The sound was sickening.Luca hit the floor hard, and the gym went silent. I was moving before I realized it. But the team medic was already there, kneeling beside Luca’s crumpled form.“Let me see,” he said. But when he cut away the fabric of Luca’s shorts, his face went white.The gash was deep, running from his knee to mid-thigh. Blood was everywhere, soaking into the court, pooling beneath him.It looked bad—the kind of cut that needed stitches. But as I knelt beside him, something made me freeze.The wound was… smaller than it should have been.He dabbed at the blood with gauze, then stopped. His face went pale. “What the hell?” the medic whispered. “This wound… it’s closing.”My heart hammered against my ribs. I could see the confusion in his eyes, the way he was trying to process what he was seeing. In another few seconds, he’d start asking questions. Not here, not now, not with hundreds of people watching.“He bleeds too much from little wounds,” I said, grabbing Luca’s arm an
I ignored it, pulling my pillow over my head. He tried again, more insistently this time.“Go away,” I called out, my voice muffled by the pillow.“Lily, please. I need to talk to you.”“There’s nothing to talk about.”“There’s everything to talk about. What I said—”“Was the truth. So congratulations, you finally said what you really think of me.”Silence stretched between us, broken only by the sound of my own ragged breathing.“That’s not what I think of you,” he said finally.“Isn’t it? Because it sounded pretty convincing.”“I was angry. I said something stupid.”“You said something honest. There’s a difference.”“Lily, please. Open the window.”“No.”“I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”“Then I hope you’re comfortable out there, because I’m not opening this window. I’m done, Luca. Done with the fighting, done with the drama, done with pretending we can live in the same house without wanting to kill each other.”“You don’t mean that.”“I mean every word. Find somewhere else t
I ignored it, pulling my pillow over my head. He tried again, more insistently this time.“Go away,” I called out, my voice muffled by the pillow.“Lily, please. I need to talk to you.”“There’s nothing to talk about.”“There’s everything to talk about. What I said—”“Was the truth. So congratulations, you finally said what you really think of me.”Silence stretched between us, broken only by the sound of my own ragged breathing.“That’s not what I think of you,” he said finally.“Isn’t it? Because it sounded pretty convincing.”“I was angry. I said something stupid.”“You said something honest. There’s a difference.”“Lily, please. Open the window.”“No.”“I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”“Then I hope you’re comfortable out there, because I’m not opening this window. I’m done, Luca. Done with the fighting, done with the drama, done with pretending we can live in the same house without wanting to kill each other.”“You don’t mean that.”“I mean every word. Find somewhere else t
I got back in the car, my whole body shaking. Whether from the lingering effects of the drug or the adrenaline from the fight, I couldn’t tell. Luca slid into the driver’s seat and we drove in silence for several minutes. My stomach churned with every turn, and I had to press my hand to my mouth to keep from being sick.“Are you okay?” Luca asked quietly.I didn’t answer. I was too angry, too tired, too sick to deal with his concern right now.“Are you going to say anything?” Luca asked again.“What do you want me to say?”“I don’t know. Something. Anything. You’ve been giving me the silent treatment for twenty minutes.”“You almost shifted in the middle of school, Luca. In front of everyone.”“I didn’t—”“You were about to. Your eyes were gold, your teeth were changing, and you had Ethan pinned like you were going to rip his throat out.”“Maybe I should have.”“And then what? What happens when someone pulls out their phone and records it?”He was quiet for a long moment. “I just… whe
“What do we do now?”I looked at Sarah’s tear-streaked face, then back at him. The logical part of my brain—the part that wasn’t still swimming from whatever Megan had put in that water—knew exactly what we needed to do.Megan had threatened Sarah’s family, used Luca’s name to make me trust the water, and watched me drink whatever poison she’d put in that bottle.“We go to Officer Martinez,” I said finally. “Sarah, you need to tell him exactly what you just told us.”Sarah’s eyes widened in panic. “I can’t. You don’t understand what she’ll do to my family.”“And you don’t understand what she did to me,” I replied, fighting off another wave of dizziness. “Sarah, I could have died. Whatever was in that water could have killed me.”She looked between us, then down at her hands. “I know. I’m so sorry, Lily. I really am.”“Sorry doesn’t fix this,” Luca said. “Someone needs to pay for what happened to her.”I touched his arm, feeling the tension coiled there like a spring ready to snap. “Le
LucaAfter they left, the room felt strangely quiet. Lily was gathering her things slowly, moving like everything hurt. Ethan hovered nearby, clearly reluctant to leave.“You sure you don’t want me to drive you?” he asked. “I mean, no offense, Archer, but she was my girlfriend for two years. I care about what happens to her.”“She’s not your anything anymore,” I said. “You made sure of that when you decided Megan was more interesting.”Ethan’s face flushed. “That was a mistake, okay? I’ve been trying to make it right.”“By publicly humiliating her this morning? By implying she’s been harboring inappropriate feelings for me? Real stand-up job there.”“I was trying to understand—”“You were trying to deflect blame. There’s a difference.”Ethan took a step toward me, and I could see the anger building in his expression. “You know what? I’m tired of pretending you’re some gentleman in all this. You’ve been circling around her for long, waiting for your chance.”“My chance to what?”“To mo