CHAPTER 4 Shattared

The second knock rattled the door like a gunshot.

Noah’s cock was still buried deep inside Ethan, cum leaking around the base, when Lila’s voice rang out again—bright, unsuspecting, terrifying.

“Baby? It’s me! I used my key—open up, I brought your favorite takeout!”

Noah yanked out with a slick sound, panic exploding in his chest. Ethan scrambled off the couch, cum dripping down his thighs as he snatched his jeans. Noah barely had time to grab the blanket before the lock clicked.

Lila stepped inside, smiling with a plastic bag in one hand—until her eyes adjusted to the dim lights, the scattered clothes, the two naked, sweat-slicked bodies.

The bag hit the floor. Takeout spilled.

For one heartbeat, nobody moved.

Then Lila screamed.

Lila Voss stood there.

Her expression shifted the moment she saw Ethan inside the apartment.

The silence stretched.

Her eyes moved across the room.

The couch.

The empty glasses.

The way Noah stood between her and Ethan.

Understanding slowly filled her face.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” she said quietly.

Noah didn’t respond.

Lila laughed once, a short broken sound.

“You slept with him.”

Noah stepped forward carefully. “Lila—”

She hit him.

Not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to show how furious she was.

You— you fucking liar!” She flew at Noah again, fists swinging. Her palm cracked across his face so hard his head snapped sideways. “How long?! How long have you been fucking him behind my back?!” Tears poured down her cheeks instantly, mascara streaking like black rivers. She hit him again—chest, arms, anywhere she could reach—sobbing so violently her whole body shook. “I loved you! 

“You humiliated me!” she shouted.

Ethan stood up quickly.

“I didn’t know—”

“Oh please,” she snapped. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know he had a girlfriend.”

Noah stepped in front of Ethan.

“This isn’t his fault.”

“Then whose fault is it?” Lila demanded.

Noah exhaled slowly.

“Mine.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“How long?” she whispered.

“Long enough that I can’t keep lying anymore.”

She stared at him.

“You’re serious.”

Noah nodded.

“I’m gay.”

The words landed like an explosion.

For a moment Lila didn’t react.

Then the tears started.

She hit Noah again, crying openly now.

“Do you know what this does to me?” she said. “People will think I was fake. That our entire relationship was a joke!”

Noah grabbed her wrists gently.

“Lila, please—”

She pulled away.

“You want the truth out so badly?” she said bitterly.

Her eyes flicked toward Ethan.

“Fine.”

She walked toward the door.

“Let’s see how much you two like each other when the entire campus knows.”

The door slammed behind her.

The apartment fell silent.

Then Noah’s phone buzzed.

Then again.

Then again.

Ethan’s phone began vibrating too.

Messages poured in from every direction.

Group chats.

Social media.

Campus gossip pages.

Ethan opened one post and felt his stomach drop.

CRESTWOOD CONFESSIONS:

Soccer captain Noah Reyes caught with top law student Ethan Vale. Guess the golden boy isn’t so perfect after all.

Comments flooded in beneath it.

Hours later, under the dim glow of a single lamp, Noah did the only thing that still felt true.

He pulled out the small velvet box he’d hidden for months. Inside was a simple silver band.

“Marry me,” he whispered, voice cracked but certain. “Secretly. Tonight. Just us. No one else gets to take this away.”

Ethan’s hands shook as Noah slid the ring onto his finger. They kissed through tears—slow, desperate, promising forever in the wreckage.

Noah’s phone rang.

His father.

He answered slowly.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end was cold.

“Tell me the rumors about you and that boy are not true.”

Noah glanced at Ethan.

“They are.”

The silence that followed felt endless.

“You’ve embarrassed this family,” his father said before hanging up.

Across the room, Ethan’s phone buzzed again.

Then again.

Then again.

But these weren’t gossip messages.

They were emails.

From professors.

Professor Hargrove:

Ethan, we need to discuss the situation currently circulating online.

Another message arrived seconds later.

Professor Klein:

Your name is trending across the university network. This could affect your academic standing.

Then a third email appeared.

Dean of Law Faculty:

Mr. Vale, report to my office first thing tomorrow morning.

Ethan’s chest tightened.

He looked up slowly.

“Noah…”

“What?”

“My professors know.”

The phone buzzed again.

This time it was a message from his father.

Come home immediately.

Ethan’s hands started shaking.

“I think…” he said quietly, “I might lose everything.”

Before Noah could answer, the apartment lights flickered as another notification appeared on Ethan’s phone.

A new headline.

BREAKING: CRESTWOOD LAW DEPARTMENT REVIEWING ETHAN VALE AFTER CAMPUS SCANDAL.

Ethan stared at the screen.

His future—his career—everything he’d worked for suddenly felt like it was collapsing.

And the worst part was that the university talk had only just begun.