I looked at her, and the clever retort I had ready simply dissolved.
"You're right," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
Maya blinked, her posture faltering just a fraction. She clearly hadn't expected me to stop fighting.
"You're right," I repeated, closing the gap between us even further. This time, I wasn't trying to crowd her or intimidate her.
I was just... there.
"I can't leave you alone because for once, I've met someone who doesn't buy the act. And it terrifies me, Maya. It terrifies me because it woke something in me. Something... real."
The silence that followed was different.
It wasn't the silence of an argument; it was the silence of a cliff's edge.
Maya's eyes searched mine, her breath hitching. Her expression softened again, this time, completely. The jagged edges of her anger rounding out into something vulnerable, something taken completely off guard.
For a heartbeat, she wasn't the judge and I wasn't the convict.
We were just two people in a quiet room, and the air between us hummed with a frequency I'd never felt before.
I reached out, my hand trembling slightly as I brushed a stray hair from her forehead. My touch was soft, uncharacteristically gentle.
"Maya," I breathed.
She didn't pull away. She stayed there, looking up at me with wide, searching eyes, her guard lowered just enough for me to see the girl behind the fortress. I leaned in, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
I didn't think.
I didn't plan.
I just needed to close the gap.
I needed to see if the "genuine connection" she talked about felt anything like this. I tilted my head, my eyes dropping to her lips, my breath ghosting over her skin.
I was going to kiss her. I was going to let the mask fall completely and just... be.
But just as my lips were about to touch hers, the spell snapped. Maya flinched. She didn't just pull back; she recoiled like I was made of acid.
She turned her head, my lips grazing her cheek instead of her mouth. She shoved me back, her hands flat against my chest, her expression twisting from that fleeting softness into something far worse: pity.
"Don't," she said, her voice sharp as a razor.
I stood there, my arms hanging uselessly at my sides, feeling the cold air rush into the space where she'd just been. My face felt hot, the rejection stinging worse than any insult she'd hurled.
"I thought..." I started, but I couldn't finish the sentence.
"You thought what? That a soft look and a touch would make me forget what you did to Sienna? That I'd be another trophy for your collection?"
She straightened her jacket, her composure returning like a suit of armor. "I told you, Cole. I don't do friction. And I certainly don't do guys like you. You don't get a chance with me. Not now. Not ever."
She walked toward the door, her steps echoing on the hardwood. She paused with her hand on the knob, looking back over her shoulder.
"Go back to your playground, Cole. It's the only place you're king. But don't ever think for a second that I'm one of your subjects."
The door clicked shut behind her.
I stood in the center of the room for a long time, the silence pressing in on me from all sides. I looked at the spot where she'd been standing, then at the half-finished drink on the table.
I let out a short, hollow laugh.
"Fine," I whispered to the empty room. "Message received."
I walked over to the mirror in the hallway.
I looked at the "fuckboy" staring back at me.
I adjusted my hoodie, smoothed my hair, and forced the smirk back onto my face. It felt heavy, like it was made of lead, but I didn't let it slip.
"You're Cole St. James," I told my reflection. "You don't need saving. You don't need connections. You just need the next drink and the next girl."
I grabbed my keys and my phone.
I needed noise.
I needed the bass to rattle my bones until I couldn't hear my own thoughts. I called Jax.
"Yo," he picked up on the second ring. "You alive? We're at The Vault. It's wall-to-wall with freshmen who look like they're looking for trouble."
"I'm on my way," I said, my voice steady and cold. "Save me a seat at the bar. I'm taking my crown back tonight."
"That's my boy," Jax laughed. "See you in ten."
I walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind me. I didn't look toward the café district. I didn't think about Sienna or the quad or the way Maya's skin had felt for that one, fleeting second.
I was back in the motions.
The easy, shallow, painless motions.
I drove to the club, the engine roaring, the city lights a blur of neon.
I walked into The Vault like I owned it.
Jax and Theo were already in a booth, surrounded by three or four girls who were laughing too loud. They didn't care about what had happened at the quad. They were my boys, and as long as the drinks were flowing and the girls were pretty, the world was exactly as it should be.
"Look who it is!" Theo shouted, raising a glass. "The legend returns!"
I slid into the booth, flashing my most dangerous grin at the girl next to me—a redhead with a septum ring and eyes that promised absolutely no depth.
"What'd I miss?" I asked, leaning in.
The music was deafening, the lights were blinding, and for the next four hours, I was the life of the party. I danced, I drank, I flirted.
I was untouchable.
I was the king.
But every time the music dipped for a second, or a girl leaned in to whisper something meaningless in my ear, a small, cold voice in the back of my head whispered back.
Hollow man.
Empty.
I just ordered another round and laughed harder. I was going to forget her. I was going to wipe that look of pity off the face of the earth.
I didn't need saving.
I just needed to stay in the dark where it was safe.