Max Dread
Q uinn Everly blissed out from an orgasm at my hands was quickly becoming one of my favorite things.
It was like witnessing a tug of war, her fiery nature warring with the urge to sink into the calm.
Relaxing wasn’t a habit of hers. Except when her nose was buried in a book. She’d read that worn copy of The Princess Bride for hours, and a smile crept over my face as I thought about how she’d read it to me.
I’d spotted it in her bag earlier while leaving a little...gift. Because I’d heard what she said.
And I saw her the way she saw me.
Her shrewd gaze cut around the room, assessing while she fought not to fidget.
Quinn Everly sitting in a room with a very small toy between her cheeks?
That jumped to the top of my favorites list at record speed.
“Have I mentioned I hate this?”
“The, uh…” I darted my gaze down.
“Surprisingly, no.” She squirmed in her seat, and my cock stirred. “Not ideal at the moment, since you’re a sadist, but it’s…just different.”
“Good different?”
“Yeah.” She blushed. “Good different.”
I would’ve smirked, but the huge shit-eating grin on my face prevented it. That she’d even asked to try out the plug still blew my fucking mind.
Sure, I’d made jokes. Alluded to experience I didn’t have while I made dark promises. But what could I say?
Her big, brown eyes feigning disinterest as they’d filled with curiosity had been an irresistible sight. One I wanted to provoke for eternity.
And it had nothing on the way she’d stared at me from the bed. Nothing on the excitement in her body. The vulnerability in her expression, and fucking trust in her gaze.
She caught the sappy smile on my face and returned it. Like a beacon of light in the middle of a godforsaken bleak day.
“I was complaining about being stuck in this room while we wait for the others to get here. Not that the room did anything, it’s just…”
She couldn’t explain it, but it didn’t matter. My eyes jumped to the photos on the wall. I hated this room, too.
Hated the reminders.
“It’ll be over before you know it. Just close your eyes and think of England or some shit.”
“That’s what they say for losing your virginity, Max. Not sitting through another challenge intro for The Quest.”
“Oh.” I frowned, wondering how the fuck that made sense. “Well, then, don’t do that. Just grit your teeth and bear it.”
“That also sounds sexual,” she muttered. “Do you mean, grin and bear it?”
“Sure. Go with that.”
She huffed, fidgeting again, and I wanted to distract her.
But the faint crunch of tires on gravel pricked my ears.
My attention rooted on the driveway, and I scanned the front lawn from the sitting room window.
Everyone was about to arrive.
And the urge to leave Camelot Court clawed my throat.
I’d been itching to ditch the room as soon as I saw the pictures on the wall. Now, combined with its proximity to the driveway, I wanted out. “Can’t we just wait in the parlor? Or Camelot Courtyard, I could show you that?”
She eyed me from her spot on the horrendous purple couch.
Because, of course, Kingston picked the ugliest shade of my color for his accent furniture.
“What’s up with you?” She sat up straight and scrutinized me. “Why are you all jittery and weird right now? Normally, after we fool around, you’re like a marshmallow smooshed between two graham crackers. What gives?”
“It’s nothing.”
My eyes darted between the front lawn and the photos on the wall again, as if my body was actively trying to point out I was a fucking liar. Not that Quinn needed the clues. She’d figure it out in a minute or two, at least, the reason for my restlessness in the room.
She didn’t know about the one coming.
And I planned to keep it that way. That secret?—
It had to stay in the dark.
Her eyes snagged on the photos before I tore mine away. “Max, I wish you would talk to me about what happened.”
“I can’t.”
She threw up her hands like she had no idea what to do, which made two of us, before her shoulders sagged with defeat. And I felt like an asshole.
“The three of you wear guilt and secrets like armor. Thinking it’ll protect you when all it does is weigh you down.”
I forced myself to sit beside her, the effort of being still nearly overwhelming me, and I took her hand.
“At the end of The Quest, the winner is tested to make sure she didn’t have help getting to the end. I’m not supposed to tell you that, but…since you’re so fucking stubborn,” I teased, softening the words because I loved that about her.
Fuck. I was pretty sure I was falling in love with her.
And since the only thing I’d ever seen of love was how it destroyed the people it claimed to cherish, the last thing I wanted was to bring her into all that with me.
But my example had been spoiled. Rotten to its core. And it wasn’t always like that. Bill and Diane had shown me it could be different.
Sometimes love made us stronger. Braver.
It pushed us to new heights, places we’d been afraid to reach. And it pulled us back from the darkness.
Something worth every sacrifice.
The second Quinn Everly crossed the threshold at Camelot Court and entered the Round Tableau, I realized it. She had what none of us did, because she came from an un-charmed life.
Because she’d been loved.
And I’d wanted to know what that felt like.
When I thought she hadn’t been meant for me, I’d hated it. Denied she meant anything. Sworn she’d be a pawn, but I’d stopped lying to myself. And I’d be a damn hypocrite if I pushed her to face her truth without doing the same with mine.
Which meant I had to do the hard thing. The brave thing. The one that scared me. Maybe not with everything yet, and hopefully never with one secret.
But with this, I had to give her something .
I thumbed her bottom lip. The one she’d pushed out when I called her stubborn, while her wheels turned over what I said. When her eyes met mine, old fears about me haunted their depths, and I wanted them gone.
So, I gave her the truth I’d been trying not to accept.
The bitter pill I’d been slowly forcing myself to swallow.
“Last year, I knew something bad was going to happen before it did.” When her eyes widened, I released a heavy breath. “I didn’t—I should’ve saved her myself, but I didn’t.”
Her expression softened, sympathy extending her free hand toward me.
“At the end of the day, whatever your Golden Boy did or didn’t do, yeah, I hate him for that. But I hate myself more. For not believing I could do something about it.”
“Oh, Max…”
“It was just after—” I swallowed. “Bill. His surgery. It got to me. I couldn’t help him, so.”
I shrugged, refusing to think about it more than that.
“That’s the truth, Princess. And I’m not sure how to stop hating Landon for not saving her, when I still hate myself for putting the responsibility in his hands in the first place.”
“But Max, neither?—”
“Please don’t.”
I shook my head and stood up, not wanting absolution when she didn’t know everything. When she didn’t know how easy it would’ve been for me to go instead of him.
Or how easy it would’ve been to save her if he’d just believed me and fucking tried .
“Don’t say that until you know the whole story. Ask me to forgive myself—forgive him—when you’re sure we deserve it.”
Her features crumpled as I walked to the doorway, and her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry, I just—I need some air. I’ll be back, alright?”
She sniffled and wiped her face on her sleeve, putting on a brave one as she tried to sort out how to get through to me.
And I wanted to give her what she wanted, but some things couldn’t be undone. That girl—Desi—she died because I trusted him. That part was on me.
But Landon Scott had no reason to hate me. No reason not to trust me. Not with something like that.
He’d stood by and played the White Knight, loyal to a fault, while I’d been the villain. The outcast.
The one not good enough to be where he stood.
He’d taken everything, and he hated me anyway.
So, I hated him for that.
And I hated myself for believing the place he’d earned made him better than me somehow. Hated myself for not believing I’d been enough.
I couldn’t pretend that was gone, and how could I ask her to love me with that hanging over my head?
Especially when it wasn’t even the worst thing in my past.
No, that regret approached the second I stepped outside, the limo pulling up right as I walked through the front doors and heard them shut behind me.
I wanted to turn back around, but it was too late.
She’d only come after me.
And I had to keep her as far away from Quinn as possible.
Better to get this over with now.
As the driver opened the passenger door, I leaned against the side of the house and waited. One hand shoved into the pocket of my jeans. The other clenched into a fist at my side to hide the tremor I couldn’t suppress.
A familiar feeling coursed through my body, palms slicking with sweat as anxiety bled through my skin.
“Aww.” The bitch preened as soon as she climbed out of the car. “You came to greet me. How sweet.”
She lifted the bug-like black sunglasses off her face, revealing glacial blue eyes I despised with every fiber of my being. The ones that haunted my memories.
The ones I saw in my nightmares.
And every single fucking time I stared at her goddamn mini-me.
Even though it would cost me, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Why the fuck are you here, Victoria?”
Her cruel smile turned my insides to ash.
“Oh, I’m just dropping off the crown jewels. But…you didn’t think I’d miss the chance to wish you a belated happy birthday?”
She tongued her cheek as she examined her claws before she lifted her eyes to mine and smirked.
“Did you, Maxie?”