“Hayde’s been lying to you about that night,” Kid said.
“What are you talking about?” Kinzer asked.
“He didn’t kill her, Kinzer. She stabbed herself with his dagger because she was suffering…because she was in pain and she didn’t want you to know. She thought you would look down on her if you knew she killed herself.”
Tears welled up in Kinzer’s eyes as he reflected back to the Maggie he remembered, the Maggie he loved. Imagining the pain and agony she experienced, the horror that would have driven her to such a decision, and the thought that one of the last dying thoughts she had was how disappointed he would be in her had he known the truth was a brutal sting. It reminded him of the image that haunted him—how she screamed and thrashed at him.
Treycore relaxed his fists. “Shit,” he said as he rose to his feet, gazing down at his victim.
Kinzer couldn’t believe his ears. “Oh God,” he said.
The realization hit him hard.
All the abuse…all the horrible things he’d done to Hayde…all the fury and hate he’d built up against him.
He approached Hayde slowly, cautiously. Despite Kid’s story, he needed to hear it from Hayde. He needed to know why. He needed to understand why he’d let this charade go on as long as it had…when Kinzer could have fucking killed him.
Hayde rolled onto his side and crawled to his feet.
“You lied?” Kinzer asked him, and Hayde turned to him, blood racing from his nose and lip. “This whole time you made me believe you murdered her rather than telling me the truth? Why would you do that? All this time, I…I could have fucking murdered you over what you did, but you kept this secret from me? Why the fuck would you do that?”
Hayde scanned the ground as though he was looking for some answer written on it. Then he looked back into Kinzer’s eyes. His hair was disheveled. He wore a sheepish expression, one Kinzer wanted to kiss away.
“Because she asked me to,” Hayde muttered before turning and running toward the woods.
Oh, fucking hell no.
Kinzer wasn’t having that. Not after everything that had happened. He deserved more of an answer than that.
He chased after him. Where the fuck did Hayde think he was going?
Soon, they were far enough away from the cabin that the security light no longer lit their way. It was just the moonlight. Kinzer kept up with the flit, his thoughts scattered, confused.
“Get back here and talk to me.” Kinzer snarled as he caught up with him. He snatched him by the shoulder and spun him around.
“Don’t touch me,” Hayde said, pushing Kinzer back. Kinzer grabbed him again, and Hayde threw a punch that landed on Kinzer’s cheek. Kinzer wouldn’t let go, so Hayde kept pushing, resisting, fighting.
“Talk to me,” Kinzer demanded, clinging on to the collar of Hayde’s jacket. Hayde fought, slinging punches, each one landing on but not discouraging Kinzer.
“Leave…me…the fuck…alone!” Hayde called out as Kinzer dragged him to the ground. He straddled Hayde’s waist and pinned his wrists down at his sides.
“Stop fighting me,” Kinzer demanded.
Hayde gazed up at Kinzer. His face was lit up with moonlight as tears streamed down the sides of his face. This was not the usual Hayde that Kinzer was used to seeing—guarded, defensive. He was vulnerable, exposed, beautiful. His face scrunched up as he seemed to summon some of that guardedness once again, but Kinzer just leaned down and kissed him. Hayde struggled against him for a moment more before submitting, kissing back.
It wasn’t a kiss like the ones they’d shared before then, filled with anger and fury and hate, driven by vengeance, a furious passion of rage against the chemistry between them. It was something deeper, more meaningful, as the barrier between them collapsed, fell apart in Kinzer’s mind with each kiss that offered him assurance that Hayde was not the enemy he had thought he was. He was not the monster who had ripped Maggie from his life.
“She was so sad, and in so much pain, and she couldn’t do it anymore,” Hayde said, tears continuing down the sides of his face. “And she didn’t want you to be ashamed of her, of what she’d done.”
Kinzer felt terrible that she could have felt that, though he wasn’t surprised. He recalled how dismissive he’d been when Jerry had killed himself after he and Maggie had interrogated him. He’d called him a coward…all mortals cowards, but if anything, he hadn’t believed it. He really envied Jerry. He didn’t have to suffer the horrors of existence anymore. He was free, and Kinzer wasn’t.
“All this time,” Kinzer said. “Why? Why have you been here?”
“Because someone had to help your clumsy ass,” Hayde said, stealing another kiss, taking what had been deserved all this time. So many things made sense now. Hayde’s evasiveness about who he was working for and the reason he couldn’t keep his hands off Kinzer despite acting like they were mortal enemies. Knowing what he had done for Maggie to honor her word made him think so much more of Hayde, appreciate him in a way he never could have appreciated him before.
And it felt so good to know, in the darkness of heavens and Earth, he’d found a soul that was not as twisted and corrupted as all the others, and that it had come in the form of this beautiful creature beneath him.
Kinzer ripped Hayde’s jeans down his legs, sliding them off forcefully.
