LOGINJust as I stepped past their front gate, my phone rang. Tristan’s name lit up the screen. I had been hoping to leave before he noticed anything missing. My body still ached in deep, pleasant places from the night before — legs, hips, everywhere — and all I wanted was to get to work without another complicated exchange. I answered anyway. “Come back,” he said. “You took something that doesn’t belong to you.” I glanced down at myself and sighed. The jacket. Of course. “I’ll come,” I replied, and hung up. By the time I reached the door again he had already opened it. I stepped inside, suddenly aware of how disheveled I must still look. “My jacket had… our, uh—” “You mean the evidence of last night’s pleasure?” he finished calmly. I nodded, heat touching my cheeks. “I didn’t want to walk around with it, so I borrowed yours. I was going to return it.” “Sit.” The low tone made the word feel like more than a suggestion. “I have work. I can’t—” “Please. Just sit.” The way he said
“Why did you stay?” he asked.I paused, still half-reclined on the edge of their bed, and looked at him. “Really? You asked me to stay, and now you’re asking why I stayed? Does that make sense to you? If you don’t want me here, I’ll go right now.”“No. No, it’s okay.” He pushed himself up slowly, still weak. “I’m coming right back. Just stay there.”He disappeared into the walk-in closet and returned with one of his shirts and a pair of soft boxers. “Wear these. That dress looks too tight to sleep in.”He was right. The fabric had been digging into my ribs for hours. I took the clothes without arguing. Outside, the sky had turned a heavy, warning shade of grey. Even if I wanted to leave now, the rain was about to make the roads dangerous.“I’ll take you to the guest room,” he added. He must have sensed how uncomfortable I felt at the idea of sleeping in the bed he shared with Nova. I nodded, even though part of me didn’t want the distance.He led me down the hall, still moving careful
I tried to settle back into my normal routine. Silas had left for his so-called business trip — I was almost certain it was just a vacation with Nova — but I didn’t have the energy to dig any deeper. That was how done I felt with everything.What I did notice, however, was the absence of Tristan. Two full days without a word from him, and my body had started to ache with a restless, frustrated need. According to our arrangement, either of us could initiate. Since he was the one playing hard to get, I decided to go to him.After work I drove to his office. The receptionist informed me, almost apologetically, that he had been out sick for two days and hadn’t shown up at all. My heart gave an uneven bump. Was he all right? Had he fallen ill because of the rain — because of me? The thought sat uncomfortably in my chest. For a moment I debated going to their house. It felt like crossing a line. Then the guilt tipped the scale. If he was sick because he had carried me through the downpour,
He shifted me higher onto his back and started walking. Rain still dripped from the trees around us. I rested against him, feeling the solid heat of his body through the wet fabric of his shirt, and the irony of the moment settled over me. The person I had spent the night and morning avoiding was now the one carrying me down the hillside.“How did you find me?” I asked.“It wasn’t that hard. I didn’t see you with the group you left with, so I decided it was necessary to look.”I nodded against his shoulder. His hands tightened around my thighs to keep me steady. My body tensed at the contact — even now, soaked and aching, it still reacted to him. Then I noticed the way he adjusted his right shoulder every few steps, a small, careful movement that didn’t match the rest of his strength.“Are you hurt?” I asked.“No. I’m okay.”I didn’t fully believe him, but I let it go for the moment. The path was slippery and the silence between us felt heavier than the rain.“Do you know that Marko m
I sat on the small wooden stool in front of him, hands folded tightly in my lap. He paused and looked at me over the top of the book he had been reading. He was young — almost Silas’s age — with the kind of calm, observant eyes that made it hard to tell how much he actually knew. Guilt settled over me like a weight. I was almost certain I had been caught. “What would you do,” he began slowly, “if someone hurt you deeply… but luckily you found someone else who healed that hurt and made you forget the betrayal… only to realize they were worse? And that they were hiding something important from you?” My heart skipped. The story sounded far too similar to my own. For a second I wondered if he was speaking in riddles on purpose. He closed the book and turned it so I could see the cover. “It’s a novel I’ve been reading. It’s caught my attention. I haven’t finished it yet, so I just wanted to involve you in the thought.” He gave a small, polite smile. “You don’t have to have an answer.
Valerie By the time we reached the camp, I was the horniest I had ever been in my life. My eyes felt tight and unfocused. I couldn’t concentrate on the welcome speech or the managers pointing out the tents. All I could think about was Tristan and the hard press of him beneath me for the entire rough ride. I wanted him to fuck me raw. Nothing soft. Nothing careful.He was the last one out of the car. I didn’t need to look to know why. He needed a minute to get his body under control. Our vehicle had been the last to arrive, which somehow made the whole thing feel even more charged.When the manager read out the tent assignments, I almost smiled. Tristan and I had been placed in the same one.“Are you comfortable with that arrangement, Mrs. Valarie?” the manager asked politely.How could I say no? It was going to be the best night of the trip.Then three more employees were directed into the same tent, and my smile died. Of course it wouldn’t be that simple.Tristan passed behind me a







