And then everything in me goes cold.
The words knock the breath from my lungs. The air in the room suddenly feels thin, cold, and hard to breathe. A wave of ice washes over me, starting in my chest and spreading to my fingertips. I can feel the blood drain from my face. My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
He knows.
Oh, god. He knows.
The two words ricochet around my skull, a frantic, terrifying echo. My brain refuses to process them, to connect them to the man standing in front of me, his face a mask of cold fury.
How? How could he possibly know? It was a secret. A stupid, reckless, one-night mistake with a stranger I was never supposed to see again.
But then the memory clicks into place, sharp and ugly. Bar 2.0. Me, Liam, and Maddox, laughing, rebuilding. And then Knox walking in. The way my breath caught. The way my eyes kept drifting back to him. The small, almost imperceptible wave he gave me.
Maddox saw it. Of course he saw it. He sees everything.
“I… I don’t…” I stammer.
“Don’t bother lying, Millie.” He takes a step closer, and I instinctively take one back. “I put two and two together. The new sheriff shows up, and suddenly you’re having panic attacks and looking at him like he’s the only man in the room. It wasn’t that hard to figure out.”
His words are like physical blows, each one landing with a sickening thud. He saw it all. He saw my weakness, my pathetic, undeniable attraction, and he named it for what it was. Or what hethoughtit was.
“How long?” he asks. “How long has this been going on?”
“It hasn’t!” I cry out, the words tearing from my throat. “It was once, Maddox. It happened once. Before I even knew who he was.”
“Are you fucking crazy?” he roars, the sound echoing in the small room, making me flinch. “Are you completely out of your mind? That man is the sheriff, Millie. He’s older than any of us. Do you know what people will say? C’mon! What the hell were you thinking?”
“I know!” I shout back, my own anger rising to meet his, a defensive shield. “I know how old he is! I wasn’t thinking, okay?And I didn’t even know what his job was when we… fuck. I know I messed up. It just… it happened.”
He stops, his chest heaving, his eyes burning into mine. The anger in them is so intense it’s almost a physical thing.
“How long has this been going on? Are you dating him?” he asks again.
“No.” Fuck. This isn’t how I wanted them to find out. “It was a one-time thing. I swear.”
He’s silent for a long, agonizing moment, and then he asks the one question that truly terrifies me.
“Liam doesn’t know, right?”
“No,” I whisper, shaking my head. “Liam doesn’t know.”
A bitter, broken laugh escapes his lips. “Of course he doesn’t,” he says, his voice dripping with a scorn that feels like acid. “Because if he knew, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we? Because if he did, he would’ve never forgiven you. We would be worrying about a lot worse than an ugly ass tattoo.”
The image is so visceral, so horrible, that a sob escapes me. “Maddox, please,” I beg, taking a step toward him, my hands outstretched in a supplicating gesture. “You can’t tell him. You can’t. Please, I’m begging you. He will never forgive me.”
He looks at my outstretched hands, then back at my tear-streaked face. His expression softens, just a fraction. The anger recedes, replaced by a deep, profound sadness that’s somehow even worse.
“I won’t,” he says, his voice quiet. “I won’t be the one to tell him.”
A wave of relief so powerful it makes my knees weak washes over me. “Thank you,” I breathe.
“Don’t,” he says, his voice hardening again. “Don’t thank me. This is between you and him. But you’re playing with fire, and you’re going to get us all burned.”
“I didn’t know. I had no idea who Knox was.”
He scoffs. “Yeah, I bet that’s exactly how Liam will see it. I can promise you one thing—this isn’t going to be easy for him to understand. This was pretty stupid, Millie. This was so selfish.”
The word “selfish” hits me like a slap in the face. It’s the one thing I’ve tried so hard not to be, the one accusation I can’t bear. I pull my hands back, wrapping my arms around myself.
