“We should sleep.” Maverick nudged my shoulder, tracing a path from my neck to the shell of my ear with his tongue. I shuddered, a soft moan slipping from my mouth.

“If you keep that up, I think we both know sleep isn’t going to happen.”

“You're right.” He pulled me closer, his body curved around mine, spooning me from behind. “Tell me about him.”

I tensed, caught off guard by his question. “Who?”

“Your brother.”

“I—” The room spun and suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe. But he was there, anchoring me, refusing to let me fall.

“It's just you and me, London,” he murmured against my skin. “No one else. You think I didn’t see what happened that night at the fight? You saw Lyndon and looked like you'd seen a ghost.”

“For a split second, I thought it was Elliot. I panicked.” My voice quivered with the memory. 

“You ran.”

“It's still raw, Maverick.” 

He hugged me closer, tucking his chin into the crook of my neck, his warm breath dancing over my skin like a soothing balm to my grief. “Gentry said he was an artist. Did he design your tattoo?” His fingers traced the intricate vine curling around my arm.

“It was a present. He painted this exact design on a canvas for my sixteenth birthday. I've always loved roses. When he di...” The words lodged in my throat and I blinked back the tears forming. “After the accident, I was in a bad place. My ex was a tattoo artist. He kept bugging me to let him ink me, and I had this ugly scar, he said he could cover it up. It seemed fitting, you know. Now I carry a piece of Elliot with me, always.”

Maverick was quiet, but I felt the tension in his body. I wanted to ask what was going on in that head of his. But I wasn't sure I was ready to hear the answer, so I kept silent.

“Gentry said you almost didn't make it.” There was something in his voice, something unexpected, but I didn’t allow myself to think about what it could mean. Because tonight was just that... tonight. 

One night.

I had to remember that. Forgetting would be dangerous. Not only to my head, but my heart. Maverick had made me no promises after tonight, and I'd gone along willingly.

“I didn't. I was in intensive care for four weeks and then it was a long road to recovery.”

“The scars?” His fingers swept lower down my waist and to the tops of my thighs. 

I nodded, unable to hold back the silent tears rolling down my face. 

“You're different from the girl I met on the beach last summer.” Maverick pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

“You’re different too,” I replied, unable to hide the sadness in my voice. 

We lay there in silence. The events of the night—of the last fifteen months—weighing heavily on us both. I had my demons, Maverick had his. But lost in one another, everything had been forgotten. Pushed aside. Now, in the quiet of the dark, it was all back.

More real than ever.

Maverick's breathing evened out, and I knew he'd fallen asleep so I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.

~

When I woke up, Maverick was gone. If it wasn't for the ruffled bed sheets and the delicious ache in my body, I would have questioned if it was all a dream.

But it wasn't.

Maverick had been here. In the pool house. In my bed.

We hadn't said goodbye with words, and that was okay. He'd worshipped my body, telling me everything he felt, and weirdly an odd sense of peace settled over me. 

When we'd met that night, all those months ago, I'd known we were different. I was the reserved British girl out of her league at a wild beach party with her free-spirited cousin. I’d slipped away along the Bay and stumbled across a boy leaning against a wooden railing. Hair as dark as the night tumbled over his eyes a little, as he hunched over, clutching a bottle of beer like it was his oxygen. I saw his sore bruised knuckles, the shadow around his eye. Felt his torment as I drew nearer. It rolled off him like the waves lapping at the shore. He was angry. Volatile. I should have turned and walked away but his pain called to me and before I could stop myself, I leaned against the railing beside him.

“It's beautiful out here,” I said, my voice small.

He grunted, barely acknowledging my presence, so we stood in silence. Minutes ticked by before he spoke. His voice was ragged—raw—and I wondered if he'd been crying. But he didn’t seem like the kind of boy to shed tears, he seemed like the kind of boy who would tear a room to shreds in a fit of blind rage rather than dealing with his true feelings.

“Why aren't you at the party?” he ground out, and I shrugged, aware that he had been staring at me.

“I wanted to catch my breath,” I said, tipping my chin in defiance. I knew what he saw. First appearances spoke volumes, and I screamed goody-two-shoes in my modest knee-length sundress and sensible kitten heeled sandals. But when his eyes slid over me, I shivered. There was something else there, in the dark pools staring at me. Something I wasn’t familiar with.

“You’re not from around here?”

“Just visiting.” My eyes flickered away from his but he noticed.

“Are you scared?” He teased, and I met his gaze again, his eyebrows quirking up and the faintest of smirks tipping the corner of his mouth.

“Should I be?” I gulped, confused about what was happening. Why my mouth was dry and my skin tingled with nerves. Why part of me wanted to stare at his face all night but the other part wanted to never look at him again because she knew she could lose herself forever in his roguish good looks.

“Maybe,” he answered, the single word punctuating the air. Silence settled over us and we watched the tide roll in side by side. “Do you ever want to escape?” he asked me a few minutes later.

It seemed like an odd question to ask a stranger, but I went along with it. “Escape?” I said. “From what?”

“Life. School…” he paused, drawing in a long breath as if the next word was almost too painful to say. “Family.”

“Not really, no. I like my life,” I replied. “Where would you go?”

“Huh?” He turned to me and I smiled meekly. He was so handsome, but there was an intensity about him that made me feel out of my depth. Nothing at all like Elliot’s friends back home who always made me welcome, treating me like their annoying younger sister as much as my brother did.

“You said you wanted to escape, where would you go?”

He shrugged, taking a long pull on his beer. “I don’t know. Anywhere but here. The city, maybe.”

We stood there for what felt like all night. My body started to feel the effects of the cool sea breeze dancing around us. “I should go,” I said.

“Wait.” He placed down his bottle and stepped away from the railing. We stood, eyes locked on the other. My heart beat furiously against my chest. “Why did you come over here?”

“You looked like you could use a friend.” My gaze slid to his knuckles. If he was embarrassed, he didn’t show it as he flexed his fingers out and curled them back into a fist. “Does it hurt?”

“Not as much as it should. What’s your name?”

“Does it matter?” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

He shrugged, but I caught a hint of surprise in his eyes. Then he reached for me, brushing my hair off my shoulder, curling his hand around my neck and holding me in place staring right into my eyes. Something passed between us. Something no words could describe.

“Do you feel it?” he asked and I nodded without hesitation, my head swimming with new and exciting sensations. A boy like him was looking at a girl like me in that way I’d only dreamed of. Elliot warned me about boys all the time. ‘Wait until you’re older’, he’d say. ‘There’s plenty of time to give your heart away’. But Elliot wasn’t here, and I was in another country. Didn’t that mean taking risks and throwing caution to the wind? Letting all my inhibitions go out of the window?

My eyes fluttered shut as I leaned into him, waiting. The boy I’d known for less than an hour brushed his lips over mine, so gentle and uncertain. It was nothing like I expected from him, but it left an impression, nonetheless.

My first real kiss.

He smiled against my mouth, letting out a smooth chuckle as he tucked me into his side and guided me to a rock where we spent the next hour talking, and kissing some more. He didn’t ask my name, and I wasn’t brave enough to ask his, unwilling to break the spell we were under.

A knock at the pool house door yanked me back to reality, and I shoved off the cover and pulled on some clothes. “Coming,” I shouted.

Kyle stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowed with suspicion as they swept over me. “Are you sick?”

“Hmm, no, why?” I tried to tame my hair, aware that I probably looked a mess.

“You’re late. We needed to leave ten minutes ago.”

“Late for…”

“For school. It’s Tuesday. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Fine. Except your stepbrother kept me up most of the night and I can’t think straight. “School, right. I’ll brush my teeth and grab my bag.”

His eyes grew even narrower as he studied me. “I’ll be in the Jeep. Hurry your ass, I don’t need Coach on my back for tardiness.”

“Ten minutes,” I called, already jogging toward the bedroom.

Crap. I’d overslept and in my moment of Maverick weakness, completely failed to realise it was a school night.

Double crap.

I dashed into the bathroom, peeled out of my clothes and hopped into the cubicle. It was the quickest shower in history, and ten minutes later, I was climbing into Kyle’s Jeep with towel-dried hair.

“New look?” He arched his eyebrows and Summer stifled a giggle.

“Piss off,” I mumbled, sinking into the leather avoiding eye contact. He was sneaky. I didn’t put it past him to suspect something. Or know something. I got the impression where Maverick and I were concerned, he was already starting to connect the dots.

“Late night?”

“Just drive.”

As soon as Kyle pulled into the parking lot and found a spot, I muttered goodbye, slipped out of the Jeep, and disappeared into the stream of kids heading into the building. Still reeling from the previous night’s events, I was oblivious to the person coming toward me and smacked straight into a solid chest.

“Hey, steady there,” a deep voice rumbled as I rubbed my nose.

“JB, always a pleasure.” I dodged left to go around him but he pre-empted my escape plan, blocking my path.

“The pleasure is mine. Eager to get your hands on me, I see.” He brushed his jersey off and I rolled my eyes.

“It’s early. I’m tired. I don't have time for this.”

Whatever this was.

Unaffected by my snarky attitude, he ducked his head, leaning in closer. “You seem tense. Need a little help with that?”

“Fuck off.” I flashed him a sickly-sweet smile.

“Ooh, touchy,” laughter pealed from his lips. “You’re something else, Stone.”

“Late. I’m going to be late if you don’t move.”

“Holloway,” a voice boomed across the hallway and my eyes—and everyone else’s—snapped over to Maverick’s. He looked scarier than usual, the bruises angry and sore. His eyes hard and flat.

“Prince,” JB replied with a hint of amusement. “I was just telling your girl here that she should really watch where she’s going.”

I tried to remain unaffected by his words, but I saw the muscle in Maverick’s jaw clench. The whole hallway fell silent. Anticipation crackled in the air. Everyone watched, waiting to see what would happen. But out of nowhere Kyle appeared at Maverick’s side. He leaned in close, whispering something in his stepbrother’s ear. Maverick’s eyes softened for a brief second, his shoulders visibly relaxing. I used the moment to my advantage, barging past JB and hurrying to class. Behind me, the usual morning chatter resumed. As I headed inside the classroom, I reminded myself that Maverick and I were done. Last night was a one-time deal.

It was goodbye—a chance to exorcise this thing between us.

A chance to lay our unfinished business to rest.

But the way he’d looked at me across the hallway… it was almost impossible to remember our agreement. He looked at me with longing, with regret.

He’d looked at me like he wanted so much more than just one night.

And I didn’t know what to do with that.

~

“He looks like a wounded puppy.” Laurie glanced over to where Devon was with Liam and some other boys, and I shrugged.

“He only has himself to blame.”

She shot me a knowing look, and I said, “What?”

“Oh, come on. I told you he wanted more, and you refused to buy it.”

“I bought it, Laurie, but I also told him straight. If he couldn’t accept it, that’s on him, not me.”

“I totally agree,” Autumn pitched in but Laurie wasn't done.

“He’s a guy,” she said. “They think with their dicks, and only their dicks. Even the good ones.”

“Amen, to that.” Autumn said.

I kicked my legs over the bench and stretched. “What’s done is done.”

“But it’s Devon. After what Caitlin did—” Laurie clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with regret.

“What about Caitlin?”

Laurie shook her head still clutching her mouth, and I looked to Autumn for back up but she just shrugged.

“Laurie.” I gave her a pointed look. “What. About. Caitlin?”

Her eyes darted to Devon and his friends again as she slouched down on the bench. “You promise not to tell?”

“Cross my heart.” I marked my chest.

“Before Caitlin and Maverick got together, she was seeing Devon.”

“Caitlin and Devon? Are you sure?” I said, discreetly looking over at him. He was so… rough around the edges and Caitlin, well she was polished and put together. They were like chalk and cheese.

Laurie nodded. “It’s true. It was over the summer, apparently, and she wanted to keep it on the DL. He confided in me one night at a party that he was in deep. He wanted to go public, she didn’t. And then school started up and Maverick swooped in and stole her right out from under him.”

It explained a lot, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Somehow, I’d ended up between Devon and Maverick too. Did that make me the new Caitlin? The thought made my stomach churn.

“Lo?” Laurie noticed my silence. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.” I waved her off, glancing back at Devon. That’s why he’d said I couldn’t trust Maverick, because he’d stolen his girl. But it didn’t explain why he hadn’t told me the truth.

What the hell was it with the people of Wicked Bay and their secrets?

“You can’t tell anyone, Lo. He’ll kill me if he finds out I told you.”

“Who am I going to tell? Devon? I think that ship has sailed.”

“Don’t be so sure. He’s not a bad guy, Lo, he’s just misguided sometimes. Caitlin and Maverick really screwed him over. So cut him some slack. You’re the first girl he’s shown any interest in since her.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if that had anything to do with my name—my connection to Maverick. Did Devon think by pursuing me, he’d be getting back at Maverick somehow?

“Yeah, well.” I pushed up off the bench and stood. “Maybe it’s for the best we’re not friends.”

Laurie’s jaw dropped open and Autumn’s permanent smile slipped, but I didn’t stick around to explain.

They wouldn’t believe me if I tried.