Debts and Departures

Hadley's POV

I leaned back in my seat and stirred my iced matcha aggressively, letting the plastic straw scrape against the bottom of the cup. "I still can’t believe that asshole. He was acting like he was a damn virgin or something, talking all soft like we were going to be each other’s first."

Nadia shook her head, her dark eyes wide with disgust. She sat across from me in our favorite corner booth at Cup & Clover. The small cafe smelled like vanilla, cinnamon, and the soothing promise of caffeine.

"Men have the audacity and the nerve. I am honestly so disappointed in him, Hads. I am just glad you found out before it went any further. He does not deserve your virginity."

I raised my sweating cup like a formal toast. "Say that again."

Nadia clinked her plastic cup against mine. "To never wasting your first time on lying jerks with weak jawlines and floppy hair."

We both took a long sip through our straws. For a brief second, the lingering rage in my chest settled, and I managed a genuine smile. Then Nadia tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at me from across the table.

"You know, if it wasn’t for Maddox stepping in that night, it could have been a different story."

I blinked at her, the cold matcha suddenly freezing in my throat. "True. But how did he even know?"

Nadia offered a slow, helpless shrug. "That is exactly what I was going to ask you."

I went quiet, my fingertips tapping an erratic rhythm against the condensation on my cup. The bitter truth was that I had no idea. I had not spoken a single word to Maddox Hayes since the disastrous party. The last interaction we shared involved me screaming at him in the front yard. I had called him a self-absorbed, jacket-throwing control freak with the emotional range of a teaspoon.

Nadia gave me a very specific, pointed look. It was the exact expression she used right before hitting me with an unwanted dose of moral high ground.

"I get that you hate him, but I think you might owe him an apology."

I opened my mouth to argue, snapped it shut, and let out a heavy sigh.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you might be right."

Deep down, beneath the towering layers of spite and annoyance I harbored for the guy, the facts remained untouched. Maddox did not have to intervene at Tate’s house. He did not owe me anything. Yet he had kicked that door open and dragged me out of there anyway. Whether my stubborn pride wanted to accept it or not, my nemesis had saved me from a mistake I would have never forgiven myself for.

The next day, I found myself standing on the front porch of the Hayes residence. My stomach churned with nervous dread. I had too much pride lodged in my throat and nowhere near enough of an apology prepared.

Valerie pulled the front door open, offering her usual warm, bright smile. "Hi, baby."

I returned her smile, trying to hide the anxious knot in my stomach. "Hi, Valerie. Is he around?"

Valerie stepped back into the foyer to let me pass. "He is up in his room."

I thanked her and took a deep breath, walking up the familiar wooden staircase. The door to his bedroom sat cracked open. I knocked once on the doorframe.

"Come in."

His voice sounded calm and unbothered. I pushed the door wide open and stepped inside, freezing in my tracks. His bedroom was a ghost town. Cardboard boxes stacked high against the window, posters stripped from the walls, and the closet doors left wide open to reveal empty hangers. Maddox sat on the hardwood floor, folding a gray hoodie and stuffing it into a massive black duffel bag.

He glanced up, his eyes meeting mine. "Hey."

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling incredibly out of place. "I can see you are busy. I can just come back later."

Maddox stood up, tossing the half-zipped duffel bag onto the floor. "It is fine. I have already packed everything."

I walked forward and took a seat on the edge of his stripped mattress. The springs dipped slightly under my weight. A thick, suffocating tension settled over the room, wrapping around us like a heavy blanket. We were treading in unfamiliar territory.

I cleared my throat, forcing myself to break the silence. "Congratulations on Pembroke."

Maddox leaned his hip against his empty wooden desk. "Thanks. And I am sorry about Kingsley."

I offered a tight, forced smile. "Yeah. Bummer."

I played it cool, acting as if I had not cried face-down into my pillow for three consecutive nights after the rejection email hit my inbox. I was still desperately clinging to the waitlist. I checked the portal four times a day, praying for a miracle. The very thought of attending Pembroke alongside Maddox made me want to crawl under a rock and hibernate for four years.

"I got into Pembroke too. But I am not going. I mean, who wants to go to school with their dad’s girlfriend’s son?"

Maddox let out a low chuckle. "It is not so bad. Besides, even if you did go, you would not see me much. The campus is huge."

I shot him a flat, unamused glare. "I am not trying to avoid you, Hayes."

A teasing smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Right. You just hate the idea of being around me twenty-four-seven."

I matched his smirk, letting my defenses drop just a fraction. "You are not wrong. But Kingsley is my dream school. It always has been."

He gave a slow nod, his expression shifting into something surprisingly sincere. "I get that."

The silence stretched between us again. This time, it felt sharp. It was time to rip the band-aid off. I took a deep breath, twisting the hem of my skirt around my fingers.

"I am sorry for everything I said that night."

Maddox lifted a dark brow. "For which part? The part where you called me a self-absorbed, jacket-throwing control freak with the emotional range of a teaspoon?"

I winced, feeling a hot flush creep up the back of my neck. "Ugggh. I swear I was drunk and did not mean that."

He folded his arms across his chest, his grin widening into something dangerous and playful. "Are you sure?"

I cracked a smile, the heavy tension finally snapping. "Okay. Maybe I meant it just a little bit."

We both laughed. For the first time in what felt like a decade, the air between us did not feel suffocating or hostile. It just felt normal.

Maddox shrugged, his shoulders relaxing. "It is cool. I should not have barged in like that anyway."

I dropped my hands into my lap, my curiosity finally getting the better of me. "How did you even know about Trevor?"

His jaw ticked, the playful demeanor vanishing in an instant. "Someone sent the video to the hockey team group chat."

I groaned, burying my burning face in my palms. The sheer humiliation washed over me in cold waves. "Of course. The asshat had to have a record of him pumping into her. Disgusting."

Maddox watched me for a long, quiet second. "How are you feeling about it?"

I dropped my hands, waving off the concern. "Oh, I am fine. Totally over it."

He raised an unconvinced eyebrow.

I blew out a breath, defeated by his stare. "Okay. Maybe not over it. But for what it’s worth, I am glad I didn’t give him my virginity."

Maddox nodded slowly, his gaze never leaving mine. "Yeah. There are way better guys out there, Hadley. Ones who would actually cherish it."

I looked at him. Really looked at him.

He stared back.

In that sudden, quiet stretch of seconds, I finally saw what Nadia had been fuming about since freshman year. Maddox Hayes was ridiculously handsome. He had this messy, tousled brown hair that begged to be touched, a sharp, unforgiving jawline, and eyelashes that were unfairly long. His hazel eyes were deep and intense, carrying a weight that made my stomach do a strange little flip. The physical awareness hit me like a freight train. We were just a guy and a girl alone in a bedroom, staring at each other for a beat too long.

My phone buzzed loudly in my pocket.

The strange, vulnerable spell shattered into a million pieces. I jolted upright, pulling the phone out and checking the screen.

"That is my ride." I smoothed down the front of my dress, eager to escape the sudden heat rushing to my cheeks. "Thanks, Maddox. I hope you have fun in college."

He smiled, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his sweatpants. "Wish you the same, Sunny."

Months slipped by in a blur of summer jobs and packing tape.

Kingsley never called.

My name never moved on the waitlist. There was no miracle email. There was no fancy acceptance letter in the mail. August arrived, bringing a heavy, crushing silence that cemented my reality.

I ended up at Pembroke University.

I was officially attending the one school I swore I would avoid at all costs. The one place that guaranteed awkward hallway run-ins and endless proximity to Maddox Hayes. But the universe was not finished torturing me. My father, the eternal optimist, took one look at the local housing market and hatched a brilliant plan.

The campus dorms were overbooked. The available off-campus apartments were either moldy shoeboxes with leaky roofs or located thirty minutes outside the city limits. I refused to board a public bus at six in the morning just to make it to swim practice on time. Maddox had already secured an incredible two-bedroom student-athlete apartment located right next to the athletic center. My father relentlessly coerced me into taking the second bedroom, promising it would save money and solve all my commuting problems.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to live in my car. But the threat of chronic sleep deprivation forced my hand.

Dragging my two heavy suitcases down the sterile, carpeted hallway of the apartment complex, I stared blankly at the silver numbers bolted to the door.

Apartment 305.

I groaned out loud, the wheels of my luggage squeaking in protest as I pushed the door open. Maddox had left it unlocked. He likely knew I was arriving today and chose not to stick around the living room to greet me. That worked perfectly for me.

The apartment was actually nice. It featured gray painted walls, dark hardwood floors, and a sleek kitchen island with black barstools. I had my earbuds in, blasting a pop playlist to drown out my own misery as I lugged my bags down the short internal hallway.

There were two closed bedroom doors.

Maddox had texted me earlier to tell me which room was mine, but my brain was fried from the drive. I stared at the identical wooden panels. Left or right?

Making a random guess, I reached out, turned the cold brass knob on the right door, and pushed it wide open.

I froze.

My heart shot straight into my throat, and my brain blue-screened in sheer, unadulterated horror.

There was Maddox.

He was stark naked, positioned directly on top of a red-haired girl who was equally naked beneath him. Her pale legs were wrapped tightly around his waist. I had a front-row, high-definition view of his bare ass flexing as he drove his hard cock deep inside her vagina. He was mid-thrust, the wet, slapping sound of their bodies colliding cutting straight through the faint music leaking from my earbuds.

I shrieked at the top of my lungs.

Panic seized my limbs. I grabbed the door handle and slammed it shut with brutal force, nearly giving myself whiplash. My phone slipped from my grasp, and my earbuds clattered onto the hardwood floor. I stumbled backward until my shoulder blades hit the opposite wall of the hallway. My face burned with absolute fire. My chest heaved as I squeezed my eyes shut, trying and failing to erase the graphic, fleshy image burned into my retinas.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" I shouted at the ceiling in pure agony.

Why me?

This was supposed to be my grand college entrance. This was my highly anticipated fresh start. I was supposed to reinvent myself, not walk in on my mortal enemy raw-dogging a stranger on move-in day.

I slid down the wall, dropping my face into my hands. I was going to need an industrial amount of bleach for my brain. Immediately.