Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
When I arrived at Subterfuge training, Max was ready for me.
He pointed to a completely unflattering, black plastic jumpsuit. “Get dressed.” Then he walked out.
A note pinned to the garment said to wear it and meet him outside, so he hadn’t been planning to talk to me at all.
Fine. If he wanted to be like that, that was just fine.
I had a plan.
After stripping down to my underwear, I put the outfit on wearing nothing else. His instructions hadn’t said to wear it over my workout gear.
So, once again, he had no one to blame but himself.
The plastic irritated my skin, but I met Max outside.
He’d removed his hoodie and wore a black long-sleeved shirt with black pants that fit his body like a glove. Even his goddamn abs were visible through his shirt, and when he caught me tracing them with my eyes, he snapped his fingers.
My head shot up.
He pointed at the trees beyond the estate. “Run.”
I blinked in response. “Sorry, what?”
Pinching the outfit, I pulled it away from my skin.
Max narrowed his eyes on my hand. “Your training. You run into the forest and hide. If I find you, you lose.”
I muttered under my breath, “That’s not the phrasing you’re looking for.”
“If you don’t want to take this seriously,” he sighed. “If you’re looking for a way out because it’s too much for you and you don’t want to win, then quit. It’s my job to give you skills you need for the Final Trial, not deal with you being a brat.”
I scoffed. “Oh, please! So, what? You storming out of our sessions is you doing your job?”
“If you’re just here to get through to me.” He scoffed a laugh. “Thinking there’s hope for us or whatever lame girl shit you’ve cooked up in your head, I can’t do what I need to do.”
Gritting my teeth, I refused to take that bait.
He didn’t need me to respond. “If all you want is answers, then I’m out. I won’t keep talking to someone who won’t listen or hear me.”
I flinched at his words.
He studied my reaction.
While I thought through my options, the silence between us grew more uncomfortable. Sweat built at my temples, and I rocked back on my heels. The plastic potato sack he’d given me to wear rubbed against my skin, and I regretted my evil plans the longer we stood there.
But if my choices were letting go of my hope, what he so rudely kept calling my need for answers, or continuing to push for the truth, I’d already decided to fight for him.
Still, I hated the way he’d said that. Like no matter which path I took, I’d lose. I wanted to find a way around admitting it, so he wouldn’t run off immediately.
Luckily, my discomfort outgrew my hesitancy to speak.
“Oh my god. This thing is awful, Max.”
I cracked and dragged the zipper down, needing air on my skin more than I cared about anything else.
Like my naked body underneath.
Or the zipper being at the front of my jumpsuit.
So, while I hadn’t intended to go with risqué outfits and my naked body unless I ran out of options, fate had intervened.
I flashed him as soon as I unzipped it.
As far as unintended consequences of my own actions went, this one worked out in my favor.
Max growled. “Why the fuck are you naked?”
Spinning away from him, I fanned the open flaps of the jumpsuit to create a breeze. “Your instructions were unclear.”
I didn’t intend for my hasty explanation to be snarky, but I couldn’t think past the overwhelming itchiness.
Even as the cool air brought relief to my skin, I couldn’t imagine running, or hiding, while wearing the uncomfortable trash bag. “I need to go change. This is making my skin crawl.”
“No,” he snapped.
I whipped around, glaring at him. “Max, come on. Don’t be an ass.”
He leaned forward, a wolfish grin curving his lips.
My temper flared even as my core tightened. No matter how my feelings for him had grown, no matter how much I wanted him, I’d always want to smack that look off his face.
“We all make choices, Quinn. And we have to live with them. You don’t want the consequences of yours?” He stared me down, punctuating each word as he said it. “Make. Better. Choices. Be smart, instead of reckless.”
“I’m sorry, but this coming from the guy who recently declared his longtime love for Vivian?”
I snorted, although a part of me had to admit he was right about my rash behavior. The part that wanted to rip the jumpsuit off my body and dive into the lake.
“Forgive me if I don’t rush to take your advice, Max.”
He remained impassive, his eyes flicking down to his watch. “You have two minutes.”
I didn’t budge.
“Oh, and if you lose, you wear that again tomorrow.”
My jaw dropped. Indignation rising, I glared at him and stomped toward the tree line. My outfit squeaked and rustled with every step I took, so it was useless in more ways than one. And I couldn’t get rid of the sensation making my skin burn, no matter how much air I forced inside it.
When I reached the trees, I glanced back at Max.
He had his eyes trained on me, and even though he tried to act surly about it, he couldn’t fool me as he tapped his wrist and feigned indifference. “Sixty seconds.”
I stared at the woods and reluctantly trudged into them.
While broadcasting my every move, my discomfort peaked. I ducked behind a fallen log, the first place he’d look, before pushing to my feet to search for a better place to hide.
I tried to think.
Max had to suspect that we’d go straight in and do what I just did, so I needed to do something he wouldn’t expect.
I needed to outsmart him.
Replaying his instructions, I searched for a loophole.
He’d said I had to run into the forest wearing the outfit. He hadn’t said I needed to stay in the forest.
Or the outfit.
When I heard him call out, announcing his hunt had begun, I ran at a diagonal for where the trees met the lake.
As soon as I reached the edge of the forest, his footsteps trudged through the brush, alerting me he grew closer, but unless my ears were deceiving me, he was still in the center.
That changed the second I took another step, and the trash bag I had on crinkled.
“Fuck this.”
I ripped the damn thing off, leaving it in a crumpled ball at my feet as I stepped out of it.
Then I walked straight into the lake.
The itchy sensation on my skin eased, and I tried to wade slowly, hoping to splash as little as possible.
But the relief made it hard not to dive deeper.
When the water reached my neck, I turned back to face the trees. I couldn’t see any sign of Max, and I couldn’t hear him. Worse, he’d see me the second he stepped out of the trees if I didn’t find a place to hide.
Ducking under the water, I swam along the shoreline. I went as far as my lungs would carry me, which wasn’t very far at all, and I resurfaced as slowly as I could.
Gasping for air, I gulped down a few rapid inhales.
As soon as I caught my breath, I dove again.
Up ahead, a line of rocks ran down from the trees to meet the water, perpendicular to the shore. Squinting at them, they appeared to have been placed there strategically.
I made out a space between them where I could hide. From where I treaded water, I couldn’t tell for sure, but it was the only hiding place I’d found so far.
I dove under the water and swam toward it, so intent on my new pursuit, I lost awareness of my surroundings.
As I reached the rocks, a large hand clamped down on the back of my neck. Max hauled me up and out of the lake.
Water splashed as I flailed, fighting to escape his hold.
He banded his arms around my upper body, pinning mine to my sides and covering my breasts.
His chest heaved as he seethed against me. And his grip—so tight it forced the air from my lungs—trembled.
I didn’t know if it was rage or my nearly naked body pressed against him that caused it.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” he growled, his voice rising. “How fucking—This is reckless! Even for you!”
Okay. It was just rage, then.
But I could work with that.
“Well! What the hell do you expect, Max?”
I struggled against him, but he only held me tighter.
“I’m trying to get through to you, you big, dumb idiot! And you’re being fucking impossible, as usual!”
He walked us out of the water, keeping my body pinned.
No amount of kicking my legs—no growls of my own—got him to loosen his hold.
When I rammed my heel back into his shin, he groaned, but he still didn’t let me go.
Hurting him only made me feel worse, but since he was the one being completely unreasonable, my guilt pissed me off. “Ugh! Why do you have to be such a—You stubborn brute!”
I didn’t care how loud my voice was. I didn’t care if he was right, or if fighting like this was reckless. I needed something—anything—to prove I wasn’t fighting in vain.
“You don’t need to do that!” he shouted. “I told you—”
“I don’t care what you told me!”
He adjusted his grip and clamped his hand over my mouth.
Dragging me back into the trees, he waited until they shrouded us to set me on my feet.
Still, he didn’t let me go.
Spinning me around, he locked me in his arms.
Pressed tightly against his chest, I shivered. But it had nothing to do with my lack of clothes or the lake water soaking my hair and dripping off my skin.
It was him.
Every inch of me that touched him burned. As if I’d spiked a fever, chills rippled over my flesh. And the fire between us blazed hotter the longer he held me.
He stared at my face, searching my features. His nostrils flared as he seethed his outrage. Then, finally, he ran his gaze over every part of my body.
His eyes blazed.
Within the onyx depths, fury warred with so much more, and I couldn’t stop myself from fighting harder.
“Max, please—” I begged. “Just do it.”
He clenched his jaw. “Stop.”
“I can’t.” My teeth chattered, and my vision blurred. “You can’t either. I know you can’t. So, just do it. Please, Max. Give us what we both want.”
He wanted to pretend he didn’t want me? That I was just a toy he’d played with? That none of it meant anything when we both knew everything had changed between us?
Fuck. That.
“Max—”
“I said, no!”
He released me, his arms dropping from around me. Trying to put space between us, he practically tripped backward. He ripped off his shirt and threw it at me. It landed with a wet thunk at my feet, but I didn’t move to pick it up.
“Get. Dressed.” He spat out the words, pointing at the soaked T-shirt. “Now.”
As I opened my mouth to argue, he rushed forward, clamping a hand over it.
“No.”
My eyes widened as he cut off my air, jumping between his as he stared down at me with so much fury it pierced through me like hatred.
“I’m getting engaged at the party, Quinn. It’s over.”
I froze.
His hand slid away from my lips.
My voice trembled. “You’re getting engaged at the party?”
He narrowed his gaze as he stepped away from me, shaking his head, as if the sheer stupidity of my question had blown his mind. “Vivian’s parents are coming early to announce it. We decided to move it up.”
I stepped toward him, but he held out his hand.
Staring down at me, he made it painfully clear I needed to stay away. “Continuing to pursue me like this isn’t appropriate. It’s not something I want. I said, no.”
No.
“Max—” I lifted my hands, unsure if it was an apology or an attempt to reach him. Maybe both. “Max, I—”
“It’s over. Can you please accept that so you don’t cause any more problems?”
His harsh stare hurt more than his closed-off posture or his words. Whether he was mad at me or at the situation they must have forced him into, either way, I’d caused the reaction.
“I didn’t mean—” I shook my head, stepping toward him. “I didn’t know that would happen.”
He took a wide step back. “Yeah, well. Now, you do.”
His icy tone, the judgment in his eyes, and the way he scolded me—it should’ve made me indignant.
But it only filled me with shame.
Because my fire always matched his. It flared to meet his passion, whether it was rage, frustration, or something more. And this time, there was no heat in his words.
He was cold.
Stating what he wanted clearly, he wasn’t fighting with me. Only trying to make me face the truth.
I hid my face, head bowed as tears slipped down my cheeks.
He stood there for a second, and I couldn’t look up.
Then he walked away.
Somehow, I returned to Camelot Courtyard.
I walked in a daze, pulling out of it only when I passed Morgan on my way and she called out to me.
“Hey, Quinn! Thanks for the tip on Kingston.”
I blinked a few times, clearing the blur of tears and focusing on her. “Did he have what you needed?”
“Not exactly, but he sent me to the only other place we’d been with art supplies, so he still helped.” She winked, and I filed that information away for later. “Did you get what you needed from Max?”
Numbly, I shook my head.
I’d gotten the exact opposite, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Especially when I realized I’d gotten so caught up trying to get answers out of him, I forgot to get a clue while I was at it.
Tears filled my eyes, and I hastily swiped them away.
Her brow creased with concern. “What happened? Did he do something? Quinn, if something—”
I forced a smile. “I’m fine. You need to get moving on your next clue. Don’t worry about me.”
“Are you sure?” She eyed me warily. “He has a reputation, Quinn, and things don’t change unless we speak up.”
“Oh god, no! It’s nothing like that, Morgan, I promise. Whatever you’ve heard, Max isn’t like that.”
She touched my arm. “I’m here if you need a friend, okay? If anyone ever crosses a line, you can always say something to me.”
Exhausted—mentally, physically, and emotionally—I nodded. “Thank you.”