Maxwell POV

Claire’s words followed me long after her car disappeared from view, echoing in my head with a cruel persistence I couldn’t silence. Please. Move on. They weren’t shouted, weren’t dramatic, yet they cut deeper than anything she could have said in anger. I stood there like an idiot, hands at my sides, staring at the empty stretch of road where she’d been moments ago, feeling as though something vital had been ripped out of my chest and left bleeding in the open.

I had ...