Chapter 22 #2
He walked up to me and picked up the black wooden frame.
“I was sixteen and had won my one and only swim competition. I’ve always swum but never competed.
My friends, I use the term loosely, needed one more for their competition.
Each one would do a different event. So, I helped them out.
My parents snapped it after I’d gotten my sweats back on.
My, so-called, friends were excited I’d won, but they didn’t exactly invite me to the victory celebration.
After getting my medal, I left. My parents tried to convince me to stick around and talk to them, but I didn’t.
Honestly, part of the reason I did it was to see whether I could, not for them.
I’ve never gotten close with anyone, never wanted to.
I couldn’t afford to have my secret discovered.
Well, I tried once, had a serious boyfriend and everything.
I was in college. He snuck into my apartment and saw me shift, and he blackmailed me.
” Lifting his eyes to meet mine, he asked, “What makes you different?”
“I don’t want anything except you. I have money; I only want you.
” I closed the short distance between us and cupped his cheeks.
“Only you. I don’t care about my family, my supposed legacy, or what our ancestors may or may not have done to each other.
I only care about you, and I’m sorry for the reason I came.
I can’t change it, and I don’t know that I would.
If it hadn’t been for that ‘mission,’ I wouldn’t be here.
I’d probably be trying to find the library of Alexandria or something. ”
“Lorde, I want to trust you, I do, but, I’m?—”
Interrupting him, I said, “Don’t think about it. Do what you feel is right. You can trust me, and even if it takes my whole life, I’ll prove it to you.”
“Is that a proposal?” he smirked.
“Not yet.” I tilted his head slightly and slammed my mouth against his. Utopia. I’d dreamt of what it would feel like to press our lips together, our tongues trying to wrap around each other, and it was nothing like this. His taste, his warmth, I craved more.
Hands moved, clothes were removed, and I barely remember that because his touch ignited something within me. Tonight, I didn’t expect that we would kiss, strip each other, and fall into bed, but I also wasn’t going to stop it.
MAX
The first time I saw Lorde standing at the back of the room at the gala, I wanted him with a desperation I didn’t understand.
It was like our souls called out to each other and merged, if something like that was possible.
I felt whole around him, and I couldn’t believe it took my parents explaining who he was to me before I understood.
Looking back on it all, I should have known.
Whenever I was with him, a peace I’d never experienced before wrapped itself around me and held me close.
When we separated, I itched to see him again.
I became anxious, and I couldn’t settle.
I ignored it and chalked it up to lust and infatuation. How wrong I was.
After he spilled his guts by the pond and left, I stayed there for a few minutes before shifting and getting dressed.
The swan trusted every word he said, believed him explicitly, while I struggled.
My human side argued it wasn’t possible, yelling at the swan to see reason, that he was sent here to kill us.
It was then I was reminded of the multiple opportunities Lorde had been presented with, and he never followed through.
Our souls were linked, joined together by destiny.
I came back to the cabin and stood at the door, watching him.
He couldn’t sit still, and I softly chuckled.
Lying back, he popped up again. He shifted, his head turning this way and that.
And then he got up and moved over to my bookshelf.
Lorde’s hand reached out to touch something, but he jerked it back as if afraid.
Quietly, I entered, feeling settled because he was near.
“I was sixteen.” I’d never really been close to anyone throughout my life, but at sixteen, I had taken a chance.
It backfired. I told him about me only joining and racing to see if I could, but it wasn’t entirely true.
I wanted to try to make friends. Fizz said I would be a better person if I had some.
I didn’t think I was necessarily bad, but I wasn’t super social either.
The captain of the makeshift team, Peter, pulled everyone except me to the side and announced there would be a victory party at his house.
His gaze darted toward me, and I pretended not to be listening when he continued in low tones, “Don’t spread the word and don’t mention it to Max. ” No one spoke up for me.
I was popular in school. Students of all genders and ages wanted to be seen with me, but that’s where it ended.
Outside of those hallowed halls, I didn’t get a lot of invites to attend parties or whatever else they did.
If someone asked me out, it was more about the status that could come with dating one of the wealthiest and most popular kids in school. Fuck that shit.
Lorde was different. Not only was he good-looking and smart, but I could talk to him, and he wanted to talk to me. Our lunch was one of the most enjoyable times I’d ever spent around anyone else. My mate.
But I was still afraid. “Lorde, I want to trust you, I do, but, I’m?—”
He cut me off, not allowing me to finish that sentence. “Don’t think about it. Do what you feel is right. You can trust me, and even if it takes my whole life, I’ll prove it to you.”
“Is that a proposal?” I teased, but his words unlocked that final door within me, and I hoped to god, I wasn’t going to regret it.
“Not yet,” he whispered right before he kissed me, and holy fuck, I was on fire.
In a split second, everything changed. I came back to talk, to maybe work things out to see if I could trust him, and now I couldn’t get close enough to him.
Perhaps this would be a mistake I would regret in the morning, but as we stumbled down the hall to my bedroom, I couldn’t care less because no matter what happened, I would have this night.
I did what he told me to do. I did what felt right and took that leap of faith.