Chapter 9

The drive from the mansion to campus felt like sitting inside a pressure cooker. Sofi was waiting for me at our usual spot behind the library, sitting on a concrete bench with her knees pulled tightly to her chest.

She looked small. Vulnerable. Broken in a way that made a knot of heavy guilt twist right in the pit of my stomach.

I had kissed her ex. Well, her ex had kissed me, but it made me feel like an absolute traitor either way.

—Lucas… —she breathed out, her voice cracking as soon as I sat down beside her.

Without a word, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her close. For three years, this was the exact role I had dreamed of playing: her safe harbor, the guy who would pick up the pieces after Mateo tore her world apart. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, trying to channel every ounce of warmth and comfort I possessed.

—I’m right here, Sofi. You’re going to be okay, I promise.

She buried her face in the crook of my neck, clutching at my jacket as she let out a shaky sigh.

—I just feel so stupid, Lucas. He made me feel like I was the only one, and then… —She pulled back slightly, her cheeks flushed, eyes brimming with unshed tears—. You’re the only person who has ever truly cared about me. The only guy who never tried to use me.

She leaned in, her eyes fluttering shut as she tilted her face up, reaching for my lips.

It was the moment I had replayed in my head a thousand times. But as her breath brushed against my jaw, my entire body went rigid.

The scent of her sweet vanilla perfume hit my nose, and my brain instantly short-circuited. My mind didn't register her soft lips or her gentle touch; instead, it violently flashed back to the cold stainless-steel fridge, the suffocating heat of bare skin, and the rough, possessive pressure of Mateo’s thumb dragging across my bottom lip.

“I’m going to shut you up with a kiss.”

A surge of hot, suffocating rage crashed over me—rage at Mateo for invading my mind, rage at myself for reacting to him, and rage at the sheer absurdity of the nightmare I was trapped in.

I flinched, pulling my face back just a fraction of a second before her lips could touch mine.

The sudden jerk was subtle, but to Sofi, it felt like a crushing rejection. Her eyes snapped open, and the surprise on her face instantly gave way to a deep, burning blush of embarrassment. She scrambled back a few inches, covering her mouth with her hand.

—Lucas... I'm so sorry —she whispered hurriedly, her voice trembling with humiliation—. Oh my god, I'm so sorry.

—Sofi, no... —I swallowed hard, my throat feeling like sandpaper. I couldn't look her in the eye. I couldn't even touch her shoulder without feeling like a fraud.

—Please forgive me, I don't know what came over me —she stammered, jumping to her feet and wiping away a stray tear that escaped down her cheek—. I'm just so vulnerable and confused with everything that happened with Mateo that I completely crossed a line. You're my best friend, the only one who has been there for me without asking for anything in return, and I didn't mean to make things awkward or ruin our friendship.

—You didn't ruin anything —I said, trying to force my voice to stay steady, though the weight of the lie was suffocating me—. I'm just... a little overwhelmed with everything. Moving into that house, dealing with Carlos, seeing that jerk every five seconds... it's a lot.

Sofi looked at me with a mix of sadness and guilt, wrapping her arms around herself.

—I know, and I shouldn't have pressured you. You're the only good thing I have going for me right now, Lucas. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too or if things got weird between us. Are we still good?

My heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped animal.

«Are we good?»

The urge to scream the truth almost ripped through my throat. I wanted to tell her that her ex-boyfriend was a sociopath turning my life into a sick game. I wanted to tell her that Mateo had pinned me against the wall, that he had kissed me, and that the worst part—the absolute worst part—was that I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since.

But as I looked at her tear-stained face, practically begging for forgiveness over a kiss that never should have been attempted, the words froze in my mouth. Telling her wouldn't just destroy Mateo; it would obliterate her completely. It would destroy my mother’s new marriage. It would turn my entire life into a public scandal.

—We're good, Sofi —I lied, forcing myself to look her in the eye with a fake calm that broke me from the inside out—. It's you and me against the world. Like always.

Just right as the word "always" left my mouth, my phone vibrated in my pocket. A sharp, heavy buzz that cut right through the tension hanging between us.

Sofi was still wiping the corners of her eyes, trying to collect herself, so I pulled the phone out, expecting a group chat notification or an alert from the coach.

It wasn't.

It was an iMessage from an unsaved number—though I didn't need a contact card to know exactly who it belonged to.

My thumb froze over the screen. It was a photo.

Mateo. Taken from a low angle in his bedroom back at the mansion. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung charcoal pajama pants. His hair was messy, sticking up in every direction, and his bare chest was fully on display, bathed in the morning sunlight streaming through his window. One arm was stretched out holding the camera, while his other hand rested casually on his thigh.

He wasn't smirking like he usually did. His dark eyes were fixed on the lens with a lazy, heavy-lidded intensity that felt entirely too personal.

Underneath the picture, a single line of text appeared:

“Forgot to tell you... you left your gray hoodie on my chair, little brother. Should I sleep with it, or are you coming back to get it yourself? 😏”

My pulse spiked so hard I felt it in my teeth. Blood rushed to my ears, hot and deafening.

What the hell is wrong with him? What the hell does he think he's doing?

Was this a game to him? A twisted way to assert dominance? A tactic to push me over the edge until I snapped and exposed us both? Or was he actually... teasing me?