Se connecterSaraThe hospital room felt too quiet after Mom finally left. She had given me that awkward hug and said goodnight in this fake cheerful voice like everything was normal. I just nodded and turned my face away. Now it was just me and the beeping machines and some nurse footsteps far down the hall. My lips still tingled from Cole’s kiss earlier. I kept touching them without thinking then yanked my hand away and muttered to myself what an idiot I was.I grabbed my phone with my good hand. The broken arm ached every time I moved wrong but I ignored it. My thumb hovered over Cole’s name. I typed out “What the hell was that” and stared at it for a second before deleting the whole thing. Then I tried “Are we really not cousins” but that looked even dumber so I erased it too. My heart was pounding like it wanted to jump out. In the end I sent something short and stupid. “You shouldn’t have done that.”He replied so fast it made me jump a little. “But I did. And you kissed me back Saphira. Twi
SaphiraMy heart was still slamming against my ribs like it wanted to jump out and run after Cole. The door clicked shut behind Mom and I just lay there staring at the stupid white ceiling with my good hand pressed to my mouth. My lips felt weird. Warm. Tingly. Like they still remembered exactly how Cole kissed me. Both times. And my cheek burned from where I slapped him. Twice. What the hell was wrong with me?Mom walked back in fast, her shoes squeaking on the floor. She had that look on her face, the one that said she was about to start asking a million questions while pretending she wasn’t mad.“Saphira, what was that?” she asked right away. She set her coffee down too hard and some spilled on the little table. “Cole just showed up out of nowhere? Your face is all red.”“Nothing happened, Mom,” I said quickly . My voice came out higher than normal. I tried to sit up more but my broken arm hurt so I just flopped back like an idiot. “He just surprised me, okay? I wasn’t expecting hi
ColeI sat on the edge of my bed and held my phone tight. Mom had just called. Her voice sounded tired on the phone. "Cole, I have news," she said. "Saphira is in the hospital. She fell down the stairs at home. There was a big fight with Sara and their mom. She has a broken arm and a concussion. The doctors want her to stay overnight."My heart beat fast. I had always liked Saphira. We grew up together. Everyone called us cousins. We played in the backyard when we were little. We ate ice cream and told each other secrets. . We were not blood cousins only I know. Our families connected through marriage, not blood. Rowan was Sara and Saphira's real dad. That news changed everything for me. I liked Saphira even more after I heard it.I liked her smile. I liked her laugh. I liked the way she looked at me when no one else was watching. She was pretty and kind and strong. Now she was hurt and lying in a hospital bed. I knew I needed to see her.I stood up and walked to the kitchen. Mom sto
SaraI stood in Rowan’s bathroom with the water still dripping off me, staring at my face in the mirror like I was waiting for it to argue back. My cheek looked like someone had slapped a strawberry across it. Swollen, hot, ugly. I poked it once and immediately regretted it because it stung like hell. “Nice one, Mom,” I muttered under my breath. “Real mother of the year stuff.”Rowan had left a clean towel on the sink and one of his old black t-shirts folded next to it. I pulled it on and it hung down to my thighs like a dress. The soft fabric felt weird against my skin, too gentle or something. Like it was trying too hard. I grabbed the sweatpants he’d left too and rolled the waistband three times so they wouldn’t fall off my ass.When I stepped out, the apartment was quiet. Too quiet. No Mom yelling at Dad, no Saphira being all noisy , no doors slamming. Just the low hum of the fridge and Rowan clattering around in the kitchen like he was fighting with the cabinets.I walked down th
SaraI turned the tap on and splashed water on my face. It was cold, cold. I stared at the water running down the drain and something inside me just... broke. Not loud. Not with more crying. Just this quiet, sad click. I can’t stay here. I can’t keep doing this. Every day waiting for the next explosion, the next time I say the wrong thing and someone gets hurt. Saphira was in the hospital because of it. Because of me being here.I heard them still yelling downstairs. Mom’s voice going up again, Rowan telling her to lower it, Dad saying something about calling the hospital for an update. Their voices overlapped, talking over each other like usual. Chaos. Always chaos.I dried my face with the towel that still smelled like Mom’s fancy soap and went back down. They all turned when I hit the bottom step.“I’ll go with you,” I told Rowan. My voice came out small but steady. “For tonight. Maybe longer. I don’t know.”Mom stood up fast. “Sara, no. You’re not leaving with him.”I looked at he
Sara I stood there with my cheek still burning from Mom’s slap and my scalp screaming where she’d yanked my hair, watching the three of them turn the living room into a circus nobody bought tickets for. Dad had just stepped in, eyes jumping from Rowan to Mom like he couldn’t decide who to punch first. He looked at my face and his whole body went tight. Not yelling. Just that quiet thing he does when he’s really pissed, the kind that makes you wish he would scream instead because at least screaming is loud and over fast.“What the hell is going on here?” Dad asked, voice low but cutting through everything.Rowan didn’t even give Mom a chance to answer. “Liv lost it. She was dragging Sara around by the hair when I walked in. I’m taking her out of here for tonight at least.”Liv let out this sharp laugh that sounded like it hurt her throat. “Oh, of course you are. Mister Hero shows up and suddenly he’s taking my daughter. You always do this, Rowan. Always trying to steal her like she’s
~Liv~“Clubbing.”He barked a laugh. “It’s… ” he glanced at the clock on the nightstand “... ten a.m. on a Tuesday. There’s no club open.”“Then we find one. Or we drive to the nearest city with a pulse. Or we hit a dive bar that turns into dancing after dark. I don’t care. I need music loud enough
~Liv~The phone kept buzzing in my hand like it was personally offended I wasn’t answering fast enough, Ava’s name flashing over and over, and I swear I could already hear her voice in my head before I even hit accept. Rowan glanced over from the driver’s seat, jaw tight, eyes still red from all th
~Liv~The whole night was already a shitshow wrapped in a fake smile, me clinging to Rowan's arm like we were the perfect couple while we barely looked at each other, and then they sat us at this big table with the whole team and their girlfriends and wives and whatever, and of course Kayla had to
~Liv~ I dragged myself out of Mia’s apartment at six-thirty the next morning because if I stayed on that couch one more second I was gonna start screaming and never stop. My head still felt like someone had used it for puck practice, but I needed air, needed movement, needed something that wasn’t







