3- She Leaves
1121 Words
Parker woke to sunlight, tangled sheets—
and immediate, crushing regret.
For one suspended second, she didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Didn’t think.
She just lay there wrapped in warmth and the lingering haze of last night, cocooned in expensive sheets that smelled like cedar, whiskey, and unmistakably—
Maxton.
Then reality hit.
Violently.
Parker’s eyes opened fully, and she turned her head slowly toward the other side of the bed.
And there he was.
Maxton Sutton.
Asleep beside her.
One arm stretched across his stomach. Dark hair falling messily across his forehead. Bare skin glowing gold beneath the early morning light spilling through the windows.
Beautiful.
Dangerous.
Real.
Her chest tightened so hard it hurt.
Because last night hadn’t been a dream.
Every kiss.
Every whispered confession.
Every desperate touch.
Every look that felt too honest to survive daylight.
It had happened.
And now she was lying in his bed, in his room, in the house where they had spent years pretending they were only friends—
with absolutely no idea what came next.
Panic crawled up her spine.
Fast.
Sharp.
Parker sat up carefully, clutching the sheet to her chest as her heartbeat spiraled completely out of control.
What had they done?
No—
worse.
What had she done?
Because she knew exactly what this meant to her.
Everything.
But what if for him it had only been one reckless night before she left?
One emotional goodbye wrapped in alcohol and nostalgia?
The thought made her stomach twist.
Parker looked at him again, searching his sleeping face for answers he couldn’t give her unconscious.
And then—
buzz.
Her attention snapped toward the nightstand.
A phone lit up against the dark wood.
Buzz.
Again.
Parker frowned instinctively.
She shouldn’t look.
She knew she shouldn’t.
Then the screen flashed again.
Vanessa ❤️
Parker froze.
Completely.
Another message preview appeared beneath it.
Last night was fun. You left too soon.
The air vanished from Parker’s lungs.
No.
Her stomach dropped so violently she thought she might actually throw up.
No.
No.
No.
Before she could stop herself, she grabbed the phone.
And that was her mistake.
Because there were more messages.
Weeks worth.
Flirty.
Late-night.
Intimate in a way that felt like being cut open slowly.
Then one from earlier the night before.
Can’t wait to finish what we started.
Parker’s hands began shaking instantly.
A broken sound escaped her throat—half laugh, half heartbreak.
Of course.
God, of course.
Why had she let herself believe one night changed everything?
Why had she been stupid enough to think she finally mattered differently to him?
Because this was reality.
Maxton Sutton belonged to everyone.
And Parker Taylor had simply been the girl foolish enough to love him anyway.
Tears burned hot behind her eyes, but she forced them back with brutal determination.
She would not cry here.
Not in his bed.
Not while he slept peacefully beside the wreckage of her heart.
Parker set the phone down carefully, like touching it any longer might destroy her completely.
Then she moved.
Fast.
She gathered her clothes from the floor with trembling hands, dressing in painful silence while every memory from the night before replayed in cruel detail.
His hands in her hair.
The way he kissed her like she mattered.
The way he said her name.
God.
It hurt.
By the time she reached his desk, she could barely breathe correctly.
And then she saw it.
A framed photo from junior year.
Him grinning at the camera.
Her laughing beside him.
His arm wrapped around her shoulders like she belonged there.
Like she always would.
That nearly broke her.
Parker stared at the photo for one long, devastating second before reaching for a pen.
She found a blank piece of paper with shaky fingers.
And wrote exactly three words.
Forget last night.
She stared at the note.
The lie of it nearly made her sick.
Because she knew she would remember last night for the rest of her life.
Slowly, she folded the paper and tucked it beneath the frame.
One last look at him.
One final goodbye.
Then Parker walked out before the sun fully rose.
She didn’t stop moving.
Not through the silent hallways.
Not past the portraits lining the walls.
Not when memories tried clawing at her from every corner of the Sutton estate.
She made it outside.
Into her car.
Hands shaking so badly she almost dropped the keys.
The engine roared to life.
And Parker drove.
Fast enough to outrun the ache tearing through her chest.
By the time sunlight flooded the horizon, Parker Taylor was already miles away from the Sutton estate.
And she swore to herself she would never come back.
—
Maxton woke smiling.
For one brief moment, he stayed still, eyes closed, letting the memories hit him all over again.
Parker laughing beneath him.
Parker tangled in his sheets.
Parker kissing him back like she’d wanted him just as long as he’d wanted her.
Finally.
Finally.
He turned toward her side of the bed—
And froze.
Empty.
Still warm.
But empty.
The smile vanished instantly.
“Parker?”
Nothing.
Maxton sat up fast.
Too fast.
He checked the bathroom.
The balcony.
The hallway outside his room.
Nothing.
A strange unease settled low in his chest.
Cold.
Wrong.
Then he saw the note folded beneath the picture frame.
His stomach dropped.
He grabbed it immediately.
Opened it.
Forget last night.
The words hit like a physical blow.
Maxton stared at them once.
Twice.
Then a third time like maybe they’d change.
His jaw clenched hard enough to hurt.
No.
Absolutely not.
That wasn’t happening.
He reached for his phone.
No messages from Parker.
No calls.
He dialed immediately.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
“Fuck.”
The curse tore out of him as he shoved out of bed and dragged clothes on without thinking.
Within minutes he was storming downstairs.
“Has Parker left?” he demanded at the first staff member he saw.
The woman startled slightly.
“Yes, sir. Miss Taylor departed before sunrise.”
His pulse spiked hard.
“Where did she go?”
“She didn’t say.”
Maxton was already moving toward the garage.
Already calling her again.
Already knowing deep down exactly what this felt like.
Loss.
Real loss.
Something had happened after he fell asleep.
Something bad enough to make Parker run.
And he had no idea what.
He tightened his grip around the crumpled note in his fist.
For the first time in years, Maxton Sutton felt completely powerless.
Because the one person who had ever truly mattered to him was gone—
and he hadn’t even gotten the chance to stop her.
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