Chapter Thirty-Four #2
“There must be some mistake.” Hollow words. “You’re here now. Your records are back. No one’s coming after you.”
“There’s a reason for that.” She released the hair she twisted and then threaded her hands together until her knuckles turned white.
“They made Mom come back. Blackmailed her into returning. But only if we play by the rules.” She leaned forward even more and settled a hand against my chest. Her fingers splayed wide over my heart.
“That’s why I can’t hit back at Elise. Not the way I want to.
” Her voice cracked. “My mom works for her father now. If I push too far, it blows back on both of us.” She swallowed hard.
“We’re stuck playing by rules we don’t even understand.
And I don’t want to have to leave again.
My mom promised we would stay this time.
Long enough for me to graduate from Blackwood Academy.
It’s better than running again. Better for my future.
So I keep my head down. Bite my tongue. Most of the time. Even when it kills me.”
“Who is they?”
She shrugged. “I-I don’t know for sure. Only that Mom told me to stay away from you. Said your family’s not safe.”
I stared at her. At everything she wasn’t saying. At everything she was afraid to. Then I dropped the match. “Darren isn’t dead.”
Her breath caught.
“There was never any notice about his death. No news, no whispers. Your mom doesn’t have the full story.”
Her jaw twitched, eyes shuttered. “You said you would trust me. Give me the benefit of the doubt.”
“I did. I do. Look… if there was a cover-up, and he is dead? Then I get why your mom ran.” I leaned back slightly, just enough to get a clearer look at her, and her hand fell away. I missed the warmth of it instantly. “But, Mila… I was told your mom stole from us.”
Guilt flickered in her eyes before quickly vanishing. “I—I don’t know about that. Maybe she stole from her boyfriend. I don’t think it was from your family’s company.”
“Okay.” Something was off there, but that part wasn’t what I needed to focus on.
It didn’t matter right now. What did was that someone had painted a target on her back.
“You need to keep your head down.” My instincts were screaming at me to do something, protect her, keep her safe.
“Don’t poke the beast. Don’t give them a reason. ”
Her lips parted as if she had more to say. But she didn’t. Not yet. Not about that.
“And what about us?” she whispered.
Fuck. I had her in my sights. Always had. It didn’t matter if we were fighting, ignoring each other, or on opposite sides of the battlefield. She walked into a room, and my body went up in flames. “I’ve got your back,” I said. “We’ll figure this out. But we do it together.”
She waited a beat then nodded, her gaze locked on mine. “Together.”
“No more secrets.”
“That goes both ways.” Her voice dropped to a dare.
“We’re in agreement then. A team.”
She nodded. And I was done pretending.
I surged forward, one hand slipping behind her neck, fingers tangling in her silky hair.
Her breath caught, and then I kissed her.
Hard. My mouth crashed into hers like we’d been on a collision course from the start.
She opened for me instantly, lips parting, as though she’d been holding this in as long as I had.
Her taste hit me—salt and heat and something wild I couldn’t name.
My other hand slid to her waist, tightening as I lifted her.
She moved without hesitation, straddling my lap like she belonged there.
Her hands clutched my shirt, twisting, anchoring.
Her body pressed to mine, hips rocking with urgency I felt in every bone.
Every sound she made lit me up like gasoline to a fuse. I kissed her as if I was starving—because I was. For her. For this. For the fucking truth between us finally getting air.
Her fingers found the back of my neck, tugging me closer, as if even this wasn’t enough. And maybe it wasn’t. Not with everything we’d buried. Everything we’d denied.
When we finally came up for air, our foreheads touched. Her lips were swollen, breath hitching. Her eyes dazed but clear. A crooked grin tugged at her mouth.
“This changes things.”
“Damn right it does.” I went in again. Slower. Deeper. More of a claim than a kiss. She moaned into my mouth and arched against me.
A car horn blared below. We froze. Then pulled apart, reluctantly.
The sky had turned indigo above us, stars scattered, confessions written in light. I reached into my pocket. Pulled out the chain. “Might as well mark the night.”
She blinked, her eyes going suspiciously shiny. “You kept it?”
I didn’t answer. Just brushed her hair aside and clasped the chain around her neck. Her fingers drifted up, grazing the tiny silver star. It settled just above her collarbone.
“I left it in your bag the night of the game,” she whispered. “For luck. I wasn’t supposed to leave that night. I thought I’d be there to get it back from you the next day.”
Her revelation hit me, a shock wave down my spine. She hadn’t meant to disappear. The necklace wasn’t a goodbye—it was a thread we never got to finish. It changed things.
“Still suits you,” I murmured. I wanted to claim her. Make her mine. Shout it to the world. But we couldn’t do that, not yet. Not with my family’s warning in my ears and Lorne standing like a shadow at the edge of everything.
She touched the star, voice low and steady. “We can’t be reckless. Not with this. Not with us. If they find out…”
“I know.” The words scraped out of me. “We keep it quiet. Off their radar. Allies. Partners.”
Her eyes didn’t waver. “Not lovers. Not yet. But don’t think for a second I’m shutting this down. Not again.”
I swallowed hard. The heat between us wasn’t going anywhere. “Then we fight smart. Together. And whatever this is”—I brushed the star at her collarbone—“we keep it ours until it’s safe to burn the rest of the world with it.”
Not just friends. Not enemies. And not what we were before. Something volatile. A secret. A truce painted in starlight and skin.
She didn’t answer. Didn’t need to. Because that star? That kiss? That promise? They weren’t just ours now. They were war paint. And we would need it.