LOGINDanny's POV The first thing I smelled wasn’t hospital bleach. It was flowers. Thick, cloying, over the top perfume that made my head throb in time with the steady beep-beep-beep of the monitor.I cracked one eye open. My vision was a jagged mess of white light and blur, but as it cleared, I realized I was in a forest. Not a real one, a botanical garden of pink lilies. They were everywhere. On the windowsill, the nightstand, stacked in vases on the floor. It looked like someone had robbed a florist and dumped the evidence in my room."Is this a funeral ground?" My voice sounded like I had swallowed a handful of gravel. It pained my throat just to vibrate. "Did I actually die just like that?"A chair scraped harshly against the floor. Chadwick was there in a second, hovering over the bed. He looked… wrecked. His expensive white shirt was wrinkled, his hair was a nest, and his eyes were bloodshot. The predator I had been terrified of in the study was gone. In his place was this twitch
Danny's POV The silence in my study was absolute, the kind of heavy, expensive stillness that usually felt like a victory. I sat at my mahogany desk, the amber liquid in my glass catching the glow of the desk lamp, reflecting the $5,000 transaction still pending on my screen. He hadn’t sent it back. My heart had done a slow, triumphant roll at that, a small, golden tether still holding him to me.Then, at 1:04 AM, the phone screamed.I didn’t recognize the number. I almost let it ring out, but a cold, instinctual prickle climbed the back of my neck."Hello?""It’s me... Erica..." The voice was a jagged mess, a frenzy of static and sobbing. "We’re at the hospital. St. Jude’s. Danny... he got hit. A car... he’s unconscious, Mr. Chad. There’s so much blood..."The glass didn't just slip; I watched it shatter against the floor, bourbon soaking into the Persian rug like a dark, spreading wound. My lungs suddenly felt like they were filled with concrete."Which unit?" I didn't recognize my
Danny's POV The bathroom air was thick, smelling of bleach and the salt of my own skin. Noah’s hands were still on me, his grip like iron, pulling me into a heat I didn't deserve. My head was spinning, half from the tequila, half from the way his mouth had just been tracing the line of my throat. "What's your deal, Connor?" Noah’s voice had dropped an octave, vibrating against my chest. He didn't let go of me, but his head snapped toward the door. "You cheated on me, remember? You threw us away for a summer in Milan with a guy who didn't even like you." Connor, the rich kid with the perfect hair and the venomous eyes didn't even flinch. He stepped further into the cramped hallway, his lip curling as he looked at my half undid shirt. "That was a mistake, Noah. A lapse. But this? This trash? You are really trading a Sinclair’s reputation for a total nobody? For Leo Adams little charity case?" The words felt like a physical slap. I felt the heat in my face drain away, replaced by a
Danny's POV The air in the car was so thick with unspoken shit I could practically taste it. It tasted like iron and expensive leather. I was slumped against the passenger door, my forehead pressed to the cool glass, watching the campus lights blur into long, distorted streaks of gold. My skin was crawling. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt the phantom weight of that leather belt around my neck. I felt the heat of Chadwick’s mouth, that aggressive, horizontal bruise of a kiss that I had actually returned. "You went to see your dad?" Noah’s voice broke the silence, steady and low. He wasn’t looking at me, his hands were gripped on the steering wheel, his knuckles white. I didn't even turn around. "We aren't exactly on speaking terms. And I don't like you right now, so don't start." "Danny, you don't have to be so mean," Erica piped up from the back seat, her voice dripping with that can’t we all just get along energy. "He literally just rescued your boring professor dad, Show s
Danny's POV Who, Danny?" Noah’s voice was a low, dangerous rumble. He was leaning so close I could see the golden flecks in his eyes, those intense, light brown eyes."Who’s trying to buy you?"I felt a spike of pure, unadulterated panic. I forced a laugh, though it sounded like glass breaking in my throat. "Nobody, Noah. Just... a silly relative. My Great Aunt. She’s overreacting and thinks I am starving. It’s fine."I didn't wait for him to process the lie. I looked at Erica and Gabriel, who were watching us like we were a Netflix drama about to hit a season finale. "I will meet you guys at the party later, okay? I have some... things to do. Library stuff. Uhh.... don't start the party without me."I was vibrating with a mix of fury and something darker, something that felt like a magnet pulling me toward the one place I should have been running away from.The Administration building was quiet. Most of the professors had cleared out for the weekend, but I knew his car was still i
Danny's POV The lecture hall was freezing, the kind of air-conditioned tundra that makes you wonder if the university is sponsored by a parka company. I sat there, slumped in my seat, staring at the empty chalkboard while my brain replayed the drama from last night.“Sorry? About what?”The words were stuck in my head on a loop, like a glitchy TikTok sound. I actually let out a dry, hysterical chuckle. I couldn't help it. My stepfather had shown up at my dorm with a bouquet of pink roses the size of a shrub and a Google searched list of what feminine boys loved and when I asked for an apology for him being a sociopath, he looked at me like I was speaking ancient Greek.Was he actually that clueless? Or was he just so toxic that his brain physically couldn't process the concept of being wrong?"Okay, now he’s officially lost it," Gabriel whispered, leaning over from the seat next to me. "Danny, are you actually laughing at our conversation or have you totally lost your mind?"I blinke
Danny's POV The mirror in my dorm room was smaller and cheaper than the one back at the house, but it didn't hide the truth any better. I stood there for twenty minutes, dabbing thick, beige concealer over the side of my jaw. Every time the sponge touched the skin, a sharp, electric throb reminded
Danny's POV"Wait...wait, Sir," I gasped, my hands bracing against the cold, polished wood of the office door.I managed to wedge an arm between us, pushing against Chadwick's broad chest. The soft fabric of the professor's shirt, smooth under my trembling finger, but the heat radiating from him wa
Danny's POV I woke up face down on my dorm mattress, still wearing the pink hoodie. It smelled like woodsmoke and expensive soap, his scent. I scrambled to the communal bathroom and scrubbed at my skin until it was red and raw, desperate to wash the feeling of his hands off me. But the soreness
Danny's POV The ride back was silent, but it wasn't the kind of silence that makes you feel peaceful. It was the kind of silence that happens right before a building collapses.We turned into our neighborhood, and the first thing I saw was the red and blue glare of police lights reflecting off the







