로그인LATE NIGHT STATIC{Playlist Suggestion: "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys / "Call Out My Name" by The Weeknd}~CHELSEA POV~The glowing red numbers on my cheap digital alarm clock said it was 2:14 AM, but it felt like I had been staring at the cracked paint on my bedroom ceiling for a hundred years.The apartment was completely dead silent, except for the faint, steady sound of Chase's breathing coming from the other room.Which should have been comforting to me since he was finally home and actually healthy, but instead the quiet was just leaving too much room for the thoughts I was desperately trying to run away from.I rolled onto my side, tangling my legs in the thin bedsheets, and stared at my cell phone resting on the floor next to my mattress.I was supposed to be a good person. I was supposed to be the loyal, loving girlfriend who was standing by Kade while he recovered from a devastating surgery that was basically my fault, but every time I closed my eyes, I didn't see Ka
THE PULL{Playlist Suggestion: "traitor" by Olivia Rodrigo / "Glimpse of Us" by Joji}~CHELSEA POV~I was sitting on the edge of Kade's bed in Knox's townhouse, staring at the black brace locking his leg in place, and I felt like the absolute worst human being to ever walk the earth.He was tracing the knuckles of my right hand with his thumb, his green eyes looking at me with this soft, completely unguarded adoration that made me want to throw up from the sheer, crushing guilt of it all. I was trying so hard to be the perfect girlfriend, nodding and smiling while he talked about his physical therapy schedule and how Denver was holding the team together, but my brain was just screaming at me the entire time.Liar. Fraud. Traitor."You know, once I get this brace downgraded to a sleeve, we should actually go somewhere," Kade was saying, his voice raspy but hopeful, completely oblivious to the war going on inside my head."Just you and me, Chels. Maybe drive up the coast for a weekend.
CODE RED{Playlist Suggestion: "Monster" by Starset / "Let Me Down Slowly" by Alec Benjamin}~KOLT POV~I wasn't even supposed to be looking at the security feeds because I had spent the last two days trying to convince myself that I could actually operate like a normal human being and keep my distance from her. But my eyes automatically flicked to the monitor for the main floor just out of habit, and the second I registered who was standing by the bar, the blood in my veins literally turned to ice.Reed Mitchell.Antonio was giving him a walkthrough because my father was still trying to appease the Mitchell family for some upcoming real estate merger, but that wasn't what made my heart completely stop beating in my chest.It was the girl standing ten feet away from him, squeezing a plastic bag like a shield, her face draining of color so fast she looked like a ghost on the grainy black-and-white camera feed.Chelsea wasn't supposed to be here during the day, she was supposed to be s
THE TRIGGER{Playlist Suggestion: "Saturn" by Sleeping At Last / "bury a friend" by Billie Eilish}CHELSEA POVI walked into The Mirage through the back service entrance on Thursday afternoon, the metal door shutting behind me with a loud, echoing clank that made me jump, because I had finally made the absolute, non-negotiable decision to quit.The club smelled completely different during the day....just a depressing mixture of industrial bleach, stale beer, and cold air conditioning....and I kept my head down as I walked straight to the employee locker room, terrified that Kolt might actually be in the building even though Antonio had sent out a memo saying the executive offices were closed until the evening.I just couldn't do it anymore.I couldn't keep pretending that I was okay, I couldn't keep looking at Kade's sweet, trusting face while the memory of my bare back pressed against his brother's desk burned through my mind on a continuous, shameful loop. I was toxic, I was ruini
THE CONFRONTATION{Playlist Suggestion: "Blood // Water" by grandson / "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron}~KADE POV~I shouldn't have been driving, and I definitely shouldn't have been putting my full weight on my reconstructed knee as I dragged myself out of the Uber in front of The Mirage.But I literally could not sit in Knox's empty townhouse for one more single second while my brain replayed the image of Chelsea crying in the hallway with her clothes torn to pieces.The club was closed to the public since it was barely three in the afternoon, the neon signs switched off and the glass doors locked.But I still had my Kingston access card in my wallet, and I swiped it against the scanner with a shaking hand until the light flashed green and the door clicked open.The main floor smelled like musty alcohol, cleaning products, and bad decisions, completely stripped of all its glamorous nighttime magic.And I didn't stop to talk to the daytime cleaning crew who stared at me as I swung m
THE LIE AND THE GUILT{Playlist Suggestion: "Traitor" by Olivia Rodrigo / "Favorite Crime" by Taylor Swift}~CHELSEA POV~If the floor had simply opened up and swallowed me whole right there in the hallway, I would have thanked God, because staring at Kade leaning on his crutches with his eyes completely shattered was a fate worse than actually dying."Chelsea," he whispered again, his voice trembling so badly it sounded like it was breaking in half. "What were you doing in there?"My brain was screaming, a chaotic, white-hot panic short-circuiting every single nerve ending in my body as I looked down at my ripped pantyhose and my hastily buttoned shirt, knowing exactly what it looked like and knowing that I was quite literally seconds away from destroying the sweetest boy I had ever met.I had to lie.I couldn't tell him the truth, I couldn't tell him that his own brother had just taken me on his desk while I screamed his name, it would literally kill Kade while he was already so bro
THE LOCKER ROOM{Playlist Suggestion: "Believer" by Imagine Dragons / "Till I Collapse" by Eminem}~KADE POV~The locker room was like a kingdom, and the order of power was shown by where the benches were, how loud the voices were, and how the air felt when you entered.I used to be the King. Now,
TRUTH OR DARE{Playlist Suggestion: "Money Power Glory" by Lana Del Rey}~ZOE POV~The hallway leading to Chelsea's apartment always smelled like a combination of boiled cabbage and wet carpet, but today, there was a new scent layered underneath.Trouble.I couldn't explain it. Maybe it was the fac
CHECKMATE{Playlist Suggestion: "I'm Not A Hero" by Hans Zimmer / "Start a Riot" by BANNERS}~CHASE POV~The door clicked shut, locking Chelsea out and locking me in.I waited ten seconds. Then I rolled my wheelchair to the window and peered through the blinds. I watched my sister walk down the str
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW{Playlist Suggestion: "Copy of a Copy" by Louis Tomlinson}~CHELSEA POV~The coffee shop smelled of roasted beans and wet raincoats. I sat in the back corner booth, my hands wrapped around a paper cup that had gone cold ten minutes ago. Across from me, Zoe stared at the number I