"That was..." she starts.
"Perfect. That was perfect."
Eventually, I pull out carefully, and we clean up. Then we're back in bed, her curled against my chest, my arms wrapped around her.
I trace the outline of the wolf with my finger.
"We're telling Emma soon."
"Yeah. I know."
"Are you ready?"
She's quiet for a moment. "I'm scared. But yeah, I'm ready. We can't keep hiding this."
"No, we can't." I kiss the top of her head. "Next weekend. Before the playoffs start."
"Next weekend," she echoes.
We drift off like this, tangled together, the pendant between us.
For now, lying here in the dark with Maya, both of us having just said"I love you"a dozen times, everything's perfect.
And we have no idea it's all about to fall apart.
28
MAYA
It starts with a name, something I've kept locked away for months, something I never wanted to say out loud again.
We're in Jackson's room, me lying against his chest while he scrolls through something on his phone. Emma and Chase took Ethan to the park for the day, which means we've got the house to ourselves for a few hours.
"Maya," Jackson says quietly. "What was his name?"
I don't have to ask who he means. "Why?"
"Just... I want to know."
I've never told him, never said the name out loud to anyone except the police, the hospital staff, Dr. Mills. Even thinking it makes my skin crawl.
"Dr. Richard Carson," I say. The words taste like poison.
Jackson goes still beneath me, his whole body tensing. His jaw clenches, muscle jumping. "He still works at Pinewood?"
"As far as I know."
"That's fucked."
"That's reality."
Jackson's quiet for a long moment. I can feel the tensionradiating off him, controlled but barely, like a wire pulled too tight.
"Jackson?" I sit up to look at him. "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing. Just... It's not right. What they did to you."
"I know. But there's nothing I can do about it."
