“How many girls, Max?” she snapped.
I didn’t answer right away. The silence said it enough.
I should’ve lied. I was fucking this all up now. I looked over at Jackson and watched as he greedily devoured it. This had been his plan all along.
“Yeah,Trouble,you thought you were ‘The One’?” he said mockingly.
“You have no business talking to her,” I snapped. “You cheated on her. Then you stalked her as if she were something you could hunt. Don’t think I don’t know about the messages; the ones you send at three in the morning. I’ve seen how you stand across the trail and watch for us. You don’t get to act like you know anything about this. You’re a fucking parasite. A psychopath who doesn’t understand ‘no’ unless it’s carved into you.”
“Oh, I stalked her, yeah? Why don’t you tell her about all your online activity?” he grinned.
Fuck.
“Okay… guys, stop it. Seriously. You’re ruining the game,” Megan said. “Here, everyone, Jell-O shot break.”
She handed out some Jell-O shots from the cooler, and we all started taking them. I managed about five before Mackenzie took two. I cracked open another beer, gulping it down so quickly theaftertaste felt unsettled on my tongue. I had to pause, my hands trembling slightly from the adrenaline.
Mackenzie finished her beer, her eyes flickering with something unspoken, as if she sensed the shift between us.
Before I knew it, I’d lost count of how much I’d drunk. My vision blurred, and disjointed voices echoed around the campfire. Everything around me seemed louder. I felt a sudden heat blaze through my body, the alcohol scorching my throat. We had been stuck in this ridiculous game for over an hour, and I was intoxicated, feeling reckless and numb, but also deeply unstable. My limbs felt heavy, my thoughts spiraling into chaos, my senses fraying at the edges as I lost my grip on reality.
And Mackenzie?
She was drunk. Not sloppy, but loose. Jackson was sitting next to her now, leaning into her like they were together. I was fucking spiraling watching the two of them because all I could think about was slitting his throat.
I grabbed her waist and pulled her in closer to me. Her head snapped up, and I could see it, the pure anger in her eyes. She pulled away from me.
She laughed loudly at something Megan said and avoided looking at me again. The alcohol only complicated things further.
“Alright—my turn!” Heather called. “Never have I ever given or gotten head at a party.”
I took a sip and looked away from Mackenzie.
“Wow,” she scoffed quietly. I noticed she hadn’t taken a sip of her beer, which thrilled me. I was a dick. But the thought of her doing anything with anyone pissed me off beyond belief.
“Mackenzie. It’s your turn,” Megan said.
Mackenzie stared at me, a subtle smirk on her lips. The expression in her eyes was crushing. She wanted to end me. I just wanted to stand up, take Mackenzie back to the cabin, and be the two of usagain.
Every single time I felt a resolve with us, like things were going to go our way, it all went to shit within minutes.
Mackenzie lifted her beer with a glint in her eye.
“Never have I ever… cum on someone’s face.”
The fire cracked as Mackenzie downed her entire beer, holding eye contact with me the whole time. She dropped the empty bottle to the ground, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Oh shit! Damn, Mackenzie!” Heather shrieked. “That’s the fucking energy we need!”
My vision went black.
I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t jealous. I was fucking feral; crazed; wrecked. My fingers clenched into fists in my lap, my nails carving crescents into my skin.
And before I could stop myself, the words came out.
“It wasn’t him, was it?”
The group fell quiet. My voice didn’t even sound human. It was pure gravel, the sound of someone about tosnap.
