LOGIN“Fu..uck...." I said and exhaled as Dominic moved in and out of me so hard and fast that I breathed in short gasps. I didn’t want to do it and I didn’t even believe I would. But somewhere around 3 a.m., after lying awake with my thoughts running in circles, I made the decision anyway. The problems didn’t stop coming. One after another with no solution in sight but just pressure building until it felt like I was being buried under everything at once. And then there was the offer sitting there in my head like an answer I didn’t want to acknowledge. Five thousand dollars per night.My whole body froze as I stared at the ceiling, trying to understand what I had just done. I just had sex with Dominic again… even after I promised myself I wouldn’t. Even after I told myself that one time was the last time. I lay there quietly, breathing uneven, my thoughts spinning in different directions at once. I wasn’t supposed to be here nor was I supposed to be doing this. But I had, because when every
I had just come back from seeing Zara and honestly, for a few hours, things felt a bit lighter in my chest. We had talked like nothing ever happened, like the silence between us had not stretched into something awkward for weeks. That was the thing about Zara, no matter how bad things got between us, we always found a way back to normal eventually. I walked into the house still feeling that small relief in my system, the kind that only came after you’ve laughed too much with someone who actually understands your chaos. I closed the door behind me, dropped my bag somewhere near the chair and exhaled slowly, already thinking about food, rest, and maybe scrolling my phone for a while before dozing off. But the moment I stepped further inside, I stopped. Carol was home and that was unusual. She never got back this early, not unless something had gone wrong or she was too tired to continue her day outside. I looked at her properly and immediately knew something was off. She was sitting in
Weeks had passed, tests came and passed, and somehow I survived through it all thanks to Professor Marcus who surprisingly kept to our deal concerning his course. He was gonna do it anyway, not Luke he had a choice. School had been exhausting lately with lecturers acting like theirs was the only course we offered, assignments were piling up endlessly, and sleep had become something I only remembered existed whenever I saw people yawning around me. Still, I pushed through because I had no other choice. Final year wasn’t for the weak and every day felt like another reminder of that.Somewhere in the middle of all the stress, Ophelia’s insane party happened and honestly, it was the best party I had ever attended in my life. That girl was actually crazy. The party looked like something straight out of a celebrity reality show. Lights everywhere, expensive drinks flowing like water, loud music shaking the walls, and cameras flashing every few seconds. There were different young social medi
Classes had been hectic today. Tests were next week and I was not playing with them, not when I was this close to the finish line. I had stayed an extra hour after my last class going through my notes and by the time I packed up and headed out it was almost six and my stomach had been making sounds for the last two hours that I was choosing to ignore.I was starving and all I could think of was food, specifically about what was in the fridge at home and how fast I could get my hands on them, when something happened that made me forget I was hungry entirely.Ophelia was walking toward me.Let me explain something about Ophelia.In sophomore year she slept with a guy that Zara had a very obvious and very public crush on. That alone would have been enough to put her on the list but she didn't stop there. She went as far as taking pictures of herself with him while he slept and sent them to the general group chat for our whole set to see and particularly Zara. I had never forgotten it.O
The headache hit before I even opened my eyes.That specific kind of headache that was dull and persistent, sitting right behind my forehead like something that had moved in overnight and was not planning on leaving quickly. I lay there for a moment with my eyes still closed and let the ceiling exist above me without looking at it and tried to piece together the order of last night's events with the limited resources my brain was currently offering.My eyes opened.The envelope was on the nightstand beside me. I had put it there when I got home at past one in the morning and just emptied my bag onto the nightstand the way I always did when I came in late and there it sat now in the morning light looking completely ordinary for something that was not ordinary at all.I reached over and picked it up.I opened it and counted it again even though I had already counted it twice last night because apparently my brain needed a third confirmation before it was going to accept the number as re
The hotel bar was exactly what I needed.It was loud enough to drown out thinking and dark enough to feel anonymous. I had driven here by 10pm without a specific plan but just to be away from my apartment for a while. My day felt cursed already. From Zara, to the motherfucker of a man, I went to his house to hand over my resume for the job he got for me and it happened to be a scam. I found a stool at the bar and ordered something strong and drank it with the intention of using alcohol to drain down the thoughts that filled my head and it somewhat helped. Not really enough but enough to take the sharpest edges off everything and let me sit with it without the immediate physical discomfort of feelings I hadn't asked for.The bar gradually filled around me with couples, groups, solo travelers, the usual night assembly of people who had ended up here for their own various reasons. The music was good, the lighting was low and I ordered a second drink and then a third and somewhere in the
Reid?!"I said it before I could stop myself.He was standing in the doorway in a jacket and dark jeans with his hand still on the door handle. My brain launched immediately into a full investigation.What was he doing here? How did he know I was here? Has Zara finally said something? Did someone c
Two days.I had not gone home properly, I had not gone to class. I had eaten whatever the hospital vending machine offered at odd hours and slept in the chair beside Carol's bed in increments that didn't qualify as real sleep and I had watched nurses come and go and monitors beep and the light outs
The thing about Wednesdays was that they always started with the kind of energy that made you feel like the week was already losing.Double lectures back to back, a hallway that smelled like someone had spilled an entire coffee cart somewhere near the science block, and approximately three hundred
BRIELLEThe bass from the DJ booth bled through the bathroom walls like a heartbeat that wasn't mine.I had my back against the cold tile, fingers gripping the edge of the sink. My dress was hiked up to my waist and my breath kept coming in short gasps. The guy who was fucking me..Jason, Jax, Jorda







