All Chapters of A Dirty Little Secret : Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

The hospital room felt too small, too bright, too sterile. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead while I sat slumped in the stiff plastic chair beside Maya’s bed. They’d wheeled her in hours ago, pale and still, an oxygen mask fogging slightly with each shallow breath. Five hours. I hadn’t moved much except to stretch my legs once when a nurse insisted. “I really hope she’s okay,” I whispered to the quiet room, reaching out to take her hand. Her fingers were cool but steady. I held on tighter than I should have, thumb brushing over her knuckles. Guilt and fear twisted together in my gut. This was my fault—our fault. The fights, the tension, the way everything between us had spiraled since that party. If I hadn’t been so distracted by Clara and Jordan and my own screwed-up feelings, maybe I would’ve found her sooner.Then her fingers squeezed back weakly. My heart jumped. I shifted my chair closer with a scrape, leaning in until I could see the faint flutter of her lashes. “Maya? Can

“Wait, what?!”Marcus stepped closer, his expression serious, jaw clenched tight. “I said I’m gay. And what you just saw in my living room is real. We were having a threesome before you interrupted us.”I put both hands on my head, staring at him like he’d grown horns. “Oh wow… crazy stuff.” The images were still burned into my brain—Joshua and Anthony going at it like that. I shook my head hard. “You know what? I’ll just go home. Continue what you were doing, man.”I didn’t wait for a reply. I bounced out of there fast, practically jogging back to my car. The engine roared to life and I peeled away, muttering under my breath, “Okay, this day can’t get any better. Jesus.”Going home meant facing Nora and whatever questions she still had from the hospital. No thanks. I needed space to think, so I drove straight to my uncle’s place instead. He was the CEO of Apex Dynamics, this massive tech firm that supplied parts to half the cars in the city. Their house was huge—modern glass and ste