Thinking of his constant phone alerts always interrupting us, I asked Kingston, “Did you see us cross the gate?”
“I did. Quinn…”
A hint of concern in his voice raised my suspicion. “Are you sure everything’s okay? Did something happen with Ben? Is he…?” Met with silence, I grew concerned. “Is it Landon?”
I swatted my left hand at Max, hitting his bicep before putting my phone on speaker.
“You’re on speaker, Kingston. Max, we might need to turn around. Landon’s?—”
“Landon is fine, Quinn,” Kingston interjected, leveling his voice. “Everything is fine. I just…wanted to make sure you were alright going on your super-top-secret-special-mission. I didn’t get to check in with you before you left, so I?—”
Although he sounded normal, I frowned. “Yeah, of course. We stole your fancy sports car, though. Hope you don’t mind.”
At his clearly forced laugh, my gaze slid to Max.
I scrutinized him in the driver’s seat. Placid expression. No smirk, no overworked jaw.
He had his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, and he acted completely normal.
Too normal.
I looked at his hands.
His knuckles were white. He gripped the steering wheel so hard it might snap. It was the only thing giving away that something was off.
“Max…” I hedged carefully, but he didn’t respond. I took Kingston off speaker and lifted the phone back up to my ear. “Kingston, what’s going on?”
Without sparing a glance my way, Max held his hand out. “Time to hang up now, Quinn.”
Kingston’s muffled curse came through the line.
My heartbeat picked up. “He didn’t get permission for us to leave, did he?”
“Don’t make me ask again, Quinn,” Max growled as Kingston breathed, “No, love.”
With a slightly frantic edge to his words, Kingston said, “Stay safe. I have to believe?—”
“I know.” I tried to reassure him it would be alright as quickly as I could. “I’ll?—”
But before I got the words out, the phone left my hands.
Max grabbed it, shut it off, and pocketed it on his left side where I couldn’t reach it.
“Max, what is this? What’s happening right now?”
He smiled, but nothing about it reassured me, especially when he answered with a single word.
“Subterfuge.”
“What does that mean?”
He flicked his gaze in my direction, right as he took a sharp curve and increased our speed.
I grabbed for the handle above the door, but the bougie car didn’t have one. As I grappled for something to hold onto, I didn’t take my eyes off Max.
Fear licked at my spine like fire at my back. A fire that had been there since day one. A fire I’d convinced myself was safe.
It burned in his onyx gaze, sinister where there’d once been secrets. “It means your time at Camelot Court is done, Quinn Everly.”
