LOGINLUCA’S POVThe air in the game room didn’t just cool. It froze, solid and still, in a single second.Adrian stood in the doorway. I watched his expression shift from neutral to a hard, dark comprehension, all in the space of a heartbeat. He didn’t see a friendly game. He saw his little sister on the verge of tears, and me looking like I’d been caught with my hand in the till.Marlene swiped angrily at her eyes. A furious, wounded sound escaped her throat before she pushed past him and fled down the hall. A door slammed shut, the sound too loud in the quiet house.Adrian didn’t move. He just stared at me, the unopened soda cans hanging from his fingers like dead weights.“Adrian,” I started. I stood up, my hands raised in a useless gesture of peace.“What did you do to her?” His voice was low, dangerously calm. It was so much worse than shouting.“Nothing. I didn’t do anything to her. She just…” I faltered. How could I explain without betraying her trust or exposing the catastrophic tr
LUCA’S POVThe tension in the kitchen this morning had a taste to it—bitter and stale, like the coffee Franklin was glaring into. I tried to walk in like it was any other day, but my heart was knocking around in my chest, a frantic rhythm I couldn’t quiet.Then I saw June at the sink, her back to me, and last night came rushing back all at once. The darkness, the quiet so deep it felt like its own sound, the warmth of her skin under my palms.God.I had to look away, stare at the fridge handle until the world steadied.“Good morning, everyone,” I said, and my voice was too loud for the room.Franklin was a statue behind his newspaper. I didn’t need to see his face to know he was upset. I could feel his anger coming through the financial pages, a silent, seething heat. He knew. Or he’d decided he knew, which amounted to the same thing now.Adrian was watching everything without seeming to. He was smart that way. Too smart for all of this. He’d caught something last night, I was sure of
FRANKLIN’S POVThe guest room smelled like lavender and dust. It was supposed to be calming, but I wasn’t calm, and I wasn’t forgetting anything. I stood at the window, staring out at the black shape of the oak tree in the yard. I didn’t really see it, though. I saw her.The way she’d looked when I turned on the light. Hair tousled, skin flushed like she’d just . . . God. And that smell. It wasn’t her usual lotion. It was something else. Muskier. A man’s scent, and it wasn’t mine.My fingers curled into my palms, nails biting. The accusation I’d thrown at her still hung in the air of our bedroom, crude and ugly. I’d wanted to shock her, to see her flinch, cry, deny it with trembling lips. But she didn’t flinch. She just got cold. She looked at me like I was a stain on the rug. Then she walked into the bathroom and locked the door.I paced the short length of the guest room. Three steps, turn. Three steps, turn. My mind was a broken film reel, splicing pieces together.June, laughing a
JUNE’S POVFor one breathless moment I pictured telling him everything.Yes, Franklin. I was with Luca. He had me on his bed, my wrists pinned above my head at first, kissing me until I couldn’t think, until I was begging him quietly to touch me.He slid down my body slowly, mouth hot and deliberate between my thighs, tongue circling until I was shaking, until I came the first time with his name muffled against my own arm. Then he flipped me over, pulled my hips up, entered me from behind in one long, deep stroke that made my breath stop.He knew exactly how to angle himself, how to roll his hips in slow, heavy circles that dragged over every sensitive place inside me, how to reach around and press firm fingers against my clit in steady rhythm until I was clenching hard around him, soaking, desperate.He stayed buried deep, grinding, pausing just long enough to make me whine before pulling back and driving in again, harder, until I came a second time, trembling, biting the pillow to s
JUNE’S POVMy legs felt like jelly as I walked down the hall. The silk of my robe stuck to my damp skin. Every step was a warm reminder between my thighs. Luca was still there, in a way, a secret I carried. I could smell him on me, that mix of sex and the clean soap from his shower. It was dangerous. It was intoxicating.Franklin’s study door was closed, only a thin line of light underneath. He was probably asleep at his desk again. Or pretending to work while scrolling through something, nursing whatever midlife crisis had taken hold tonight. I held my breath anyway, easing past on silent feet.Almost there. My bedroom door was just ten more steps away. I turned the corner into the main hallway and walked straight into Adrian.He was coming out of the game room, one earbud dangling around his neck. He put a hand on my arm to steady me, blinking in surprise.“Mom? You okay?”I froze. My heart slammed against my ribs. The hallway light was dim, but not dim enough. Could he see the flus
LUCA’S POVMy hand slipped between us, fingers finding her clit, swollen and wet, circling slowly and exactly while I thrust in steady, grinding rolls that kept us pressed close, no distance between. Her pleasure built in waves I could feel, her walls pulsing faintly at first, then harder, clenching like she wanted to keep me locked inside. That heavy warmth spread through her core, slow and thick, making every tiny movement feel too much, her thighs trembling against me."Come for me," I said, voice rough, pausing deep and flexing inside her, feeling her flutter wildly around me. "Let go. Pull me in with that heat."She came apart then, body arching up, walls clenching in deep, rhythmic waves that dragged along me, holding tight. I buried my groan against her neck, moving through it slowly, prolonging every pulse until I let go too, spilling hot and deep, over and over, filling her.We stayed tangled, sweat cooling on our skin, breaths uneven and close, when the knock came. It was sh







