Landon
T he other Knights had stayed to help clean up their cells, but as they gathered their things to go, only Max and I would remain to finish the rest.
Tristan and Josh offered to stay.
Ben had his foot out the door the minute Quinn solved the final clue. He had to see a man about a dog . Which had always been his insufferable way of saying he wanted to fuck some bitch . It had gotten him punched in the face more than once.
The urge to do it again rose, but this time, Max beat me to it.
“Shut your fucking mouth, Ben. Haven’t you run it enough?”
“What’s wrong, Maxie?” Ben laughed. “Still rocking a major case of blue balls because your girl won’t put out.”
Ben was pinned to the wall by his throat a split second later.
“Say that again. I fucking dare you.”
Ben’s eyes bulged a satisfying amount before Max released him. He crumpled to the floor like a marionette whose strings had been cut. And the idiot glared up at Max as he coughed and tried to catch his breath.
“Fuck you, Max Dread.”
Max clenched his fists at his side, but Ben didn’t know when to shut the fuck up.
“I’m glad I didn’t eliminate her when I had the chance. I hope you get fucked in the end.”
He scurried away before Max swung around to shut him up for good.
Disappointing, really.
Ben had been begging Max to kick his ass since high school. Since Max and Vivian had gotten together.
Awareness ticked in the back of my brain. Like a pen jotting down notes on a record I couldn’t find but always kept. It filed away these moments like data. Searching for trends and patterns. Hunting for connections.
The way my brain worked felt clearer now, even though I didn’t have all the answers. It didn’t stop until the world made sense.
And it tapped incessantly whenever Max Dread was around.
Peter, who’d been posing as a criminal, walked over to Max. “Vivian would never touch him.”
Max didn’t even spare him a glance. “Did I give the impression I was worried?”
Peter bristled but didn’t release Max’s shoulder. “With everything coming...I just thought you should know.”
My eyes narrowed, honing in reflexively as the tap, tap, tap drummed inside my head.
“Alright, everyone out!” Max barked at the remaining Knights. “Golden Boy and I will take it from here.”
I shrugged at Tristan and Josh, who’d been gearing up to help with the rest. “It’s all good, guys. We’ve got it.”
“We’ll see you in a few days, then. For the party?”
I nodded, and they both eyed Max before sharing a look. When they cleared out, it was just the two of us. And my plan to talk to him about Desi seemed like a wash.
Max gripped the broom so hard, the handle creaked like it might crack in half.
“You, uh…” I cleared my throat. “You good?”
He scoffed and shook his head. “Everyone seems real interested in my fucking feelings tonight, don’t they? I’d say it’s a nice change, but—What’s that they say? Too little, too fucking late?”
For someone acting like he didn’t want to talk about his feelings, Max Dread had just given me more than he’d shared before. “Did something happen, Max? With you, or…” I had to ask. “Is everything alright with Quinn?”
His fist clenched tighter.
“See. At least, you’re honest about her . I’ll give you that.” He skirted his gaze over his shoulder to glare in my direction, but it didn’t carry the same heat or malice. “That’s what you care about. You don’t pretend to give a shit about my feelings.”
“You’re right,” I said, but the words weren’t meant to hurt him, either. It just…was what it was. “But you matter to her, so…if something is going on with you that affects her, I?—”
“I don’t need a friend, Golden Boy.”
That struck me as something only someone needing a friend would say.
“Especially one that might stab me in the back to get what he wants.”
My hands tightened into fists, the urge to fight him rearing its head instinctively. But I focused on what Kingston had said the night before. Focused on the memory of his hand grasping my arm, and I trusted what he’d said.
“I’m willing to give you the truth if you want to hear it, Max.”
“I don’t want the truth from you.”
“So, you just want to hate me over what you think I did or didn’t do for the rest of our lives? Who does that help?”
He didn’t respond.
“You’re taunting me about something I don’t remember. But the things I do remember, I know you’re wrong. Fuck, I think you know you’re wrong. You just don’t want to hear it.”
“Maybe I don’t. Maybe I just want to do what I need to protect her and let the two of you fuck around doing whatever you are to make it worse. You take everything. Why should she be any different, right?”
“Can’t you see that hurts her?”
“Don’t pretend you care about that. If you did, Elaine?—”
“So, you’re saying you’d what?” I snapped. “Fuck Vivian to keep Quinn safe ? Give me a break.” And I scoffed as he showed me his back, moving to leave the cabin. “You’re so full of shit.”
Halfway toward the door, Max whipped back to face me. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me.” I shook my head. “You act like you’re better than me.
Like I made this unforgivable choice, but at the end of the day, we both picked her in the last challenge.
My choice just looked different from yours, because you got paired with her.
But me? Touching the girl who attacked her?
Who pinned her down while her head was forced under water?
You want to look me in the eye and say you would’ve fucked her to keep Quinn safe?
Touched her knowing how much that would hurt her after what we’d shared? ”
He said nothing, his eyes narrowing, and fury like I hadn’t experienced rose in my chest.
I scoffed. “If you really could’ve done that, then you don’t deserve her.”
Max’s jaw clenched. “No one said anything about fucking her. But I would’ve done what I had to do.
What you didn’t.” He stalked closer to me, shaking with repressed rage.
“That’s the problem, though, isn’t it? You need to be the White Knight .
The good guy on the right, no matter the cost on the left. ”
“No, I just think she should have a say in what happens to her.” When he got in my face, I didn’t back down. “She doesn’t need some wannabe hero swooping in to save the day.”
“But I’d look so good doing it, Golden Boy.” He shot me a wolfish grin, his teeth snapping as he eyed me up and down. “Is that the real issue?”
I had no idea what the fuck he was getting at, but I refused to be thrown off track. “She deserved a choice.”
He leaned in closer, dropping his voice to a low growl. “Sacrificing yourself for someone you love isn’t something I’d expect you to understand. But I’d rather her still be here—even if it was just to hate me—than be dead.”
“Oh, fuck you!” I spat out the venom his words dragged up. “It always comes back to that, and now you want to use it to justify this? Fuck you, and the high horse you rode in on, Dread.”
I glared at him as his jaw worked furiously, torn between saying more and maybe punching me in the face.
“You really do think that makes you some kind of hero? Breaking her heart to save the day, whether she wants it or not?”
He flicked his gaze over me, sneering like I was dirt. “It beats the alternative.”
“Yeah. I’m such an asshole. I tried—I did what you couldn’t, too. I fucking tried! But somehow, you know who I really am, right?”
“I do know who you are, Golden Boy.” He pushed back into the space I’d crowded, his chest knocking into mine. I refused to budge. “I know exactly what you’ve given up— who you’ve sacrificed to get what you want.”
“You know jack shit, asshole,” I growled. “But if you ever hurt her like that, I’ll be exactly who you think I am. I’ll kill you. Or hold you down so she can do it herself. She doesn’t need a goddamn hero, because she’s strong enough to save herself.”
He sneered down at me from an inch away, and my chest heaved with rage, refusing to budge.
“Is that what you told yourself about your mother, too?”