by L A Cotton
“Sorry, I tried.” I said to his friends, and they booed as Maverick steered me away from them and back into the hotel.
“Hmm, Maverick, home is that way.” I glanced back at the door.
“We’re not going home.” He tugged me to a row of elevators. One pinged open, and he nudged me inside, stalking behind.
“What did you do?”
“You’re not the only who’s been keeping secrets,” was all he said as he hit the button and we started moving.
We rode to the top floor in silence. A slither of air between our bodies. Our hands and waists. The fine hair on my arms and his jacket. Electricity danced between us, and when the door pinged open again, I sucked in a sharp breath. “What is this?” My eyes scanned the room.
“This is the penthouse suite.”
“But… what…”
He wrapped me into his arms, tugging me against his firm chest. “This is ours for the whole night.”
“But…”
Warm lips brushed my neck. “Stop. Talking.”
I couldn’t have said anything if I tried. My words had died. Stolen away by the sheer beauty of this place. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. A huge glass window looked out over the Bay. The sea glistened under the moon, a blanket of stars twinkling like tiny diamonds.
“It’s beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.” His voice cracked, and I wanted to know what he was thinking. What he felt when he saw me standing there. But questions could wait, this was our time, and I didn’t want to ruin a single second.
Maverick’s hand slid down over my shoulder and down the sweetheart neckline of my dress. “I’ve waited all night to do this.” His lips chased a warm path over my skin, sending shivers rippling through me.
“I love you,” the words tumbled out, and he stilled. One hand poised on my waist the other on my stomach.
“What did you say?”
“I said,”—I turned in his arms, staring up at him—“I love you, Maverick.”
“Fuck, you don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear that.” Relief flashed in his eyes quickly followed by awe.
But I did know. And a part of me hated myself for not saying it sooner. “I’m sorry I made you wait.” It was a whisper.
His eyes darkened capturing me in their intensity. “You were worth the wait, Lo. Worth every damn second.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “And what you did tonight… no one has ever… Do you want a drink or anything?”
“A drink?” I raised an eyebrow. And then it hit me, he was nervous.
Maverick Prince was out of his depth.
“Help me,” I said, turning and brushing my loose curls off my neck. He wasted no time, his fingers making easy work of the zipper. The dress slid down my body like warm butter until I was standing in nothing but my new lacy underwear. From the sharp intake of breath Maverick took, I made a mental note to thank Laurie for forcing a last-minute shopping trip on me.
When I turned back around, Maverick’s hungry gaze swept down my body. Everything had built to this. Five months of secrets and sneaking around. Of heartache and insanity. Of feeling, more than once, like I was drowning.
He closed the distance between us, shedding his tux jacket and dropping it to the floor. My fingers went to his shirt buttons, yanking and popping. Next went his trousers. A blur of clothes and kisses, breaths and touches. Until he lifted me up and carried me to the bed. Nothing between us.
No secrets.
No Caitlin.
Nothing but skin on skin. Love on love.
And it was enough.
More than enough, it was everything.
~
“Can we stay here forever?” I sighed, tracing lazy circles over Maverick’s abs. He tightened his arm around me, answering with a kiss. “Hmm, I want to wake up every morning like this.”
“Good because I plan to move you into the pool house for the summer,” Maverick said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. As if us playing house was no big deal.
And maybe it wasn’t. But the tension in my muscles, the little voice in my head, said otherwise.
“Relax,” he chuckled. “I’m only joking. We can alternate. But first you have some explaining to do, Little Stone.”
Rolling onto my stomach, I leaned up on my elbows readying myself for a conversation we should have had last night. But I think we’d been too relieved to want to go there.
“After seeing you with her at Valencia, well, it almost broke me. God, I wanted to kill her. But I realised something too.”
“Oh yeah? And what did you realize?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I realised I didn’t have to just stand by and wait for our fate to be sealed so I went to JB.” The quiet boy beside me tensed at the mention of his enemy’s name. But I leaned forward, brushing my lips over his. “I love you, Maverick. I’ve loved you for a long time. I’ve already lost so much, I won’t lose you too. So I did what I needed to do. JB might be a jerk but he isn’t a bad guy, not really. He was just looking out for sister. Once he knew the truth—
“So you told him?”
“I told him what he needed to know. I mean it, Maverick. I won’t lose you. Even if your dad—”
“He won’t.”
“What?” I rocked back onto my ankles, my pulse thrumming in my chest.
“Gentry’s man came through.”
“But how? I don’t understand?”
And why the hell was I only just finding out about this?
“Gentry got the call two days ago. I should have told you, but I didn’t want him hanging over us anymore, Lo. I wanted to look you in the eyes and make promises to you knowing I could keep them. Knowing that nothing and no one will come between us again.” He leaned up pressing a tender kiss to my lips. When he pulled away, love and promise shone in his eyes. “It was my plan to bring you here last night, all along. I just needed Caitlin to believe for a little while longer. I arranged this the second Gentry told me. I wanted to celebrate with you. To spend the night with you. With all of this behind us.”
There was so much I wanted to say. To ask. What his plans for summer were? Did he plan on moving to Steinbeck before freshman orientation? Did he have to attend summer camp? But I couldn’t find the words. Not when I’d just got him back.
All of him.
For the first time, I didn’t have to share him with anything. Alec, the team, the pressure of getting into college; it was all gone. I finally had all of him even if it was only for a brief moment.
I didn’t want to think about what happened when he left. Not here. Not today. I just wanted to enjoy it. Savour the moment.
He broke the silence first. “You have that look.”
“What look?” I gave him a coy smile.
“The one where your mind is working overtime and you want to say something.”
“I do not.”
“Yes,” he said. “You do.”
“I love you,” I blurted out. Now I’d said it, I couldn’t stop. All night, as he loved me, I’d said the words. Over and over. But Maverick didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.
“Fuck, I love it when you say that.” He leaned up and captured my lips, sweeping his tongue into my mouth but I fought him off, shrieking, “Gross, morning breath, I need to brush my—”
Maverick slipped his arms around me, pulling me down on top of him and rolling us until he had me pinned to the bed. His legs slid between mine and a soft moan slipped from my mouth as rocked into me.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he pulled away. “You were saying?”
“I—”
He slid inside again, and my body ignited. I ran my hands over his shoulders as he brushed his nose across mine moving in and out slowly, setting a delicious pace. And for the rest of the morning Maverick made me forget nothing and promised me everything.
Maverick
“Son, wha—” The color drained from his face as Gentry and Mom stepped into the room behind
me. They were here, supporting me, but I wanted to be the one to deliver the final blow.
“I thought you should have this.” I thrust the letter at him and watched with satisfaction as his eyes pored over the words.
“What is this? I don’t understand.”
“That, is my ticket to freedom. I’m done. With you and your fucked up mind games. You don’t control me anymore.”
Surprise was the first emotion I saw flash in his inky depths—the eyes I inherited from him. But it soon melted away replaced with something much darker. Anger. Humiliation.
Betrayal.
He rolled back his shoulders, a cold mask slamming down over his face. “Think carefully about this, Maverick.”
Not son.
Maverick.
As if I didn’t deserve the title any longer. As if he no longer considered me his son, his heir.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Dad,” I emphasized his name. The one I would never say again after today.
Because I meant it—I was done.
Free of his games and rules and his toxic expectations and demands.
“Rebecca,” he finally addressed the other two people in the room. “For the love of God, talk some sense into him.”
“No, Alec,” Mom’s voice was shaky, and I knew how hard this had to be for her. But it was long overdue. “This has gone on long enough. It ends today.”
“Rebecca—” he started, anger rippling from him, but Gentry stepped forward, moving around me until I was shielded behind him. Mom stepped up beside me, reaching for my hand and clasping it in hers.
“My lawyer will be contacting you later, but in the name of common courtesy,”—Gentry handed him the thick manilla envelope—“if you ever come near my wife or my son again, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.” He turned and stormed out of the room, Mom’s cracked sobs echoing off the wall.
“Come on, Maverick,” she urged.
But I slipped out of her hold and said, “Go. I’ll be right there.”
She hurried out of the room after Gentry as if she couldn’t stand another second breathing the same air as the man who had abused and manipulated her. Ran after the man who had called me his son. Who had been more of a father to me than I ever realized. It was something I would need time to accept, time to fix, but I’d try.
After this was done, I’d really try. Because Gentry deserved it, unlike the man standing before me.
“Well played, Maverick, well played indeed. It would appear we are more alike than I ever gave you credit for.” Alec leaned casually on his desk as if this was just another day’s business. But I saw the cracks. The flash of concern in his eyes, the way he’d clutched at his tie as he read my acceptance letter to Steinbeck University.
“I learned from the best,” was my reply. “It’s over, Alec. I’m going to walk out of that door and never look back.”
He raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term. But that’s who he was to me now.
No one.
And it was more than he deserved.
I turned to leave. To get back to Lo and the rest of our lives. Fuck, that felt good.
Our lives.
Together.
But as I reached the door, his voice stopped me in my tracks. “I’ll never forget this, Maverick.” Icy cold and emotionless, it sent a chill down my spine. But he no longer held the power.
I looked back at him one last time and said, “Neither will I.”
~
“Congratulations, Prince.” Kyle clapped me on the back pulling me in for a guy hug. It wasn’t my style, but I let him. It was the least I could do after the last few months. If it wasn’t for him and Laurie, I doubted Lo would still be here. By my side.
“Thanks, for everything.” I said out of earshot of the rest of my family.
“Photos, I need photos,” Mom ushered us into a group, and I wrapped my arm around Lo, pulling her close while Kyle, Macey and Summer arranged themselves around us.
“Smile on three. One, two, three.” The flash blinded me for a second but then Lo was there grounding me, brushing her lips over mine.
“Seriously, you guys,” Macey grumbled. “You can’t even wait until we leave?”
“Sorry,” Lo chuckled against my mouth finally breaking free when her dad cleared his throat.
“Congratulations, Maverick. We’re all very proud of you.” He held out his hand and smiled.
“Thanks, Uncle Rob.” I shook his hand, keeping one arm firmly around Lo. He still wasn’t sold on the idea of us together but after everything—after the truth came out—he’d given us his blessing.
“Thanks for coming, Dad.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Stella said offering Lo a meek smile. While Lo and her dad had found solid ground again, things were still strained with Stella, but my girl was trying. Finally opening her heart up the idea of a new family.
And from the conversations I’d overheard between Gentry and Uncle Rob, that was about to happen sooner rather than later. But I’d be there to pick up the pieces. To hold her up the way she’d held me.
“Prince, get your sorry ass over here,” Coach Callahan boomed across the field and everyone laughed. It was a strange feeling. Having them all here, for me. For my graduation.
After everything, it felt right. And, although there was still healing to do, it felt a lot like a fresh start.
“I’ll be back,” I said to Lo. “See you guys at home later?”
My family nodded eagerly, Mom dabbing at the moisture in her eyes.
“Go, I’ll wait.” Lo wriggled out of my hold but I leaned down capturing one more kiss before I slipped into the crowd.
As I cut across the field and around the back of the bleachers to the gym, I shed the gown. Graduation was done. I’d got accepted to Steinbeck. Not because of my name or who my father was, or a huge check signed by his hand, but because I’d earned it. And that was something no one could take away from me.
And it felt fucking good.
Better than good; life was finally great. SU campus was only twenty miles away and while I would move into dorms, it was close enough for Lo to come and spend the weekend and I could drive home whenever I needed. And they had been more than accommodating when I’d come clean about my learning disability. Finally, it was my time to shine.
To step out from the shadows and live in the light.
Arriving at Coach’s office, I knocked on the door and entered. “Maverick, son, take a seat,” he said.
I sat down, raking a hand through my hair and Coach Callahan smiled wide. “I’m proud of you, Prince, real damn proud. I trust it all went well?”
Lips pressed together, I gave him a small nod. He knew the deal, well, most of it.
“Well it’s a good day to celebrate, son.”
“Thanks, Sir, for everything.” My eyes went to the trophy sitting proud on his shelf. We might have won it, but it was Coach who got us there. His belief in the team, in me.
He waved his hand through the air. “It was nothing. You did all the hard work. I have some news, though. It’s why I called you in here.”
“Okay.” I shuffled forward wondering what he could be about to say.
“I ran into Coach Baxter over the weekend. He’s excited to have you starting at Steinbeck in the fall. What do you know about Zac Lowell?”
“He captains the Scorpions, right?” I’d done my homework. As soon my acceptance letter came, I’d dug up everything I could on Steinbeck and their basketball team. They had some good players, names I recognized. But from what I could tell they were lacking something. Last year, under his captaincy, they’d missed out on progressing to the elite eight because of—according to press reports—his screw up.
“He’s good. But he plays games. Thinks he’s bigger than the team. If you ask me, he should’ve been benched a long time ago. But Lowell has connections.” Coach rubbed a hand over his face. “Be careful, Maverick. You’re good. One of the best. Not everyone wil
l appreciate that.” His narrowed eyes bore into mine and I got the message. Zac Lowell was a problem. But I’d dealt with worse.
“I just want to play ball, Sir.”
“I know and like I told Coach Baxter you could go all the way. Keep your head down, work hard, and don’t get pulled into any bullshit, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, now get out of here. I’ve had enough looking at your pretty face to last me a lifetime.” He smirked and stood to hold out his hand. I slid my palm against his. “Thank you, Coach, for everything.”
“Ahh shit, Maverick, get out of here before you make this old man tear up.”
Our laughter filled the room and then I was gone.
To find my girl and start looking forward to my future.
~
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out? Kyle is sulking.”
I rolled us, caging Lo to the bed, my face hovering millimeters from hers. “This is exactly where I want to be.”
“But—”
“No buts. Just let me have this. We can go party later.” My lips brushed over hers. Once. Twice. Like a direct line to my blood, heat flashed through my body and I rolled my hips against her soft curves.
Lo’s hand slid up my chest twisting into my t-shirt. “I can’t believe it’s over. You did it, Maverick. I’m so proud of you.”
I eased away, staring down at her. “We did it. No one’s ever believed in me like you, Lo. I love you.”
“I love you too, so much sometimes I think my heart’s going to explode.”
Hearing those three words would never get old. When she’d said them to me the night at The Coastal, I felt like I was the motherfucking king. And I knew I could do anything, be anything. With Lo by my side, everything would work out.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, why?” Lo said but her eyes gave her away and I knew she was lying.
“London...”
She let out a soft sigh. “It’s just things are going to change again. You’re going to leave and I—”