Mackenzie seemed utterly unfazed by the tantrum I was about to throw. She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, McKinnon.”
Ah.McKinnon.
She only used my last name when she was mad at me. I twisted the beer bottle in my hand, messing with the paper wrapper on the side.
“Cute. Practicing your last name?”
She smiled, but it was malicious.
“Don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard about it. That’s a pipe dream.”
“Mmm… okay. Well, here’s something for you to think hard about,” I leaned forward slightly, my entire body tight, my stare locked on hers like a sniper. “You can hate me. You can lie to yourself. You can even fuck somebody else. But you’ll never belong to anyone but me. Not really. Not ever. This fake relationship is now officially real, so don’t fuck with me.”
She scoffed, but I saw it, the flicker of hesitation in her eyes. That split-second where the air lingered heavy between us shifted from playful to dangerous. And then Jackson, the fucking ghost of every bad decision, opened his mouth.
“Still dreaming about her, huh, Max? Shame you’ll never know what it’s like to have her screaming with her thighs locked around your face.” He leaned back on his palms. “It gets me hard just thinking about it.”
And there it was.
Fuck this.Fuck. This.
My entire body screamed to move, to do something—throw him into the fire, drag her into the darkness, mark her so no one would dare come near her. But I held back. She could feel it—my rage. I was doing a shit job hiding it.
I watched the way her spine straightened; her breath stuttered just once. But she knew what she had just done. She was watching me unravel right in front of her. She could see the storm in my eyes. The fury. The hunger. The absolute fuckingpossession.
The Max I kept caged was officially unleashed, and I wasn’t playing fair anymore.
“So uhhh... let’s keep this going then, yeah? Max. Your turn,” Megan said, her voice a little too upbeat to cover the tension building.
I didn’t move.
“Come on, Max, don’t freeze up now,” Heather teased. “Unless you’ve got something better to do with that mouth.”
I didn’t even look at her. But Mackenzie did. Her head snapped toward Heather, eyes narrowed to slits, her whole body radiating anger so sharp it could’ve killed all of us.
Oh,now she wants to pretend that she’s jealous?
Fine.
Let’s play, baby.
“Never have I ever,” I said, voice flat, void of anything, “had someone beg to suck my dick before I even touched them.”
Gasps echoed around the circle. Nervous laughter broke out. People shifted uncomfortably. But not Mackenzie. She didn’t laugh. She didn’t flinch. Her eyes locked onto mine, burning with jealousy and hurt. All of it swirled in those green eyes I was in love with.
Good.I wanted her to feel it. I wanted her to hurt like she hurt me.
But did I?
I didn’t like the way she was looking right now. It left a hole in my heart. She began to swirl in front of me, and I swayed a little to keep myself upright.
Fuck.I was drunker than I thought. The angry shadows I kept inside me were coming out, and the love I had for her was being pushed down. I needed to fight harder to make sure that the light wasn’t extinguished.
Heather giggled, twirling her hair around her fingers. “Okay, now I’m interested in seeing your dick because it must be pretty awesome if you have girls begging you for it.”
I took a slow sip of my drink, never breaking eye contact with Mackenzie. She was glaring at me like she wanted to throw her bottle at my face.
I wanted her to. I wanted her to fight for me.
