LOGINTHE BREAKING POINT{Playlist Suggestion: "Desire" by Meg Myers / "Call Out My Name" by The Weeknd}~KOLT POV~I didn't even care anymore, I just completely let go of the steering wheel and crashed my mouth against hers, and the absolute second our lips met it was like a lit match hitting a pool of gasoline.She tasted like champagne and adrenaline, her hands immediately flying up to tangle in my hair, gripping the strands so tight it actually hurt as she pulled me closer.Her mouth opening for my tongue with a desperate, starving kind of heat that completely shattered whatever restraint I had left.I groaned, a rough, animal sound tearing out of the back of my throat, and I backed her up until her thighs hit the edge of my desk.I didn't even look at what I was doing, I just swept my arm across the polished wood, sending stacks of weekly reports, a heavy brass lamp, and my half-full glass of expensive scotch crashing to the floor in a shower of shattered crystal and liquor, but neithe
THE GHOST TREATMENT{Playlist Suggestion: "Toxic" by 2WEI / "I Did Something Bad" by Taylor Swift}~CHELSEA POV~Pushing open the heavy, soundproof glass doors of The Mirage for my first shift back since the Gala felt like voluntarily walking straight into a firing squad, and every single step I took across the dark, velvet-lined lobby made my stomach twist into tighter and tighter knots.I was absolutely dreading seeing him.My skin still practically burned with the memory of the freezing cold alleyway, the way Kolt had caged me against the brick wall, the way his lips had felt against my neck, and the terrifying, humiliating realization that I hadn't wanted him to stop. I had spent the last two days drowning in guilt over Kade, feeling like the absolute worst girlfriend on the planet, and I told myself that tonight I was just going to keep my head down, do my job, and completely avoid the man who was quietly ruining my life.But the second I stepped onto the main floor in my black
SEEDS OF DOUBT{Playlist Suggestion: "idontwannabeyouanymore" by Billie Eilish / "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood}~KADE POV~Walking through the shiny, ridiculously expensive hallways of Crawford Elite on Monday morning felt like steering a minefield while carrying a neon sign that said "Look at me," mostly because the rhythmic, heavy thud-clack of my aluminum crutches echoed off the lockers loud enough to wake the dead.I expected the whispers, I expected the snickering, and I definitely expected some asshole like Lucas or Hartland to make a smart comment about my giant black knee brace, but strangely enough, the entire hallway just parted like the Red Sea in complete and utter silence.Nobody dared to look me in the eye, and nobody dared to say a single word about Chelsea. Because after I walked into my father's multi-million dollar Gala with the "janitor" on my arm and didn't get disowned on the spot.I guess the student body finally realized that I really didn't give a dam
THE OBVIOUS CHOICE{Playlist Suggestion: "Line Without a Hook" by Ricky Montgomery / "Electric Love" by BØRNS}~MIA POV~I was standing on the sidelines of the turf field holding a clipboard full of list sheets that I wasn't actually reading, because my entire focus was on watching the soccer practice completely fall apart in real time.Without Kade out there running the midfield, the team was basically scrambling around like a bunch of headless chickens, and Coach Marshall was blowing his whistle so hard his face was turning a terrifying shade of purple. Kade was standing just a few feet away from me, leaning heavily on his aluminum crutches with his jaw clenched so tight I thought his teeth might break, looking absolutely miserable as he watched his entire life go on without him.Out on the field, Denver was wearing the bright yellow captain's armband, completely drenched in sweat and literally screaming his lungs out trying to get Lucas and the defense to hold a simple formation,
THE PANIC KISS{Playlist Suggestion: "Medicine" by The 1975 / "Ribs" by Lorde}~EMMA POV~I had been sitting in the exact same squeaky, uncomfortable plastic chair in the ICU waiting room for three days straight after school, just staring blindly at my AP Calculus textbook without actually solving a single problem because every time I closed my eyes all I could see was Chase collapsing on the pavement next to that stupid truck.I felt like an absolute murderer.I had been too terrified to actually walk into his room and face him or his terrifying sister, so I had just been cowardly dropping off comic books and overpriced coffee at the nurses' station and running back to my little corner to drown in my own guilt.I was in the middle of furiously erasing a math equation that made no sense when a shadow fell over my notebook.I looked up, and Zoe was standing there holding a half-eaten bag of vending machine pretzels, looking down at me with her purple hair messy and a raised eyebrow."A
THE COLD LIGHT{Playlist Suggestion: "Traitor" by Olivia Rodrigo / "Illicit Affairs" by Taylor Swift}~CHELSEA POV~"What the hell do you think you are doing, Chelsea?"I just stared at him, my back pressed so hard against the freezing brick wall that I could feel the rough edges through the thin silk of my dress. My chest thrusting up and down as I tried to catch my breath because the spot on my neck where his mouth had just been was literally burning."What am I doing?" I fired back, my voice shaking so badly but I couldn't stop myself. "You are the one who just pinned me against a wall in a dark alley, Kolt, you are the one who kissed my neck, so don't put this on me!"Kolt ran a hand over his face, looking incredibly frustrated and angry, but the anger wasn't really aimed at me, it looked like he was furious with himself."You didn't push me away, Chelsea," he said, his voice dropping into that dangerous, low gravel that made my knees feel weak. "You stood there and you leaned
THE STAKEOUT{Playlist Suggestion: "Obsessed" by Mariah Carey / "Copy of a Copy" by Louis Tomlinson}~ZOE POV~I knew Chelsea was working at The Mirage. I was the one who told her to take the damn money. But I also knew when my best friend was lying to me.For the last week, she'd been... ghostly.
THE GRIND{Playlist Suggestion: "Work Song" by Hozier / "Gasoline" by Halsey}~CHELSEA POV~My feet were bleeding.Okay, maybe not actually bleeding, but it definitely felt like my toes had been put through a meat grinder. I had been in these stupid, mandatory black heels for eight hours straight,
THE GATEKEEPER{Playlist Suggestion: "Daddy Issues" by The Neighbourhood / "Way Down We Go" by KALEO}~CHELSEA POV~That big hospital building, made of glass and metal, stood out against the dull sky.I stood at the edge of the parking lot, my hands shoved deep into my pockets to hide the shaking.
UNNECESSARY ROUGHNESS{Playlist Suggestion: "My Body is a Cage" by Arcade Fire / "Natural" by Imagine Dragons}~KADE POV~the stadium lights were super bright, almost too bright to look at. You could hear this low buzzing sound that made your head feel weird, kind of like the ache in my knee. I was







