เข้าสู่ระบบRhea
My skin prickled, thousands of invisible needles pressing in from all sides.“Why is everyone staring at us?” Elora’s voice changed, the lightness draining out of it like water through a sieve. “Seriously, what the hell?”“Probably my outfit,” I said, but even as the words left my mouth, I knew they weren’t true. My voice sounded hollow, unconvincing. “You said it yourself, I look like a mess.“Yeah, but…” Elora glanced around, her brow furrowing. “ThisEthanThe locker room had mostly cleared out by the time I heard the door creak open behind me. Half the team was still out on the ice soaking up the win, the other half already gone, and I'd stayed back specifically because I didn't have it in me to watch Audric parade Gabriela around in front of everyone for one more second.I didn't need to turn around to know who it was."What do you want?""You dropped me off this morning." Zuri's voice came out smaller than I'd ever heard it, hovering near the doorway like she wasn't sure she was welcome. "I texted you after. You never responded.""Why exactly did you need me to respond?" I kept my back to her, shoving my gear into my bag harder than necessary. "I dropped you off. That's what you asked for.""Because I needed someone to talk to." Her voice cracked slightly. "I just needed my friend."That word landed wrong, and I finally turned around to look at her."My friend." I let out a short laugh that had nothing funny in it. "You
ChrisI still didn't understand what the hell happened between them.Ethan burst into the locker room this morning in hot rage and decked Audric without a word of warning. I'd pulled them apart along with half the team, watched Coach haul both of them off to his office, and still had no idea what had actually set it off. Audric walked out with a busted nose and an expression that dared people to ask any question. Neither of them would tell me anything beyond the fact that it was "about Zuri."Whatever it was, it had cost us both of them for the first two periods, and tonight, down a goal against a team we should have been beating easily, I felt every bit of that absence.We were sloppy. Uncoordinated. The kind of game where every pass felt half a second too slow and every shot sailed just wide, and by the end of the second period we were down two goals with a bench that looked more tired than it had any right to be this early in the season.Coach Reeves paced the boards during th
ZuriMy pen kept tapping against the edge of my notebook, a nervous rhythm I couldn't seem to stop, my eyes fixed on the same paragraph of notes I'd been staring at for the last twenty minutes without actually reading a word of it."Ms. Sterling."I jolted upright. The professor stood at the front of the room, arms crossed, waiting."Care to answer the question?"I hadn’t even heard him ask the question. My mind was still stuck on that mountain—on how Audric had abandoned me there after sleeping with me. I kept running through every possible reason, desperately trying to figure out why he could have done that to me."I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"A few people snickered somewhere behind me. The professor's mouth thinned."Concentrate, Ms. Sterling, or find somewhere else to sit through my lecture.""Sorry." I dropped my eyes back to my notebook, cheeks burning, and didn't look up again for the rest of the hour.Maya leaned over the second the professor dismissed us, note
EthanI found Audric by his stall, half into his gear, laughing at something one of the other guys had said.Like nothing happened.Like he hadn’t left a girl all by herself in the middle of nowhere.How cruel could one person be?Did he even stop to think about what could have happened to her? What if someone dangerous had found her? What if they had decided to hurt her?And worst of all, he had taken her virginity and then left her to deal with the aftermath alone. Her first time. A moment that was supposed to mean something, only for him to make her feel like she meant nothing.My hands curled into fists.I didn’t say a word.I crossed the locker room and drove my fist straight into his face before he even saw me coming.“You bastard.”He staggered backward into the lockers, knocking a helmet off its hook. His hand flew to his nose as blood welled instantly, slipping between his fingers.“What the fuck is wrong with you?”The room went silent around us. Sticks and pads
EthanI woke up with my arms around Zuri, her back against my chest and her body pressed close to mine. I was already hard, like I usually was in the morning, but when I shifted against her, she let out a small groan in her sleep like she felt it.I reached for my phone and checked the time.It’s a little past seven.I had class and practice, and we needed to leave soon if I didn’t want to miss both.I leaned down and kissed her neck, then her cheek. She stirred and slowly turned toward me.“Wake up, Zu. We need to leave,” I murmured, brushing my lips against hers.She kissed me back before she was fully awake.“Good morning, baby.”“Hmm. Good morning.” She blinked a few times, then closed her eyes again. “Can we not leave yet? I’m so tired. My whole body feels like I’ve been hit by a car.”I smiled. “Maybe you should take a bath. It might help.”She groaned. I brushed my thumb over her cheek. “We can leave when you’re done.”She nodded, still half asleep, and dragged he
ZuriThe water had gone cold by the time I stepped out, skin pruning at the fingertips, and I still hadn’t heard the bunker door open again. I told myself he was just taking his time. Maybe he needed longer than a few minutes to clear his head. Guys did that sometimes, didn’t they.I pulled my clothes back on, still achy in a way that felt strange and new, and pushed the steel door open to check outside.The night air hit me first, cold against my damp hair. The moon was still bright overhead, exactly like it had been on the way up, and the trail stretched out empty in both directions.“Audric?”Nothing.I walked a little further down the path, arms wrapped around myself, scanning the dark for any sign of him, a shadow, the glow of a phone screen, anything.Nothing.I told myself he probably went to check on the bike, or needed air further than just outside the door, and went back in to grab my phone off the little table where I’d left it. No missed calls. No texts.I tried c
Rhea“Good.” Brandon’s hands slid down my arms, guiding them behind the chair. “Because you’ve earned it, baby. Choosing him this morning. Walking around with his hands on you all day. Lying to us about Camilla.”He picked up a rope from a table. The rope was soft against my wrists as he worked eff
RHEAI stood in front of my closet, staring at rows of clothes that suddenly seemed impossible to navigate. Every movement sent sharp reminders through my body of what had happened last night.My thighs ached. My back stung where the bark had scraped it raw. And between my legs—God, between my legs
RheaAll the air punched out of my lungs in a ragged, guttural scream as Brandon bottomed out inside me. My forehead slammed against the rough bark of the pine tree, the friction of the wood scraping my skin, but I barely felt it over the sheer, agonizing stretch of him.“Ooh no... I’m hot...” It w
RHEAI almost died today.A stupid virgin who’d never broadened her horizons. Who’d never tasted anything real or dangerous or worth remembering.The thought had been circling my mind since the hospital, growing teeth with every pass. Life was fragile. Breakable. And I’d been wasting mine playing i







