Home / LGBTQ+ / Offside hearts / Chapter 10: The First Breakfast

Share

Chapter 10: The First Breakfast

Author: Leemah
last update publish date: 2026-10-01 15:42:35

Ethan's POV

The house was quiet when I woke up. I lay in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling, replaying the porch conversation on a loop.

Tell me to stop.

I don't want you to stop.

I got up, pulled on a hoodie, and made my way downstairs.

A sweet smell hit me before I reached the kitchen.

Bacon. Eggs. Something sweet… …pancakes, maybe. I stopped in the doorway abd peeped into the kitchen.

Noah was standing in front the gas. He was wearing a worn-out t-shirt and sweatpants, his hair still me
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • Offside hearts   CHAPTER 25: THE BURNING CABIN

    Ethan's POVThe crawl space was dark and narrow and I couldn't breathe.Smoke followed us. It seeped through the cracks in the floorboards, curling around my face, filling my lungs with heat. I crawled faster. My hands scraped against splinters. My knees hit something hard but I kept moving.Behind me, Noah was coughing."Keep going," I shouted. "Don't stop."The passage curved. Then narrowed. Thenwe saw light.It came from the crack in the wall. Moonlight and fresh air.I pushed against the boards. They gave way. I tumbled out into the cold, gasping, my chest heaving.Noah was right behind me.He crawled out and collapsed beside me. His face was streaked with soot. His hands were bleeding. He was coughing so hard his whole body shook."Are you okay?" I grabbed his shoulder. "Noah. Are you okay?"He nodded, because he couldn't speak.Behind us, the cabin groaned and gave up, the roof caved in. Sparks shot into the sky.But we were alive.We were alive.>>>>>>

  • Offside hearts   CHAPTER 24: THE NAME ON THE WALL

    Ethan's POVI got up at dawn. Noah was still asleep but sleep was far from me. The house was quiet. I grabbed my jacket and my camera and slipped out the back door.I didn't know where I was going, but I just knew I couldn't stay still.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>The dirty road was easier to find in daylight. I stopped at the gate of the weathered cabin, just beside the mailbox.The letters were still inside the mailbox. I didn't touch them. I just stood there, staring at the cabin, trying to understand why it felt like I'd been here before I even saw it that day.The door was unlocked so I pushed it open.I needed answers so I must find it.>>>>>>>>>>>>>Noah's POVI woke up with his name on my lips. It wasn't Ethan's nor mine. It was someone else's, and that name just slipped away the moment I tried to hold onto it.I sat up in bed, breathing hard. The dream was already fading. It was a cabin, a lake, a boy beside me, but I couldn't remember it all. But the feeling and the ache of loss was st

  • Offside hearts   CHAPTER 23: LIAM MAKES HIS MOVE

    Ethan's POVI was in the kitchen when I heard the front nursing my cup of tea. The crew had wrapped up early for the day, and I was fully enjoying the rare quietness, that followed being alone. It was just me, a cup of tea, and Noah photographs that I was quietly editing on my laptop.Suddenly I heard the front door opened, followed by the sharp sound of unhurried footsteps. I wasn't expecting anyone, neither was Noah, so could it be a team member that forgot something? I asked no one in particular.Just as i was about to ask who it was, a voice I didn't recognize called out in front of me."Knock, knock." I looked up.He was tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair with sharp eyes and a smile that looked like it had been practiced in a mirror. He was wearing a Black Wolves hoodie and carrying a bottle of wine like he owned the place."You must be Ethan." He smiled, politely fake."And you are?""Liam." He set the wine on the counter. "Noah's teammate and best friend. The only guy who's bee

  • Offside hearts   CHAPTER 22: THE LETTER THAT NEVER ARRIVED

    Ethan's POVThe dock wasn't enough anymore. The same view, the same water, the same quietness but I needed distance. I needed to move. So I started taking longer routes back to the house past the cafe, the shops, down to the side streets I hadn't explored.During one of my quiet walk, I found a mailbox. It was on the edge of town. An old dirt road curved off the main street and disappeared into the trees. I'd passed it a dozen times without thinking about it. But that evening, something made me turn.The road was overgrown. Weeds pushing through cracked asphalt. Trees leaning in from both sides. It felt abandoned and forgotten. Like no one had walked it in years.At the end of the road, there was a cabin. It was small and weathered, its windows dark and its porch sagging. It looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time.And beside the gate, an old mailbox.I don't know why I opened it. Maybe it was out of curiosity or habit. The same instinct that made me a photographer ….. th

  • Offside hearts   CHAPTER 21: THE BRACELET

    Ethan's POVThe dock became a habit. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened. Every evening after filming wrapped, I'd find myself walking through town, past the cafe and the shops, down to the water. The lake was quiet and peaceful. The kind of quiet that made it easier to think.Noah didn't always join me. Some nights he stayed in his room, staring at the ceiling. Some nights he walked the other direction, toward the trees. But most nights, he found his way to the dock. He'd sit beside me without a word, and we'd watch the sun go down together.Neither of us talked about what had almost happened at the lodge, the way we'd leaned into each other like it was the most natural thing in the world. We just sat there, side by side, and let the silence do the talking.It was enough. For now.>>>>>>>>>>>>>On Thursday, filming had wrapped early. Noah was doing a solo interview in the house, something about his training regimen, and Priya had told me I could take the evening off. I'd wal

  • Offside hearts   CHAPTER 20: A FAMILIAR SONG

    NOAH'S POVThe docuseries moved locations every two weeks.That was the format. Two weeks at the mansion, two weeks on the road. The network called it "dynamic storytelling." Daniel called it "brand expansion." I called it what it was ….. another way to keep cameras on me at all hours.This time, the location was a lakeside town four hours north.I didn't think anything of it when Priya handed me the schedule. But then we drove into town, and something shifted.It wasn't a memory, not exactly. More like a feeling. A pull in my chest, like a hook buried somewhere deep, tugging me toward something I couldn't name.I rolled down the window.The air smelled like pine, water and something I'd forgotten."Are you okay?" Ethan asked from the back seat.I didn't answer. I just stared out the window and tried to remember how to breathe.>>>>>>>>>>>>>The town was small. One main street. A handful of shops. A dock that stretched out into the lake. The kind of place that people come to, when the

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status