1- The Pact
1339 Words
Seventeen was supposed to feel infinite.
That was the lie adults loved to tell.
That at seventeen, the world finally opened. That life became bigger, brighter—full of endless roads and limitless choices waiting just beyond the horizon.
Parker Taylor thought seventeen felt more like standing at the edge of a cliff.
Because every second after that came with an expiration date.
Three more months until graduation.
Three more months until New York.
Three more months until she left behind the only town she had ever known—
and the only person who had ever made leaving feel impossible.
Especially him.
“You’re doing it again.”
Parker blinked out of her thoughts and looked up from the hood of the black vintage Camaro she’d been leaning against.
Maxton Sutton stood a few feet away, watching her with that infuriatingly perceptive expression that always made her feel like he could hear thoughts she never said out loud.
Moonlight spilled across the Sutton estate grounds behind him.
The massive party inside the mansion glowed gold through towering windows—music, laughter, money, power—all spilling into the warm summer night.
But Maxton somehow eclipsed all of it.
At seventeen, he already looked dangerous.
Dark hair falling carelessly across his forehead. White button-down rolled at the sleeves. Tie loosened like he’d stopped pretending to follow rules hours ago.
Maybe he never had.
He was Maxton Sutton.
The heir everyone watched.
The boy everyone wanted something from.
And the only person Parker had never learned how to protect herself against.
“You’re staring at the sky like it betrayed you,” he said, stepping closer.
Parker crossed her arms. “Maybe it did.”
A laugh slipped out of him—low and familiar enough to hit somewhere beneath her ribs.
God.
That laugh was going to ruin her life someday.
“You’re overthinking again,” he said.
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
She rolled her eyes, but he was already close enough now that their shoulders brushed lightly against each other.
That tiny contact shouldn’t have mattered.
It always did.
The noise from the party faded into the background.
It always happened like this with them.
The rest of the world blurred until it felt like there was only Maxton.
Only the way he looked at her.
Only the dangerous comfort of standing this close to him.
“What’s going on in that head of yours, Parker?”
Too much.
Everything.
The fact that she was leaving.
The fact that he was staying.
The fact that every future she imagined somehow still circled back to him.
Worst of all—
the terrifying possibility that he would never feel the same way.
“Just thinking about the future,” she said carefully.
Maxton leaned back against the Camaro beside her, tipping his head toward the stars.
“Sounds exhausting.”
She smiled faintly. “Scared of commitment?”
“No.”
His eyes shifted toward her.
Dark. Steady.
“Scared of futures I don’t choose.”
That caught her off guard.
Because underneath the confidence—
underneath the Sutton name—
there was always something sharper hiding in him.
Something restless.
Something trapped.
Parker glanced toward the estate.
Toward the empire waiting for him inside those walls.
“Your future’s already decided.”
The words came out quieter than she meant them to.
Maxton’s jaw tightened slightly.
For a second, the mask slipped.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s the problem.”
Silence settled between them.
Heavy.
Honest.
Parker looked at him then—
really looked at him.
And suddenly he didn’t seem untouchable at all.
He looked like a boy carrying a life he never asked for.
“Do you ever wish it was different?” she asked softly.
Maxton didn’t answer right away.
The wind shifted around them, carrying distant music through the trees.
Then finally—
“Sometimes.”
The honesty in his voice hit her harder than it should have.
Because Maxton Sutton never admitted weakness.
Not to anyone.
Before she could stop herself, Parker reached for his hand.
His gaze dropped immediately to their intertwined fingers.
Neither of them moved.
Neither of them let go.
Her pulse stumbled violently in her chest.
“What about you?” he asked quietly.
Parker swallowed.
“I’m leaving.”
“I know.”
“I mean really leaving.”
His thumb brushed lightly against her knuckles.
“I know that too.”
Emotion tightened unexpectedly in her throat.
Because she suddenly realized something terrifying:
He sounded like he’d already thought about losing her.
“You’ll come back,” he said.
It wasn’t confidence.
It sounded like hope.
Parker looked away.
“You don’t know that.”
“No,” Maxton admitted softly.
Then his eyes locked onto hers again.
“But I know you.”
Her chest tightened painfully.
He always did this.
Said things like they meant more than they should.
Looked at her like she mattered too much.
And she never knew if it was real—
or if Maxton Sutton simply belonged to everyone a little bit.
“You’re going to become terrifying,” he continued.
She blinked. “Terrifying?”
“Absolutely ruthless. Expensive. Probably legally feared in multiple states.”
That made her laugh quietly.
“Good.”
His mouth curved slightly at the sound.
Then his expression shifted.
More serious.
More dangerous somehow.
“How about this?”
Parker narrowed her eyes immediately.
“That tone always leads to trouble.”
“Probably.”
She sighed dramatically. “Go on.”
Maxton straightened beside her.
And suddenly the air felt different.
Charged.
“If we’re both still unmarried at twenty-four…”
Parker stared at him.
“…we marry each other.”
Silence.
The world genuinely seemed to stop moving for a second.
Parker laughed automatically—
because she had to.
Because if she didn’t, she might take him seriously.
The problem was—
he looked completely serious.
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
“Maxton Sutton,” she said slowly, “are you proposing a backup marriage plan?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No smile.
Just certainty.
And somehow—
that made it infinitely worse.
Parker stared at him beneath the moonlight, heart beating hard enough to hurt.
“Why twenty-four?”
“Because by then,” he said quietly, “we’ll know whether life became what we wanted.”
“And if it didn’t?”
His gaze held hers so intensely it almost stole her breath.
“Then we choose each other.”
Something inside her cracked open.
Because she would.
God—
she already would.
And maybe that was the real danger of Maxton Sutton.
Not that he could break hearts.
But that he could make promises sound real enough to build your life around.
Parker tried to laugh again, softer this time.
“What if one of us is engaged?”
“Then they’re engaged to the wrong person.”
The answer came too fast.
Too honestly.
And suddenly she couldn’t breathe correctly.
Because this didn’t feel hypothetical anymore.
It felt like standing too close to something life-changing.
Slowly, Parker held out her hand.
“Fine.”
Maxton’s mouth curved slightly.
“Fine?”
“Fine.”
He took her hand immediately.
Warm fingers wrapping around hers like they belonged there.
“By twenty-four,” he said.
Parker looked at him—
really looked at him—
and realized with terrifying certainty that this boy could destroy her without ever meaning to.
“By twenty-four,” she whispered.
Maxton lifted her hand slowly.
Pressed his mouth against her knuckles.
Soft.
Intentional.
Deadly.
Her breath caught sharply in her chest.
“Deal.”
And under the stars, beside his car, with the entire world waiting on the other side of that driveway—
Parker made a promise to the only boy she would never survive losing.
Neither of them knew yet—
that one day, keeping that promise would cost them everything.
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