Chapter 24
MAVERICK
I hit the sidewalk at a run, my heart exploding in my chest.
Yesterday had been…amazing. Between the purple belt and Boone kissing me, coming with me, I felt like, for the first time, I actually had something that was mine. The beginning of something special.
Then I had such a good conversation with Pauly that I’d foolishly allowed myself to think I was building a life I could be proud of.
The car unlocks automatically as I approach—because I’m wearing the bracelet my dad had to make for me, so I’d stop losing my keys—and Boone shouts, “Rune! Wait!”
He quickly makes up the distance between us, breathless as he approaches.
“My name is Maverick,” I remind him, opening the driver’s side door. “And you’ve been lying to me.”
Boone looks stricken. Good.
He starts to nod, and Hopper joins us.
The resemblance is so obvious now.
I really am very stupid.
But…why?
So many thoughts hit me all at once that the words stall on my tongue.
“Is that why you finally slept with me? Because you knew you were going to do this?”
Guess I do have the words after all.
“Absolutely not,” Boone rushes to say, eyes swinging between Hopper and me. “You make all of this so much more complicated.”
Ouch.
Fucking…ouch.
With this level of notoriety and money comes people who pretend to be your friend or your lover just for clout.
That, I’m used to. He could’ve said he used me to get to Hopper, and I would’ve gotten it.
But the worst thing he could’ve said in this moment, the absolute worst thing he could’ve said, is that I’m the complication.
Because I’m always the complication.
For my parents.
For my teachers.
For my friends.
For my lovers.
No one needs a headache like me.
Boone reaches for me, and I slap his hand away. He pulls it back and looks at me, stunned.
A jiu-jitsu slap is no fucking joke.
“Sorry I’m so complicated,” I spit out, the words bitter on my tongue. “Let me simplify it for you.”
I slip into my car and slam the door shut while I punch the Start button.
The motor purrs, and I hit the gas. The takeoff is smooth, whisper-quiet, and I’m at the stop sign before either of them has a chance to react.
A text from Liam appears on my in-dash screen.
Liam: I’m so sorry. I forgot I asked you to drop off food.
Because otherwise you’d’ve never told me.
I turn off the display and silence my phone. I don’t wanna talk to any-fucking-body right now.
By the time I hit the frontage road, I realize how easy it is for anyone in my family to find me.
I’m surrounded by tech; probably got half a dozen satellites on me.
I turn onto a side street and park on a tree-lined avenue with tons of cars.
The bracelet and phone are easy enough to toss into the cup holder, but I turn back and leave my wallet behind as well.
I wore sensible trainers for the concrete flooring at the foundry, and I quickly decide that’s the only mode of transportation I need. And then I curse my fucking existence because even my shoes have trackers in them.
I sit on the curb, take off one shoe, and lift the insole, revealing a wafer-thin disk about a quarter inch in diameter. I peel that off and repeat the process on the other shoe. People are starting to look. My reality is that someone is eventually going to recognize me, so I get moving.
After taking the long way around and doubling back a few times, I make my way to Taylor’s apartment. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t moved out yet, and I know she’ll let me hang with her until I can figure my shit out.
She opens the door, her eyes wide. “Maverick? Are you okay? Why does it look like you jogged here?”
I let myself into her apartment, and there are moving boxes everywhere. “Because I jogged here.”
“Make yourself at home,” she cracks, gesturing at her old recliner, the only piece of furniture not packed away. Her face quickly goes serious again. “Did something happen?”
I drop onto the recliner and put my head between my knees. “Remember the hot cop who arrested me?”
“Yes. Mostly because you haven’t acknowledged my existence since then.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
I take several more deep breaths, willing my heart rate to come down out of the ceiling.
“I take it all of your pining finally led somewhere? Or didn’t?”
“Mostly or didn’t.”
“What happened?”
“He lied about who he was to get close to someone else in my family.”
Even now, I’m keeping secrets.
“So, basically, every man you’ve ever been interested in.”
“This isn’t every man. This is the man. The one I’ve been in love with since I was fifteen. And he’s just as bad as the rest of them.”
Her doorbell goes off, and I startle. “Were you expecting someone?”
“I’ve got a date.” She looks longingly at her front door. “I can cancel it…”
I shake my head. “Absolutely not. I just need a place to think.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you need. I’m probably not coming back until tomorrow morning at the earliest, but you know where I keep the food and the weed.”
“Thank you. I’ll replace anything I consume, and I’ll probably go back home in the morning.”
“Nah, whatever you take’ll be one less thing to move. But you know this means I’ll have questions when I get back, right?”
“I fucking hope to have answers when you do.”
She hugs me tight, then takes off.
I look around the boxed-up apartment. With no phone and no TV, the hours stretch out ahead of me, long and lonely.