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Chapter 16
publish date:
2026-02-02 18:37:46
Latest chapter
The Way He Looked at Me   195
I was shattered anyway."Heaven," I managed, after a long moment of ceiling-staring. "That was actual heaven. Did you was it okay for you too?""Yes." A pause. "Taking you like that. Having you that way. I liked it more than I expected.""You cannot just say things like that casually. I'm a fragile person, Jace."A sound in his chest. Not quite a laugh but moving in that direction.He drew me in then, one arm pulling me flat against him, a hand pressing my head to his chest so my face was buried there and I couldn't watch him be vulnerable. The room settled around us, quiet and warm.Then, after a long while:"Tomorrow.""Tomorrow what?" I murmured into his shirt."The chair. I'll show you how to build it."Something unlocked in my chest, slow and golden and certain.I closed my eyes and pressed closer and didn't say a single word, because some things are too right to interrupt with language.Jace pov The wood shavings curled to the floor in thin ribbons, and Tim's voice broke the qu
The Way He Looked at Me   194
Tim povSomething was wrong the moment my eyes opened.Jace. His whole body had turned to stone overnight, every muscle locked, his jaw set, his breathing controlled in that way people breathe when they are trying not to feel something. And I knew, without asking, that I was the reason."Sorry," I murmured, already pulling away.His arm didn't move. He held me there firmly, stubbornly yet nothing about him softened. It was the strangest thing, being held by someone who looked like holding you was costing him everything. Like his heart had made a decision his body hadn't agreed to yet.He offered no words. He almost never did. I used to think silence was emptiness, but Jace had taught me silence could be full of things full of trying, full of care, full of a man doing the best he knew how. That was all I needed from him.Eventually the morning pulled us forward. Bathroom. Teeth. Hot water running over both of us in the shower. Clean clothes. The ordinary rituals of two people sharin
The Way He Looked at Me   193
Words would have to come eventually, but neither of us rushed them.Tim grabbed his phone and let music fill the kitchen while he tidied up. I had no idea whose voice was pouring through the speakers, but it clearly meant something to him. He swayed and sang along, waving a spatula like a conductor, completely lost in the melody."Taylor is everything," he announced proudly, doing a little spin that sent heat rushing straight through me.You're everything too. The thought settled in my chest before I could chase it away. This time, I let it stay.Once the kitchen was clean, he curled up with a book. I opened my laptop and found myself doing something I never imagined I would searching for streaming platforms so he wouldn't get bored. I had spent years building a life away from the noise of the world, and here I was, less than a week later, trying to make my cabin comfortable for someone else.I eventually picked up a book of my own, settled into my chair, and tried to focus. But my e
The Way He Looked at Me   192
Jace povThe pencil didn't stop moving until my hand ached.I hadn't touched my sketchbook in weeks not since Tim arrived. Something about having him close made me want to guard this part of myself, tuck it away where it couldn't be seen or questioned. Art has always been a private thing. A secret thing. Dave had called it a waste doodling, he'd said, the word dripping with contempt, like creativity was something to be ashamed of. His son couldn't afford to be soft. His son had to be harder, sharper, better than everyone else in the compound, or the shame would land on Dave's doorstep and that was something Dave never forgave.So I worked instead. Prayed harder. It took more pain than the others without making a sound, beca
The Way He Looked at Me   191
"I'll stay out front," I said before he could work up the words. "Living room, kitchen, my room. Like we agreed. I won't go anywhere else."He pushed his hair back from his face, those loose strands that were always falling forward but they dropped right back down the second he moved his hand. Then he gave me this small dip of his chin, somewhere between a nod and a thank you, and walked out.The door clicked shut.And the house became a completely different place without him in it.I stood in the middle of it for a moment, not quite sure what to do with my hands or my feet or any of the restless energy moving through me. It was strange Jace barely spoke, barely took up space, and yet somehow every room felt hollowed out now that he was gone.I went for the box.I already knew everything inside it by heart, but I needed something to do with my hands, and the familiar weight of it was a comfort. My mother's letters came first folded careful, written in her handwriting, like she'd kn
The Way He Looked at Me   190
Tim povDarkness still clung to the room when I gave up trying to sleep.Jace lay beside me, his body restless even in rest turning, settling, never fully still. My chest ached watching him. The man couldn't even find peace unconscious. But he was here. Breathing. And that was enough to make me hold myself completely rigid, terrified that one wrong shift of my weight would steal even this from him.I kept my eyes open and my body still and I thought about everything.What he'd done. What it meant. Most people said things. Jace had actually moved driving out to collect my belongings, coming back with them like it was nothing, like the quiet sacrifice of it was just something he did. He'd made a promise not to lock me away. And now he was sleeping next to me, walls down, guard lowered.For me.Something about that cracked me open in the best way. I'd spent years feeling like furniture in my own life present but overlooked, there but not quite seen. Jace had changed that without even
The Way He Looked at Me   Chapter 18
My chest tightens. âJesus, Bennett.âI shove him away and spin him around, pinning him against the locker by the back of his neck. I donât have a plan I just need distance. Time. Anything.I stare straight ahead, because if I look down, Iâm done. It takes everything I have not to.Everything.My co
Last Updated : 2026-03-19The Way He Looked at Me   Chapter 19
Tyler Bennett pov Iâve never been this wired to travel in my life. Not for the flight. Not for the landing. Not for the bus, the hotel, any of it. Every mile closer feels like a countdown.Ever since Moretti told me what happens to boys like me, the words have lived under my skin.I havenât gone a
Last Updated : 2026-03-19The Way He Looked at Me   Chapter 15
Luca Moretti povShort story: I owe Tyler Bennett ten thousand dollars. And I hate it.Not to shame anyone, but when you insist on parading around hotel rooms in nothing but tight boxer briefs and the sluttiest, most distracting socks known to manâŚthis is the exact shit that happens.It wasnât just
Last Updated : 2026-03-19The Way He Looked at Me   Chapter 12
Tyler Bennett povOne of the most mortifying moments of my life happened years ago nineteen, stupid, and lying half-naked on a doctorâs table because Iâd decided, for reasons I still canât explain, to go commando on the day my groin decided to swell like a warning sign from hell.I didnât think abo
Last Updated : 2026-03-18
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