?”
Heather smiled, slow and knowing.
“I’m just saying… she’s not the only girl here. You’ve got options. I’m an option.” She reached out, her hand grazing my forearm. “If you want to forget about her, I can help with that.”
I yanked my arm away.
“I’m not interested.”
She blinked, taken aback. “What? I was just—”
“I’m not interested. I’ve never been interested.”
Her expression hardened instantly, like she’d been slapped. “Wow. Okay. You don’t have to be an asshole about it.”
“Listen, I wouldn’t have to be an asshole if you’d stop trying. I’m with Mackenzie, so drop it.”
Heather’s face twisted with anger and humiliation. “You think she’s gonna choose you? She’s fucked up, Max. Jackson has been telling me all about her and her life. And you’re going to end up just like every other idiot who tried to save her.”
I stepped in closer, furious.
“Say one more thing about her,” I said. “I fucking dare you.”
She flinched, but she didn’t back down.
“She’s going to break your heart.”
I didn’t answer. As soon as we got to the lake, I walked away from her. The worst part? Heather was right. Mackenzie was going to break my heart. But I was still all in.
But then Rhett ruined everything, and I completely fucked up. My anger took control, and things spiraled into chaos.
I went back to the cabin and picked up her journal. She hadn’t sketched anything in a while, and some selfish, fucked-up part of me hoped I was the reason.
But most of it wasn’t drawings, anyway. It was mainly tangled, messy thoughts. Some of it was her dreams, scattered nonsense I couldn’t make sense of. But then there were the parts about me—pages of them. What she wanted to do to me. What she hated about wanting me.
I lingered there too long, letting the words sink into my head.
I shouldn’t have. I was invading her privacy, again, but I needed it.
I needed to know if I was in her head the way she was in mine.
And for a second, I convinced myself she was because there was an excerpt that she had written about me. It was finally the truth.
Max, I love you.
I’ve loved you since the first summer when you stumbled over a canoe, trying to act like the bleeding didn’t happen. You were stubborn, hilarious, and too good at Capture the Flag.
You drove me crazy, even back then. But now? This isn’t just a crush. It’s waking up with you as my first thought. It’s watching you laugh at something completely unfunny, and wishing I could bottle that sound because I don’t know how many laughs I’ll have.
I want every single one of them.
Every moment I’m with you, I can finally breathe; every moment apart, I feel like I’m drowning. I love you in that terrifying way where I can’t breathe or look at anyone else. I want you. Even the dark parts. I love you so much. But I can’t tell you, and I hate that.
The words blurred, and suddenly, I felt weightless. I reread it.
Max, I love you.
Every part of me wanted to run through the woods and demand why the fuck she’d kept this from me, why she made me think I was the only one drowning in this. But I knew why. She thought that by not being honest with me, she was protecting her secret. But she was mine; she had always been.
A twisted relief flooded me. I began to laugh maniacally and unsettlingly, because I wasn’t insane. All the obsession, the way I couldn’t stop wanting her, it wasn’t one-sided. She wanted me the same way. I grinned, reveling in the sick truth I finally knew.
Because now? I wasn’t letting go. This was it, the moment.
She was mine. Not because I owned her, but because if I didn’t have her, I wouldn’t survive.
I wanted forever with her. And today? I wasn’t holding back anymore.
She wanted a knight in shining armor? Fine.
I’d be the only thing she craved. Maybe with a little dark edge, but I’d do it. I’d fucking do whatever she wanted.
As I made my way back, I was prepared. I was going to tell her that I knew everything. I was going to come clean, and we would live happily ever after. I almost skipped back to her.
But then I heard it. Her voice. Sharp, unsteady, trembling with a horrifying edge.
When I reached the lake, every fiber of my being screamed to run to her.
Mackenzie was soaked, water cascading from her hair onto the ground as she shrieked at Jackson.
I moved faster toward them, but stalling when her words sliced through the air with terrifying clarity.
I don’t think I’d ever been this angry in my life.
Not when I’d lost a game. Not when I’d gotten screwed over by coaches or teammates.
Nothing compared to this. Hearing the way Jackson had disrespected her and made her feel small, it was like someone had wrapped barbed wire around my chest and started pulling tighter.
She deserved better than that. She deserved someone who would worship every inch of her body, who would fuck her like she was sacred, and love her with every breath. And knowing he had tainted her with anything less than that? It made me want to break every bone in his body.
He lunged at her abruptly, his grip tightening around her upper arm. Mackenzie braced herself against his chest, struggling to push him back. Her face was contorted with fury, and something darker I recognized immediately. Fear.
When he made a pretend gun motion, that was it; everything turned red.
I stepped in front of her, my hand closing around his throat in a cold, brutal grip.
His neck was tiny, and I almost snapped it in half.
“Fucking walk away. Now.”
I ripped his hand from her, my grip bruising.
“Touch her again, and I’ll snap your neck and shatter your fucking jaw.”
I let go of his neck and shoved him hard, hard enough to make him stumble. The crack of the impact echoed between us as he fell to the ground.
He jerked upright with a cruel, vacant stare that made my skin crawl. My vision blurred into a tunnel, fixated on his face, and for the first time in my life, I truly understood what it meant to want to destroy someone.
I must’ve looked unhinged because even Mackenzie flinched.
“This is a private conversation between my girlfriend and me. Fuck off,” Jackson said, scrambling back onto his feet.
I don’t know what gave him the right to think he could even call her that.
“Ex-girlfriend,” I bit out, stepping forward until we were nose-to-nose. My voice dropped, the kind of sound that came from a place buried deep in my bones. “Don’t come near her again. Don’t fucking test me, Jackson.”
Jackson smirked, tilting his head slightly like he was amused. Like I was a game he was looking forward to playing.
“That’s not your decision… bro,” he said. “She’s mine. She always was. Why don’t you back the fuck off before I kill you?”
Jackson might have the devil’s smile, but the beast inside me? The one that had been locked away for years? He was ready to play ball.
I sneered.
Game on, you twisted bastard.
“I’d like to see you try. The only body they’ll be dragging out of the lake is yours,” I said flatly.
“Your death will be endless, brutal, and horrifying. The last thing you’ll remember as the water fills your lungs is my hands holding you down, and the cruel certainty that Mackenzie was always mine.
I will marry her. I will give her my babies. Not yours. Mine.”
It was settled. I was staking my claim on her, whether he liked it or not. I didn’t care if the entire camp heard.
“You’re finished. You don’t talk to her; you don’t even look at her.
You so much as breathe in her direction, and I’ll make sure you regret it every single day you’re still able to open your eyes.
You think you’re scary? Try me. I’ll rip the smirk off your face and make you choke on your teeth.
One wrong move, Max, and I’ll remind you exactly why you should have never touched her in the first place,” Jackson spat in my face.
I balled my fist and pressed it in the center of his chest, pushing him backward again.
Rage flickered in his eyes. I hope he swung first. I prayed for it.
“Okay, testosterone overload, cool it,” Mackenzie said, putting a hand on my chest. “No one’s killing anyone tonight without my say in it.”
“Careful, baby. If you want to be the ringmaster, people might wonder if Daddy passed on more than his eyes,” Jackson taunted.
Mackenzie’s face went pale.
“You threatening her now?” I asked, my voice deceptively calm.
Jackson’s lips curved. “Not a threat. Just a reminder of who she is. Deep down, you know it. You’ve always known. It didn’t take you long to figure it out, did it?”
Mackenzie was frozen next to me, and I could feel her eyes on the back of my head. Jackson had just royally fucked up everything. I moved closer to him, toe-to-toe, my rage barely simmering under my skin.
“Touch her again,” I said. “And you won’t have to worry about reminders. You’ll be lucky to fucking walk.”
Jackson’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t move.
“Hey, guys? Why don’t we play a game before you two kill each other?” Megan called from over near the water.
A campfire had started, and the group had now dispersed to a small number of us.