I didn’t answer. As soon as we got to the lake, I walked away from her. The worst part? Heather was right. Mackenzie was going to break my heart. But I was still all in.
But then Rhett ruined everything, and I completely fucked up. My anger took control, and things spiraled into chaos.
I went back to the cabin and picked up her journal. She hadn’t sketched anything in a while, and some selfish, fucked-up part of me hoped I was the reason.
But most of it wasn’t drawings, anyway. It was mainly tangled, messy thoughts. Some of it was her dreams, scattered nonsense I couldn’t make sense of. But then there were the parts about me—pages of them. What she wanted to do to me. What she hated about wanting me.
I lingered there too long, letting the words sink into my head. I shouldn’t have. I was invading her privacy,again,but I needed it. I needed to know if I was in her head the way she was inmine. And for a second, I convinced myself she was because there was an excerpt that she had written about me. It was finally the truth.
Max, I love you.
I’ve loved you since the first summer when you stumbled over a canoe, trying to act like the bleeding didn’t happen. You were stubborn, hilarious, and too good at Capture the Flag.
You drove me crazy, even back then. But now? This isn’t just a crush. It’s waking up with you as my first thought. It’s watching you laugh at something completely unfunny, and wishing I could bottle that sound because I don’t know how many laughs I’ll have.
I want every single one of them.
Every moment I’m with you, I can finally breathe; every moment apart, I feel like I’m drowning. I love you in that terrifying way where I can’t breathe or look at anyone else. I want you. Even the dark parts. I love you so much. But I can’t tell you, and I hate that.
The words blurred, and suddenly, I felt weightless. I reread it.
Max, I love you.
Every part of me wanted to run through the woodsand demand why the fuck she’d kept this from me, why she made me think I was the only one drowning in this. But I knew why. She thought that by not being honest with me, she was protecting her secret. But she was mine; she had always been.
A twisted relief flooded me. I began to laugh maniacally and unsettlingly, because I wasn’t insane. All the obsession, the way I couldn’t stop wanting her, it wasn’t one-sided. She wanted me the same way. I grinned, reveling in the sick truth I finally knew.
Because now? I wasn’t letting go. This was it, the moment. She was mine. Not because I owned her, but because if I didn’t have her, I wouldn’t survive. I wanted forever with her. And today? I wasn’t holding back anymore. She wanted a knight in shining armor? Fine. I’d be the only thing she craved. Maybe with a little dark edge, but I’d do it. I’d fucking do whatever she wanted.
As I made my way back, I was prepared. I was going to tell her that I knew everything. I was going to come clean, and we would live happily ever after. I almost skipped back to her.
But then I heard it. Her voice. Sharp, unsteady, trembling with a horrifying edge. When I reached the lake, every fiber of my being screamed to run to her. Mackenzie was soaked, water cascading from her hair onto the ground as she shrieked at Jackson. I moved faster toward them, but stalling when her words sliced through the air with terrifying clarity.
I don’t think I’d ever been this angry in my life. Not when I’d lost a game. Not when I’d gotten screwed over by coaches or teammates. Nothing compared to this. Hearing the way Jackson had disrespected her and made her feel small, it was like someone had wrapped barbed wire around my chest and started pulling tighter.
She deserved better than that. She deserved someone who would worship every inch of her body, who would fuck her like she was sacred, and love her with every breath. And knowing hehad tainted her with anything less than that? It made me want to break every bone in his body.
He lunged at her abruptly, his grip tightening around her upper arm. Mackenzie braced herself against his chest, struggling to push him back. Her face was contorted with fury, and something darker I recognized immediately. Fear.
When he made a pretend gun motion, that was it; everything turned red.
I stepped in front of her, my hand closing around his throat in a cold, brutal grip.
His neck was tiny, and I almost snapped it in half.
“Fucking walk away. Now.”
I ripped his hand from her, my grip bruising.
“Touch her again, and I’ll snap your neck and shatter your fucking jaw.”
I let go of his neck and shoved him hard, hard enough to make him stumble. The crack of the impact echoed between us as he fell to the ground.
He jerked upright with a cruel, vacant stare that made my skin crawl. My vision blurred into a tunnel, fixated on his face, and for the first time in my life, I truly understood what it meant to want to destroy someone.
I must’ve looked unhinged because even Mackenzie flinched.
“This is a private conversation between my girlfriend and me. Fuck off,” Jackson said, scrambling back onto his feet.
