*Tatum*“Are you going to ignore me the entire drive?” I sigh, pressing back into the headrest in the passenger seat.I slide a glance in his direction, trying not to laugh at how serious he looks. He was not happy when I sat up front, but since he has actively been avoiding any proper conversation, I thought it might be fun to make him uncomfortable. “I’m not ignoring you,” He mutters, turning on the blinker. It clicks loudly, an annoying reminder of just how quiet it is in this car. I stare at the side of his face in silence while he pretends not to notice. “Sure feels like it.” I mutter.“I am focusing on driving, Tatum,” He says with a flat tone.“For five and a half hours?” I scoff. “And what about the past two weeks? Were you busy focusing on walking? I would hate for you to trip and fall on your face.”Maverick comes to a stop and finally turns his hollow eyes to face me. He blinks and then looks forward again.“It is impossible to ignore you, Tatum. I have to be with you at

*Maverick* A wave of emotions roll over me, making it hard for me to breathe as we pull up to Tatum’s family home. The large white house looks exactly the same as it did the very night I rejected Tatum. My stomach aches, and I clear my throat, a sudden itch taking over me as I reach up and massage my neck. The bushes are covered, protecting the plants from the frost of the upcoming winter, and they have blown the leaves out of the driveway. Not a single thing looks out of place, like usual. I have always loved this house, the people inside it. How no matter what, it always felt like home, hell it still feels like home. But I’m a stranger to the people inside it now. And for the sake of Tatum, I have to remain a stranger to them, someone they don’t recognize. And I have no fucking clue how to do that. As I slide the car into park, unease settles in my stomach and I glance back at Tate. Her eyes meet mine, a hidden message in them I can’t comprehend until my phone vibrates in my poc

*Tatum*Maverick leaves me staring at his back as he heads out of my bedroom door. The man is nothing if not predictable. He can’t handle anything from the past, not with a clear head. I knew coming home would be hard for him, but Artenis only added to that stress.And Maverick may deny it until his dying days, but I could see how much it hurt him to be treated like they didn’t know him. That’s the problem with Maverick. He wants so desperately to run from the past, while simultaneously craving it. He missed my family. It was plain as day to me, but he will continue to run. Hell, probably until the day he dies.I plop down onto my bed, palming my face with both hands, as I groan in frustration. Artemis being here, showing up, felt strange. It’s not that I didn’t want Artemis to meet my family. It was almost like he was trying to catch me off guard?See if he could throw me. Is that a part of getting to know me? To throw me through a loop and see if I trip up? It’s the unshakable feeli

*Maverick*My eyes transfix on the huge granite structure sprawling out in front of Tatum as she sits chatting as though there is someone there to listen. The air feels stale as my chest heaves up and down while I look closely at the names. Not the names I call them. No, here they seem so formal, so wrong. “What the fuck—” I mutter, just staring at the smooth headstone forcing my body to remember to breathe.Kiala. Timothy.Mason.Not mom, not dad. Not little dude or Mase. But their formal names, the names everyone else calls them. Not me. But it’s still my family. Not Tatum’s, not anyone else’s, but mine. Yet here she is talking to them like they mean something more to her. Like she has the right to visit them as her own. And she doesn’t. She has no fucking right to pretend like they mean something more to her. I don’t even see her move, yet somehow she is in front of me, drawing my attention as she reaches out and softly touches my bicep. I scan her face, trying to understand, tr

*Maverick* “River,” I growl, low in my chest, without taking my eyes off the bathroom door on the other side of the living room. “Is there something you’d like to say to me?” “What did you do to her?” She says, settling in on the arm of the couch facing me. “Why do you assume I did anything?” I scoff. “Maverick, I’m going to fill you in on something you may not know. When a girl literally runs from you and hides in the bathroom, that usually means you are the problem.” I hate how her words make me feel, and I turn to look at her. “And you are sure she was trying to escape me, not someone or something else?” I ask her, arching a curious brow. “She sure as shit wasn’t trying to escape me.” She sighs, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her bent knees. “What did you do?” I clench my jaw, refusing to tell River a damn thing. If Tatum wants her to know she can tell her on her own, I won’t be informing her, though. The last thing I need is River cursing me out for the kiss.