로그인THANEI blanked out for a second, just staring.Then Sarah’s face twisted into a frown as her eyes shifted over my shoulder to Rachel behind me, who looked just as shocked, if not even more.“Uh… hi, Sarah,” I managed, sounding almost too cheerful for the kind of shock I haven't recovered from.Although Sarah still looked confused, the frown stayed. It wasn’t like she saw anything obvious, but Rachel’s hair looked like she’d just gone ten rounds in a boxing ring. And those swollen lips… yeah, I wasn’t even going to pretend I hadn’t had something to do with that.Still, I doubted Sarah’s wildest imagination would go there. At least, not with me and her daughter.She exhaled slowly, her gaze moving between Rachel and me again. I kept my face neutral.“Don’t ‘hi’ me, Thane,” she finally said, her tone firm like a mother scolding a five year old kid. “You’re already in big trouble with your dad, and I’d advise you to hurry up and meet the cab guy downstairs.”I exhaled. “Gosh… I’m so sorr
THANEI practically rolled out of bed, grabbing my boxers from the edge. “I’m late,” I said, heading for my phone on the table.Rachel’s eyes followed me. “Late? You didn’t mention you were going anywhere. Can I ask where that might be?”Right. For one stupid second, I completely forgot everything that led to us being here. Spending one beautiful moment with her didn’t erase the shit waiting for me outside this room. The thought of being away from her for a week was already driving me crazy, but what terrified me more was the look on Rachel’s face the moment I said, “Italy.”I picked up my phone and turned to see her already sitting up in bed. “Milan, precisely.” I added.“Wow. Fuck.” She let out a dry scoff, a frown quickly forming on her forehead.I pretended I didn’t notice her eyes burning into me from the bed. I didn’t look up, I just scrolled through my call logs.Exactly. It was Pops.A fresh wave of anger surged through me as I remembered what happened in his office barely thi
THANEI’m this close to Rachel. Those dreamy blue eyes locked into mine like they were digging through every damn emotion sitting there. Honestly, I almost wished she could read me, so she could see how hard I was fighting myself, how selfish I kept telling myself this felt.I still had unfinished business with Wendy's case and Pops. And I knew doing this with Rachel right now broke every excuse I’d been hiding behind. Every lie I told myself about not hurting her in the end.But hell… resisting those lips? It was so fucking Impossible for me.“What’s with the pause?” she asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t have a condom.”“What?” I blinked, dragged straight out of my head. Of all the things, that’s what she went with? Suddenly, Suddenly, I was snapped out of my haze, instantly puzzled by her unfiltered outburst. Like seriously? This girl just mentioned a condom like it was something she was used to.She looked genuinely confused, brows drawn together, and it threw me off more than it sho
RACHEL“Shorty…” he whispered.His hand moved slowly. His fingers sliding up to mine, warm and electrifying. My eyes dropped to where our hands touched and then lifted back to his again.“Why not?” I asked softly.My eyes caught the tightness in his jaw when he shook his head, as if trying to fight himself from admitting something his body had already decided.We both wanted this, but he had no idea I wasn't letting him run away from this feeling again. I didn’t care if Noah and T were just two rooms away from us right now.He said nothing, and that silence only made me more frustrated in a way that didn’t make me mad at him but mad at myself for looking like I was the one desperate. It made me feel…Before I could finish that thought, his face broke into a sudden nervous laugh.“Shit.”He licked his lips, and leaned forward, his forehead rested against mine as we breathed the same air.“What’s funny?” I asked, confused and nervous at the same time.“This dude just embarrassed me…” Hi
RACHELThe word oxygen is English, not Spanish, but for some reason it sounded like Thane had suddenly started speaking Spanish. I was sure he said oxygen, yet my brain scrambled trying to figure out what it meant… or how I was even supposed to react to it.“Have you…” he studied my face carefully, like he was reading a complicated textbook written across it. “Have you taken a shower yet?”A response was already forming on my tongue when an embarrassing hiccup suddenly burst out of me.I froze.I couldn’t even remember the last time I hiccupped, and I absolutely hated that it happened right in front of him.Thane sighed, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He walked to the table, grabbed the bottle of water sitting there, and handed it to me. “Drink.”My hand moved like a thunder bolt, grabbing it and gulped the water down quickly. It wasn’t just the hiccup that disappeared. The cool water seemed to wash through my whole body, calming the rush of blood pounding in my vei
RACHELI thought I was angry at Thane a second ago… but the moment I heard his voice on the phone, the anger faded like a dying flame.To be honest, I wasn’t really mad at him. I was worried. I kept wondering what had happened between him and Simon after the whole thing with Noah’s case. The way he sounded earlier didn’t sit right with me. Right… Thinking about those two actually reminded me of something else. I honestly thought Tiara and Noah were somewhere having a serious conversation about everything that happened. Instead, I walked into my room and found them making out on my damn bed.I shook my head. What could I say? Maybe I should learn from them. Have sex now, deal with the disaster later.I grabbed my phone from the chair and turned the screen on. Surprisingly, Han Jae Hyun’s message popped up. It was damn wrong but I think I needed a real distraction from hooking my mind with Thane’s thoughts. I stared at Jae’s message.Jae: Hi, Rach… Figured you didn’t want to call me af







