15. Maverick
Chapter 15
Maverick
The door swings shut behind Callie with a hollow thud, leaving nothing but the wet slap of water against the hot tub walls and the ragged sound of our breathing. For a second, neither of us moves. The whole fucking world tilts, spinning off its axis. I stare at the door like maybe she’ll come back, like maybe this isn’t as bad as it feels, but the empty stretch of space between us says otherwise.
The memory of the heat of her mouth still lingers, the ghost of her touch clinging to my skin like static. It’s not enough. It’ll never be enough.
Colt scrubs a hand down his face, water dripping from his jaw, his shoulders tight. “Great fucking job,” he mutters, voice sharp enough to cut.
My head snaps toward him, the burn rising in my chest before I can think better of it. “Me?” I bark out a humorless laugh, bitterness coating every syllable. “You’re the one she was straddling, man.”
His eyes flare. A muscle jumps in his jaw. “Fuck you, Kane.”
“Right back at you, Lawson.”
The anger between us isn’t new. It simmers, thick and hot and tangled with everything we never said. Not just about tonight. About everything. Years of distance. Misunderstandings. Watching her walk away and neither of us stopping her.
Colt hauls himself out of the hot tub, water pouring off him in angry sheets. “What the hell do we do now? Because I’m not letting her go.”
My stomach twists, sick and hollow but there’s no hesitation. “Yeah. Same.”
He scoffs, grabs his shirt and my sandals, already storming off. “Still trying to leave me behind. Still only thinking about your goddamn self.”
That tears through me. I lunge after him, grabbing his arm and forcing him to turn. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? You got some great idea?”
He yanks free but doesn’t keep walking. His chest heaves, jaw clenched. “Yeah. I do.”
I brace for a fight.
Instead, his voice drops, rough but sure. “I always knew.”
I blink. “Knew what?”
“Back when we were kids,” he says. “Before everything went to shit. It was supposed to be the three of us.”
I stare at him, breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my heart.
He meets my eyes, steady now. “It’s both of us, or we lose her.”
My jaw ticks, but I don’t look away. He means it. Every damn word.
And God help me, I don’t hate it. Not the way I should.
My chest is heaving, brain spinning out but one truth cuts clean through the noise:
If it means she stays…
If it means she’s happy…
Then I’ll live with it.
I nod, once. “You’re right.”
Colt’s eyes flick to mine, sharp with disbelief. Testing.
I shrug, breathless.
“It was always supposed to be us.”
I stay long after Colt leaves, eyes closed, jaw tight, letting the sting of chlorine burn through the fog of what just happened.
He said it out loud. The thing I didn’t even know I was holding on to. The thing I didn’t think we were allowed to want.
Both of us. With her.
It’s not something I ever imagined Colt Lawson saying. Not without a fight. Not without blood.
But he said it.
And now the world’s off its axis, like gravity has shifted, and I can’t tell which way is up.
The heat outside is stifling, thick against my skin, but it’s nothing compared to the pressure behind my ribs. Not guilt. Not relief. Just this hollow, echoing awareness that nothing will be the same after tonight.
I make it back to the motel somehow. Still moving, but barely processing.
Inside, I strip off my shirt and slide under the covers slowly, trying not to wake him.
He’s stretched out on his stomach, half-covered by a sheet, the neon motel sign casting sharp lines across his back. His muscles are tense even in sleep. Like he’s bracing for something.
I lie on my side, staring at the ceiling, every nerve wound tight.
Then my knee bumps his hand.
A quiet rustle. A low sound from his throat.
His fingers brush mine.
We freeze.
Not breathing. Not moving.
Just skin touching. Just heat shared between two people who haven’t been okay for a long time.
He doesn’t pull away.
Neither do I.
It lasts a second. Maybe two.
Then I shift. Roll to face the wall.
And lie there in the dark, wide-awake, every second stretching longer than the last.
Not sure what this means.
Not sure how to want something you were never supposed to have.
Not sure how to survive it.