May 8, 2025
The kiss had barely ended before the room exploded.
Liam’s drink was still in his hand one second, and the next it was flying — flung somewhere behind him, landing with a wet slap on the carpet as he surged to his feet.
“You serious right now?” His voice cracked with disbelief, or maybe rage. “You kissed my—”
“I’m not your anything, Liam.” Maddie cut in, sharp and unbothered as she rose to her feet. She adjusted her top, not flustered in the slightest, like she was used to causing storms and thriving in the wreckage. “So maybe chill.”
Liam blinked. “You kissed him!”
“And here you are, thinking you’re the only one who gets to play around,” she said coolly, like she was reciting the weather.
Across the circle, Jamie stood too — not as loud, but somehow heavier. His expression was darker than I’d ever seen it, fists clenched, jaw tight. His voice came out low and hard.
“You just love making a scene, huh?”
Jaxon, still sitting like he hadn’t just lit the match and tossed it in, gave an easy shrug. “You dared me.”
I sat frozen on the floor, knees tucked under me, heart pounding so hard it felt like a fire alarm in my chest. My mouth was dry. My brain was white noise.
I couldn’t tell if I was furious or afraid or both.
The room was buzzing — not with laughter now, but tension. The kind of heavy, crackling tension that always comes before something breaks. People were shifting on pillows, murmuring, half-smiling like they didn’t know whether to laugh or get out of the way.
Before anyone could decide whether this was just another party fight or the beginning of something worse, we were interrupted.
Not by shouting. Not by a punch.
By lights.
Red. Blue. Flashing through the big bay windows and bouncing across the walls like someone had fired up a disco ball from hell.
Then: the sound.
Sirens.
“COPS!” someone shrieked.
And then it all unraveled.
Chaos.
Screams echoed as people scrambled in every direction. Drinks were knocked over. Bodies dove behind furniture, as though they could hide in the throw pillows.
Doors slammed shut. A bottle shattered. Someone tripped over the coffee table, pulling three others down with them.
I spun in a circle, desperate to find my bag, to locate Leah, to make sense of whatever the hell was happening.
Leah grabbed my wrist just as someone elbowed past me. “We need to go!”
“I need my phone—” I started, but then a voice cut through the panic.
“Come with me.”
Jaxon.
He was suddenly there, beside me, calm in the middle of the chaos like the storm had been built around him.
“I—my bag,” I said, still turning, scanning, trying to see through the blur of people and furniture and flashing lights.
“We don’t have time.” His hand closed around mine. “Now.”
And then we were running.
Out the back, down the hill, breath clouding in the night air. Shoes in our hands, toes hitting cool grass, dodging over roots and rocks and patches of wet dirt.
My heart was pounding so fast it felt like it might detonate. I couldn’t tell if I was terrified or thrilled. Maybe both.
I could still hear the party behind us, the shouting, the sirens, the screech of car doors slamming. Someone was definitely crying. Maybe Jamie. Maybe Liam. I didn’t look back.
Jaxon’s fingers were wrapped tightly around mine, pulling me forward. Every time I stumbled, he caught me. Every time I gasped, he didn’t slow, just looked over his shoulder with that maddening, dangerous grin like this was a game and we were winning.
We made it to the woods behind the cabin, breathless and laughing and furious.
He stopped behind a tree, yanked me with him, and we collapsed to the ground, hiding behind a thick patch of ferns and branches.
“Okay,” he said, panting, eyes bright with adrenaline. “Tell me you’re not glad I came now.”
I glared at him. “You kissed Maddie.”
“You told me not to kiss you.”
“I didn’t mean that.”
“You shook your head.”
“Because we’re in a circle of people who already think I’m a manipulative slut!”
“You’re not.”
“I know I’m not! That’s not the point!”
He was too close, too warm, and I was still shaking — from the run, from the cold, from everything.
“I invited you here,” I whispered, more to myself than him.
His expression shifted. Softer. Less fight, more something else.
“I came because you did.”
