Chapter 22: Middle of nowhere

The adrenaline from the Annex heist is still humming in my veins, but the air in Jaxson’s SUV has finally cooled.

Jaxson pulls the car over near the old overlook—a spot where the trees break to show the lights of Eastview sprawling out like a fallen constellation. It’s quiet here. No cameras, no coaches, and no Chloe.

"You don't have to go home yet, do you?" Jaxson asks, his voice low. He’s leaning back against the leather seat, the tension finally leaving his massive shoulders.

"Leo thinks I’m with Sarah until ten," I say, glancing at the dashboard clock. "I have time."

I look at the Polaroids sitting in the center console—the images of Miller and Chloe.

"What are you going to do about her?" I ask softly. "About Chloe?"

Jaxson stares out at the horizon, his jaw tight. "I’m meeting her tomorrow before first bell. I’m going to show her the photos. I’m not going to scream or make a scene. I’m just going to tell her it’s over. And then I’m going to tell her that if she tries anything funny I’ll hand the photos to her parents."

He turns to look at me, and the coldness in his eyes melts into something much softer, something that makes my stomach do a slow, dizzying flip. "I’m done letting them dictate how I live, Maya. I’m done hiding you because I'm afraid of what they'll do."

"We still have to hide, Jax," I remind him, reaching out to touch his hand. "Not from them. From Leo."

Jaxson’s fingers lace through mine, his grip firm and warm. "I know. But hiding because we want to is different than hiding because we have to. For the first time, this... whatever this is... it belongs to us. Not to the Thorne name, not to the team. Just us."

He pulls my hand up, pressing a lingering kiss to my knuckles.

The next day the air at Eastview High has shifted. To the rest of the world, nothing has changed. Jaxson Thorne is still the untouchable King of the ice, and I am still the girl from the flats who keeps her head down and her grades up. But there is a secret current running between us now, an invisible thread that pulls tight every time we pass each other in the hallway.

That morning the cafeteria is buzzing. Chloe is conspicuously absent, and Miller is sitting alone at the end of a table, looking like a man who expects the ceiling to collapse on him at any moment.

I’m standing at my locker when I feel a presence behind me. I don’t jump. I’ve learned the rhythm of his footsteps.

"Heads up, Vance," Jaxson says, his voice loud enough for a passing group of sophomores to hear. He drops a heavy textbook onto the ledge of my locker. "You dropped this in the library. Try to keep your stuff together."

It’s an old act, the arrogant athlete talking down to the clumsy girl, but as he leans in to place the book, his hand brushes against mine. In the split second our skin touches, he slips a small, folded piece of paper into my palm.

I don't look at it until I'm safely tucked inside a bathroom stall.

The Old Boat House. 8:00 PM. I’ll bring the pizza, you bring the chemistry notes. I missed you this morning.

A small, giddy smile tugs at my lips. It’s ridiculous. It’s dangerous. But as I tuck the note into my pocket, I realize I’ve never felt more alive.

The weeks that follow are a masterclass in deception. We find pockets of the world where Eastview doesn't exist. We meet at the lake, where the only audience is the rustling pines. We meet in the back of the town’s only 24-hour laundromat, sitting on top of whirring dryers while we share a single pair of earbuds.

Jaxson tells me about the pressure of the Thorne name—how every goal he scores feels like a debt being paid to a father who only sees him as an investment. And I tell him about the flats. I tell him about the way the air smells like rain and woodsmoke in the autumn, and how Leo used to carry me on his shoulders to see the fireworks over the city.

"You do like pizza, don't you?" I laugh as we wrestle for the last piece.

"Yeah." He laughs, wiping the sauce on the corner of my lips. A blush creeps up my face when he licks it off his finger. "With extra pepperoni." He winks.

The next day

"You're staring," he whispers. We’re sitting on the tailgate of his SUV, parked at the edge of the overlook. The stars are so bright they look like they’ve been spilled across the sky.

"I'm just trying to remember what your face looks like when you're not pretending to be mean to me," I tease, nudging his shoulder with mine.

He laughs, the sound low and warm in the quiet night. He reaches out, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "It’s getting harder, Maya. Every time I have to walk past you in the hall and act like I don't want to grab your hand... it feels like I’m holding my breath for eight hours a day."

"We only have a few more months," I say, though the thought of graduation feels like a different kind of ending. "Then the scholarship kicks in, and we're out of here."

"I don't care about the scholarship anymore," Jaxson says, his eyes searching mine. "I mean, I want you to have it. I want you to have everything. But if I had to choose between the Thorne name and this... right here? It wouldn't even be a choice."

He leans in, his lips meeting mine in a kiss that tastes like the peppermint he always chews.

I pull away upon seeing the light of a distant car winding up the hill toward the overlook.

"We should go," I whisper. "Leo’s started checking the odometer on the truck."

"Just five more minutes," Jaxson pleads, pulling me back into the circle of his arms.

I let him. I give myself those five minutes. Because in the back of my mind, I know that peace is a fragile thing in Eastview.

"Mara." He calls when I jump off the car. "Tomorrow. The hockey team will hold the yearly bonfire. I want you to come. Please."