เข้าสู่ระบบThe second-floor hallway was empty when I arrived.I went straight to his door because waiting in the kitchen would have felt like losing. It stood half open. Morning light cut across the carpet in a hard white line as I pushed it wider with my shoulder, supply caddy in hand, and stopped.Rhys was still in bed.He lay on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes, sheet pushed down to his waist. Bare chest. The faint marks of last night’s game still showed along his ribs. His phone sat face-down on the nightstand next to an empty water bottle. For a second the room was quiet enough that I could hear him breathe.Then he spoke without moving the arm from his face.“You’re late.”“I’m on time.”“You’re late for what I wanted.”I set the caddy down harder than necessary. “Get up. I need to strip the bed.”He dropped his arm and looked at me. His eyes were heavier than usual, still half-sunk in sleep, but the focus in them was already sharp. He didn’t smile.“Come here.”“No.”“Sloane.”The w
Second period started. Rhys played like something meaner had gotten into him. He threw a heavy hit at the boards that made the glass in the box rattle. Avery cheered. Mrs. Langford winced and then clapped. I kept the glasses full and my eyes on the ice longer than I meant to. Late in the period he looked up. It was only a second—helmet tilted, eyes finding the family box through the distance and the lights but he looked straight at the place where I stood near the back wall. I didn’t look away fast enough. Something flickered across his face, too quick to name, before he turned back to the play. The horn sounded. Intermission again. I escaped to the service corridor with the excuse of more napkins. The restroom he had mentioned was unlocked. I stepped inside, locked the door, and braced my hands on the marble counter. The mirror showed flushed cheeks and eyes that looked too bright. I ran cold water over my wrists and tried to slow my breathing. The door handle turned, met resist
Something sharp flashed in his eyes. He dropped the bag and crossed the small room in three strides. I backed up on instinct until the edge of the counter pressed against my lower spine. He stopped close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him, close enough that the clean scent of his soap mixed with the faint remaining trace of whatever perfume Avery had left on his hoodie. “Say that again,” he said, quiet. “Which part? The spoiled part or the asshole part?” “The part where you pretend this is only about the help.” His hand came up and braced on the counter beside my hip, not touching me, but close enough that the shift of his body trapped me in place. My pulse hammered so hard I was certain he could see it in my throat. I hated the reaction. I hated more that he had learned exactly how to provoke it. “You’re in my space,” I said. “You’re in my pool house.” “Because your mother put me here.” “Because I asked her to.” The admission sat between us, blunt and unapologe
"Say what?”“That you don’t want me to move.”The words hung between us, dangerous and accurate. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest. I could see the pulse at the base of his throat. My own heart was slamming so hard I was certain he could hear it. The anger in my blood had nowhere left to go except straight into the other, more complicated heat that had been building since the night he grabbed my wrist in the hallway.“I hate you,” I said.“I know.”“I mean it.”He lifted his hand and for a second I thought he would touch my face. Instead his fingers brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear, light enough that it could have been accidental if not for the way his eyes stayed locked on mine. The contact was barely there. It still sent a clear current down my spine.A phone buzzed against the desk behind me and at the same time Rhys’s gaze dropped to my mouth. The air between us felt stretched thin enough to snap. I hated how easy it would be to close the last inch. I hated m
The next day,i entered the kitchen which smelled like coffee and the citrus . A single mug sat drying on the rack. I found the sticky note she left on the counter."He’s home so don't cause more trouble for me Sloane."I crumpled the paper and shoved it in my back pocket.The back stairs felt longer than they had the day before. Every step tightened something behind my ribs. I told myself I was only here because she needed the help and the Langfords paid on time. I told myself a lot of things that felt thinner the closer I got to his door.Rhys stood at the window with his back to me, phone pressed to his ear while speaking in the low, easy tone . He wore black training shorts and a white T-shirt that had ridden up slightly on one side. The morning light cut across his shoulders. He didn’t turn when I stopped in the doorway, but the line of his spine shifted like he already knew I was there.“Yeah,” he said into the phone. “Tell Coach I’ll be twenty minutes late. Something came up.”
I didn’t sleep well.Every time I closed my eyes I saw him at the top of the stairs, hands in his pockets, watching me like he had already decided the next move. By morning my jaw ached from clenching it through the night. I pulled on jeans and a faded black sweater, tied my hair back, and left before my mother could ask why I looked like I had been arguing with someone in my dreams.The Langford house was quiet when I arrived through the service entrance. My mother’s note on the kitchen counter was short and precise: *Second floor. Guest rooms and Rhys’s wing. Supplies in the hall closet. Stay out of the master suite.*I took the back stairs two at a time.The second-floor hallway smelled like lemon oil and the faint clean scent of the laundry service they used. I started with the guest rooms because they were farthest from his door. Dusting. Vacuuming the edges the weekend staff always missed. Changing the pillowcases even though no one had slept in them. The work was familiar. It g







