ᴛᴏᴏ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ » ᴢᴀᴄʜ ʜᴇʀʀᴏɴ

Chapter Thirteen

April 25, 2018

Corbyn's warning to get some sleep was not threatening enough to keep Zach from staying up nearly all night.

He'd walked Maeve up to her room, the elevator ride silent. It was the longest they'd been together without speaking.

When they stopped in front of her door, he wanted to say so many things. He never got the chance because she met his eyes for the first time since she'd turned around in the pool, and he was lost. There was anger there, but also sadness, emptiness and exhaustion.

She offered him a weak smile, one that was the farthest from authentic it could be, before unlocking her door and slipping inside.

He returned to his own room, changed, and laid in bed in the dark. He didn't sleep.

He couldn't understand it. He didn't understand how any boy could take advantage of her. It made him angry, and for the first time in his life, he had a deep-rooted dislike for someone he'd never met.

She deserved more than Greyson. She deserved to be loved, and the fact that some guy had been showing her otherwise for years made him more upset than he would've expected.

Then, he was thinking about her heading home for a couple days after the last U.S. tour the following evening. She was going to see him.

Doubts started creeping in. He knew better; by the way she talked about him, she didn't have feelings for him anymore—she'd said it. He had treated her terribly for too long and she was well aware and fed up with it. She wouldn't let him in again, she wouldn't allow herself to be subject to the obvious charm she'd spoken of him possessing, but... he wouldn't be there with her, so how could he know?

An overwhelming sense of the desire to keep her from Greyson flooded his system and took over his mind. He'd only known her for a few months, but he cared about her more than he admitted to the boys, to Eben.

He didn't want her to come back to him thinking about someone else.

Then, sitting in his hotel room surrounded by darkness, he allowed himself to realize she was not just another friend to him.

She was more than that.

***

The Invitation Tour in the United States had come to an end.

Everyone returned to the hotel with high senses of accomplishment and contentment. All had their eyes set on heading home to visit their families before they would be off to Europe. All but Zach.

Maeve's attention was pulled from stacking her belongings back into her suitcase when a knock sounded on her door. She walked over, pulling it open to reveal Zach.

"We're finished," she said, smiling a little as she stepped inside the room, allowing him to enter as well. He eased the door shut behind him.

"For a little bit, yeah. It didn't feel like three months."

He glanced over her shoulder, seeing her luggage propped open on the white comforter.

"Packing?"

"Mhh hmm," she hummed, looking back absentmindedly. He nodded but she didn't see.

"I didn't text him back," she said after a moment.

He was slightly surprised she brought it up, but was relieved she did. He had wanted to say something about it all day.

"Good," he said lightly. She looked up at him. "He doesn't deserve a response."

He could tell she tried to hold it back as she cast her eyes to the floor, but he caught the ghost of a smile on her face.

She was keenly aware of the silence of the room and the blood pumping in her ears when she looked up again, both of them just watching each other with gentle gazes. They were standing close to one another and she tried not to think about him stepping forward again.

You never had a moment like this with Greyson, was the thought that popped into her head, and while she was still processing that, Zach dropped his eyes. He shifted on his feet, taking a breath.

She'd never know, but he hadn't wanted that moment to end either.