I know that someone of you may think I'm pretty awful for keeping Maxerica apart for so long. There is still a lot that has to happen before any pairings are set and I'm not entirely sure who those pairings are going to be right now. Sometimes I'm very sure that it will be one couple but other days I wonder if I wouldn't minding seeing someone else end up with Maxon/America. I have a poll running on my profile page where you all can vote and decide what you would like and I promise, I will take that into consideration. However, if you want pure Maxerica from me please turn to my other story, The Hidden Truth (which I will be updating tomorrow). To all of you who have stuck with my story for the past 11 chapters (and will continue to read) I thank you so much for your reviews and constant support. I hope that you are still enjoying this story even if you don't like the pairings right now. There are some big things coming up in the next few chapters that some of you will really love. But, you guys make my day every time you leave a review and it really makes me want to keep updating as frequently as possible. You guys are simply 100% incredible!
The Devil Wears Westwood
Maxon's POV
Okay? None of this way okay. I couldn't believe what I had just agreed to. My people were going to look for me guidance and they were expecting me to have a queen. It wasn't that I didn't want to marry Kriss, my mind flashed back to just a few weeks ago when I did really enjoy her company on our wonderful date, it was just that I hadn't completely fallen in love with her yet. But I knew that I needed to and part of me wanted to be able to love again—it just wasn't coming as quickly or as easily as I had wanted it to. I looked up at her trying to think of what to say. I had to agree to her request, I really just wanted her to be happy but I wanted to be happy too. I was tired of being miserable all the time and not being able to move on. I walked towards her offering my hand to her. I was just going to have to try harder to be better to her between now and Saturday. Perhaps then she would want to come back shortly after her trip to Columbia.
"Kriss," I whispered softly, offering her my hand. "Would you like to go to dinner with me still?" She looked at me and back to my hand for a few moments, keeping hers almost stapled to her sides. Her fingers twitched slightly as if she were tempted to take my offer but something was holding her back. I kept it held out and she looked at me, shaking her head. "Please, Kriss. Maybe just some dessert or something?"
"Maxon, I really just want to go to bed." I nodded my head, turning to open the door for her. "But," she started making me turn around and look at her trying to be hopeful. "You can walk me to my room if you want to. I'd really appreciate it actually. I still jump at shadows since the last Rebel attack. I keep seeing all those people who get shot."
I smiled softly at her and went to wrap my arm around her shoulders. She shied away from the movement so I opted for trying to take her hand once again, which she finally let me do. This time I was lucky enough to actually be able to take it in mine as we walked down the hallway. However, there wasn't a spring in her step like there was after we got back from the jeweler. Instead, we just walked in silence our hands glued to our sides without any sign of real emotion or chemistry. Her eyes were glued on her shoes as we continued to walk and I tried to think of all the words I could say to try and make her feel better but there weren't any. When I had told America that I didn't do well with women when they were crying, I really should have told her that I didn't know how to handle women when they were upset at all. It's not that I didn't want to know how to comfort them, I just didn't. It wasn't something that I had been taught by my father—in fact I couldn't remember a single time that he had known what to do in order to comfort my mother.
When we reached Kriss' room, Scott was standing outside at his post. Seeing him made my blood boil and all I really wanted to do was throw a few punches at him. I knew that I didn't have any right to feel this way since I was the one that had thrown America away and I did have some feelings of love towards Kriss. I couldn't keep myself from glaring angrily at him however. He seemed to slowly back away from the door, trying his hardest not to look at me. His eyes fixed on Kriss for a moment and it was the first time that she looked up. She looked at the both of us and I could see the tears pooling in her eyes. No wonder she was upset, he had given me another reason to want America back and I hadn't been able to control myself. She shook her head sadly and walked into her room. I shut the door behind the two of us, still glaring daggers at Scott.
"Kriss, I'm still so sorry. I promise, please give me a chance to take you out for dinner before we have our coronation and your vacation to your home."
Kriss curled up on her bed refusing to look at me. But there wasn't any sobbing and I hoped that her tears hadn't fallen out of her eyes and that she could how terribly sorry I was for everything that I had caused. She refused to answer my question but I was still just as stubborn as she was. I wasn't going to leave this room without an answer and I wanted the answer to be yes. I sat down at her desk not wanting to push her limits. "Kriss, please. I am engaged to you. I want to be your husband and I want to be able to completely fall in love with you. Please give me the opportunity to give you the life that you deserve." Sometimes I felt so terrible that the words I said to her seemed to be such lies but I hoped there would be some truth to it someday. I wanted to be able to love and be happy with her. Time. That's what it was going to take. Time and more time. I felt terrible for needing that from her but I had to do this. I had a duty to my country to pick a wife and I had made my choice. Perhaps with our time apart I would grow to miss her the way I had missed America at Christmas and that would help to solve some of our problems.
"Yes, I'd…I'd love to Maxon. Like the old dates," she whispered softly. "Please, will you just go?"
"Yes, my dear." I turned and walked out of her room. "I'll have some dinner sent to your room." With that, I turned and walked out of her room. Scott was leaned against one of the walls looking up towards the ceiling. I remembered when kissing America would cause me to do that after I had retired to my own rooms or I had to go to meetings. I stood there in the hallway and glared at him. He was one of the few friends I had had my entire life. I had told him my feelings about America and he had taken me down to the jewelers to get the ring. Yet, here he was taking over. I had hoped that she truly loved me and was struggling to get over me just as much as I was her. But clearly she was having a much easier time and I couldn't help to be jealous of that, too.
"Prince Maxon," a voice said calling me back to the room. Scott's voice. I looked at him, still glued to the wall almost forcing a distance between us. "I'm sorry for whatever Lady Kriss is going through that has been making her so upset. I'm sure it must be hard for you to see your fiancée struggling so much."
"This life is tiring, Scott." I almost snapped back at him. He fell more back against the wall. "So," I said trying to cool down my temper. "You and Lady America seemed to be enjoying yourselves this evening."
His whole body seemed to twitch at the mention of her name. He almost looked as if he wanted to lunge forward and slam me against the wall, completely angered that I had noticed what was going on between the two of them. I didn't understand why there was so much anger in me asking about their date. I obviously wasn't competition anymore and he was free to date her now that she wasn't a part of the Selection. Yet, I could still see that his knuckles were whitening from the fist that he had formed and was trying so hard not to throw. I knew that I deserved it. I had thrown America away and now I was putting Kriss in endless misery. Somehow, I was going to make it up to her and be the best husband that I could possibly be but I had to figure out how I was going to finally be able to let America go first. If only I could take the trip with her and have some alone time with her.
"Listen here, Maxon. She was heartbroken and needed some time alone. Then Daniele said that she had been working really hard and that Celeste suggested that she have some time out away from work. I didn't mean to kiss her but I don't necessarily regret that it happened. But you need to get your damn act together and stop hurting Kriss with whatever fingers you have laying around for Lady America. You had the chance to pick her and you let some anger throw it away. You picked Kriss and you need to start treating her better!" He screamed, taking step after step closer to me so that he was almost yelling directly in my face. Never had he acted like this and the only person who had ever confronted me before like this was America, in the early days of my Selection.
I lightly pushed him back out of my face. Now that my father was gone, nobody was going to be able to treat me this way. I didn't mind him yelling at me, I knew that I deserved that too but he wasn't going to get confrontational with me. I wasn't going to stand for that. "I'm fully aware of my improper behavior towards my future wife. I am trying to make up for it. You knew that I was torn between the two of them for a really long time. It's not my fault that I have lingering feelings, you can't tell me you don't have feelings for that girl you liked for all those years. That is something that I am working on and I will find a way to treat Kriss better. It just won't be my fullest capability until I'm able to let go of America all the way."
He stepped back from me and went back to his post. "Just stop trying so hard, Maxon. You make it sound like it has to be this big and bold journey but it doesn't. Just let America go." I could tell that I had wounded him. He had lost that girl a few months before my Selection had started and it had been haunting him ever since. Girls threw themselves at his feet but he had never once made any moves or advances towards any of them. If America was going to help fix his broken heart, I should just let her. Or at least that is what a good friend would do.
"I'm sorry, Scott," I said as I turned around and headed back to my room for the evening. He just nodded as he melted back against the wall going back to performing his job.
America's POV
"And then what?"
"He kissed me. It wasn't anything big or even long but he kissed me," I repeated to Celeste and Marlee for the third time. I didn't know what to do or how to respond to what had transpired between us. In the moments that had passed since Officer Alexander and I had kissed, all I could think about was the night that Maxon had told me that I was going to be his wife. That I was going to be the one and that he had hoped that by sending all of the other girls home he had finally won my heart completely. That was the last time that I had felt anything remotely close to this and I didn't think that I had another chance with love. But there were clearly men who were still interested in me, as Celeste pointed out that there would be. I just didn't think that I was ready and I didn't want to hurt anyone else.
"You could let Maxon go," Marlee started slowly. "I know how much he meant to you but he isn't exactly on the market."
"If he's so in to you, why not give it a try? You don't have to be all over him but rebound is always good," Celeste said, rolling over on to sit up on my bed. Apparently it still wasn't growing on her how uncomfortable it was. I made a mental reminder to myself to find out what her bed felt like sometime if this one was as hard as stone.
Marlee rolled her eyes at Celeste's suggestion, which was almost what I wanted to do myself. I didn't want to play rebound like she must have used to with any of the boys she had dated before Maxon and Daniele had come into the picture. "I don't want to hurt or use anyone. I'm familiar with both types of pain and what it does to people. I still have feelings for Maxon, you both know that. But I'm not going to wreck his engagement over what we had. I'm not going to hurt Kriss like that, no matter how much she hates me or whether or not that's what she thinks I'm trying to do."
"Then be his friend," Marlee suggested. Celeste shook her head as if the safe bet were the dumbest idea that she had ever heard. "There's nothing wrong with friendship," she concluded looking Celeste dead in the eye. Sometimes, I figured, as much change could overcome a person, some things and behaviors would probably always stay the same.
"Be his friend, then." Celeste got up from the bed and smiled back at the two of us softly. "I'm going to get some proper beauty sleep, I have a breakfast date in the morning with Daniele and I'm going to look my absolute best," she said waiving goodnight to the both of us. I wondered if she still worried about people still seeing her as only beautiful and bringing nothing else to the table. I hoped that Daniele would help to show her otherwise and give her the future that she actually deserved. Marlee had gotten her cliché happily ever after with Carter and was now two months in to adding to that fairytale. I didn't want to be left out of the mix but I was afraid of what might happen if I started to play with someone else's emotions when I wasn't ready to move on. That was what Maxon had been forced to do with Kriss—or at least that was what it had seemed like during Aspen's promotion celebration and the reception dinner—and I wasn't blind to how much it was hurting her. If I could erase my past with him so that they could be happy, I thought sometimes that I actually would.
Marlee picked out a movie for us to watch and had one of the guards sneak an old television into my room. We finished off our night doing that, her staying with me since Carter was working as a guard again until Maxon found a new job for him.
Maxon's POV
I had blown off almost all of my meetings for the day in exchange to prepare dinner for Kriss. I had overseen the cooks making all of it and had decorated the gardens to as much perfection as they could possibly reach. I had stopped by her room twice to make sure that we were still going to be able to have this date and though a little reluctant at first, she had agreed that were still on the second time with a small smile on her face. I was happy that we were going to enjoy some time together and wanted it to increase whatever spark there was between us. I was sad at how much I was at the point of desperation, hoping and wishing that she would be able to help me fall endlessly in love with her. I hated that I had to try so hard but there wasn't much I could do about it anymore. I wanted to bring back those feelings that had risen inside of me the last time that we had enjoyed a private meal just the two of us and couldn't help but pray they would return stronger.
I walked down to her room to pick her up for our date. I couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked in that strapless blue dress, silver heels showing from the small slit in the side. I lifted her hand to my lips and held her hand as I walked down to the gardens with her, telling her that I believed she was as beautiful as the sunset and telling her a few lines of poetry I had heard my mother read to my father a long time ago. She smiled and blushed gently as we walked down the hallway and I was grateful that I was making her feel better about me. Perhaps I wasn't as despicable a person as I—and others—thought that I was.
We reached the gardens and my heart dropped. The entire dinner I had set up had been torn to shreds and the food was thrown into the plants or smashed into the ground. My heart dropped at our evening being ruined. But my entire body stopped responding to any sort of movement or stimuli as I saw the read letters painted on the bench as well as one of the walls.
WE ARE STILL HERE, PRINCE MAXON. BEWARE.
