He lathered the soap in his hands and started gliding it over my body, down my arms, cupping my breasts like they were too fragile not to give full attention to. His fingers slowed when they reached between my thighs, lingering far longer than necessary.
“I just want to make sure you’re really clean,” he said, voice low and teasing in my ear.
I returned the favor, dragging my soapy hands along the slope of his shoulders, across the curve of his chest, the lines of his abs, down his hips, and over his perfect ass. He hissed through his teeth.
Then I glanced up and froze. He was staring down at me, his mouth slightly parted, his jaw flexing. Like he couldseeevery version of me at once. The guarded best friend. The scared girl.The messy girl. The girl in the tattoo shop. His wife. Because if this wasn’t a look of true love, then I didn’t know what it was.
His expression was so intense, but for the first time, I felt a sense of freedom.Because he knew everything about me, and I no longer had to hide.
I felt safe. I felt protected. He was my family. I was excited to start a new life with him, one where I didn’t have to hide.
Finally, I didn’t have to run.
Or so I told myself.
29
MAX
Ihadn’t wanted to return to camp.
Mackenzie was scared, even though Jackson was no longer there. I also felt uncomfortable, thinking about what had happened and what could have happened.
But we only had one week left, and Mackenzie still had no idea that the camp was being watched. I knew we had protection, and all eyes were on us.
I’d tried to get us moved into our own cabin, but the camp shot me down. I bitched about it to West, but he just said simply, “I’m a ghost here, Max. I can’t pull any strings.”
Privacy was a fantasy. Counselors complained about us taking over the back room, saying they could hear us fucking. Now that we were married, it apparently became a big problem for everyone. I didn’t give a damn. I fucked Mackenzie every single minute, every single second of the day.
I couldn’t get enough of her.
We couldn’t keep our hands off each other. It was like an addiction, how badly we wanted each other. We were pulled to each other, like moths to a flame. We tried not to circle eachother, but it didn’t matter. We always ended up back in bed together.
I never took my ring off. I showered, swam, even slept with it on, and every time Mackenzie’s hand brushed mine, I’d catch a glint of her ring and feel that possessive burn in my chest. It was like a low, violent itch. The band wasn’t just proof she belonged to me. It was a warning. A promise that if anyone tried to take her away, I’d tear the world apart with my bare hands.
At night, I watched her sleep, memorizing the way the band circled her finger; proof she belonged to me.
When her new driver’s license came in, and she changed her name toMackenzie McKinnonon her counselor badge, it was honestly the happiest day of my life.
She was mine.Fucking mine.
Max and Mackenzie McKinnon. Forever. Heart eye emoji or whatever the fuck it was. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops.
We were reckless. Brushing fingers under the table in the dining hall. My hand slid under her shirt during movie night. Stealing kisses in the woods and pinning her against a tree when the kids weren’t looking. Every chance I had, I pulled her back into bed with me. We’d moved our mattresses from our twin bunks to the floor to make one big bed for the two of us. She immediately started birth control, to my chagrin. I wanted to throw her birth control pills out the window to stake my claim deeper.
But it wasn’t just the sex. She was different now—wild, unfiltered. She let me see all of her. Her fears. Her secrets. Her darkness. She told me everything that she could remember.
Abouthim.The “Butcher.” To my dismay, there was a lot she remembered.
We laughed until our stomachs hurt. I carried her across the lake dock on my back. I changed her bandage and cleaned her wound. She was my best friend and the love of my life, allwrapped up in one beautiful, dangerous girl. I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve her, but I knew I never wanted to go back to the way things were before her.
We were perfect.Shewas perfect.
Fortunately, we managed to get Mackenzie out of her dorm at GCU and rent a house off campus with a fenced-in backyard. I was so excited thinking about our future.
“We’ll get a dog. Two. There’s plenty of space in the backyard to set up a soccer net for you to practice and for me to practice throws. And at night, we’ll fuck in our own bedroom,” I had told her one night. I kissed her hard, “and make lots and lots of babies.”
“Max… what is your obsession with babies?”
