I lick my dry lips. “You were attracted to each other. I’m not attracted to Jane.”
“Likewise,” Jane says, shifting in her chair. “I’m not attracted to Moffy.”
“We were also liars,” my dad tells me.
Right now, I am a liar, too. They spot it like blood in the water. They’re sharks. I’m prey. And I’m being ripped open.
My dad keeps eye contact with me, looking broken and pained. “We love you,” he tells me. “We’d love you no matter what. But we can’t help you unless you’re honest with us.”
“I don’t need help,” I tell him. “I’m fine.”
He nods. “I’ve said that one before.” His words practically ice. He gives me his classic, bitter smile. “Congratulations, Maximoff, you got what you wanted. You’re more like me.” His disappointment is a tsunami crashing through my chest.
I stare at my dad. Right in the eyes, and I say the words that I’ve never wanted to utter in my damn life. It takes every ounce of power inside of me to admit this to myself and to him and to the room—and even to you.
And I tell my dad, “I’m not like you.”
I would never hurt people I love with a lie, and that’s what’s happening now. I’m hurting him, my mom, aunts and uncles—and even Jane. I can handle the world’s doubt. That’s commonplace. But I can’t live with theirs.
Go get the truth.
I turn to the door. And I suddenly freeze.
Farrow approaches me. Already inside the cabin, his lips rise likeI know.
41
FARROW KEENE
I heard everything from outside,and about midway through I knew what I needed to do. I feel six incredulous, confused gazes sweep my sudden presence. I don’t confront them yet.
Before Maximoff repeatedly asksare you sure you want to do this?I catch his wrist, standing right by his side.
Very softly, I whisper, “Your morality is rubbing off on me.” I feel sick putting Maximoff Hale in a place where he’d be forced to lie to these people.
His family. Who need him.
Who trust him.
Who love him.
He’d be a worse man if he trampled all over them with a lie, and he’s made me a better one because I don’t even hesitate to unleash the truth. I don’t care about the career consequences, and we’re strong enough to survive the blowback. At the end of the road, all I know is that I’m protecting and preserving the very essence of who he is.
And I’d do it five hundred times over.
I nod to Maximoff to go ahead.Tell them.
He fists my shirt and tugs me to his chest. In a swift, pulse-pounding moment, he has two firm hands on my neck, and his mouth meets mine. Not wavering, not second-guessing—his pride for this second and for us lifts his carriage like he’s sky-scraping tall.
He has to feel my lips rising. I can’t restrain a smile. I wouldn’t, even if I was ordered to. Our bodies pull together in a deeper, slower kiss, and I hook my arm around his broad shoulders. His hand slides through my black hair, his desire and hunger urging my mouth open again. Pulsating my veins and heart. All things I’ve felt with Maximoff before.
He went all in.
All in with me.
I recognize like everyone else has to:this is his first kiss with an audience.If they don’t believe him now, then they’re just in denial.
When we finally break the kiss, we exchange one headstrong, stubborn-as-hell look that says,we’re in this shit together, and we’re going to get out together. No matter what.
