Chapter 33
Haven
There are cameras flashing, streamers holding their phones up and influencers yelling over one another to get the best clip. I’m center stage, blinking beneath the arena lights, my fingers clutching the trophy like it might vanish if I loosen my grip.
The announcer is trying to talk through the chaos, something about my kill count, my leader board stats, my undefeated bracket run. The confetti’s still falling, sticking to my hair, glittering on my hoodie.
A man in a headset waves me forward to the podium and shoves a mic into my hand. “Say something,” he mouths. “They’re still live.”
I freeze. “Uh.” I glance out at the crowd, my pulse pounding.
“Hi. I don’t know what to say. I mean this is insane.
I came here hoping to survive this tournament.
I didn’t expect to win. I didn’t expect to feel…
” I trail off, catching my reflection on the screens, exhaustion written in the lines of my face. But I look happy, I look like me.
“I didn’t do this alone,” I say, firmer now. “To the people who believed in me, who streamed with me, stood behind me, talked me down when I wanted to give up… this win is yours, too.”
I catch sight of them in the wings. Carter, glowing like the goddamn sun. Tate, who’s still masked and motionless, but I feel his smirk through the chaos.
My voice cracks a little. “Thank you.” The crowd loses it all over again.
I don’t even remember getting off the stage.
One minute I’m blinded by spotlights and praise, the next I’m stumbling through the maze of side halls and velvet ropes with the trophy still clutched in one hand and tears burning the corners of my eyes.
I don’t realize I’m shaking until Carter’s hands are on my shoulders.
“Hey,” he breathes, ducking into my space, his voice breaking through the static still ringing in my ears. “Look at me, baby.”
When I do I completely fall apart.
The tears hit all at once, overwhelming and messy. I laugh and cry at the same time, the adrenaline catching up to me in waves, crashing into my chest like I might never come down. Carter pulls me into his arms.
“I—I can’t believe this is real,” I choke out against his shoulder.
“It is,” he whispers. “You did it.”
Arms wrap around me from behind. “I could hear them chanting your name from backstage,” Tate says against my ear. “Thought I was gonna have to walk out there and fight someone just for being too close.”
I laugh wetly, the sound caught between joy and complete collapse. “I feel insane,” I whisper.
“You look insane,” Tate says, stepping around to tilt my chin up. “Beautiful and high on power.”
Carter brushes my hair off my face, kisses my temple. “You need a second?”
“Please.”
Tate jerks his chin down the hallway. “I saw a room. Empty but locked so I jimmied it. Don’t ask questions.”
I blink at him. He just shrugs. “You won. You get whatever you want.”
The room’s dim and narrow, an unused green room from the look of it.
A beautiful blue velvet couch with a long wall mirror is on the left side.
Boxes and totes are piled high all along the right.
A faint hum of the crowd bleeds through the vents, but it’s quiet enough to breathe.
I drop the trophy onto the coffee table.
Tate locks the door. Carter’s at my side. “You sure?”
I nod once. “Make it about me.”
Tate’s grin is instant. “Oh, pretty girl. You have no idea.”
He’s on me in seconds, his hands on my jaw, mouth hot and open over mine, kissing like he’s starving. Carter pulls me back by the waist, hands sliding up my hoodie, pushing it off my shoulders slowly.
“You realize,” Tate murmurs between kisses, “if anyone tries this door, they’re gonna hear everything.”
I shudder.
Carter’s breath fans over the shell of my ear. “Is that what you want?”
I nod, dizzy. “I don’t care.”
“No,” Tate corrects. “You do care. You want it, you want someone on the other side hearing how fucking pretty you sound when you break.”
He drags my leggings down with one hand, and guides me toward the couch. Carter’s fingers slip beneath the hem of my tank top, finding bare skin and stroking. I gasp when Tate sinks to his knees.
“Let them hear you,” he groans, dragging his mouth up my thigh. “Let them wonder what you’re doing. Who you’re doing it for.”
My knees almost buckle.
Carter supports me, his chest pressed to my back, hand braced beneath my ribs as he guides me down onto his lap on the couch. “It’s okay,” he whispers. “You’re ours. They can hear it, but only we get to touch.”
I cry out when Tate licks a trail up the inside of my thigh. “You taste like you know you’re the prize.
Carter kisses my neck like he’s anchoring me mid-collapse. His hand dips lower, just enough to tease above my clit, to coax me into a spiral.
Tate’s mouth finds my pussy just as my fingers tangle in Carter’s hair. The doorknob rattles. We freeze, for half a breath, single, panicked beat.
Then Tate moans and his grip tightens. He groans against me like it’s the hottest thing he’s ever heard.
I cry out his name before I can stop myself, my hips buck chasing his tongue, my vision going black at the edges.
Carter moans, hand pressing over my mouth too late. “Fuckkk, baby come for us”
Tate rises slowly. “Someone’s gonna check the camera logs later and pray they find out who we are.”
My whole body is trembling.
Carter tugs me down into his lap harder before I can collapse, his cock stretching my pussy.
”Oh fuuuck sweetheart, I’m never going to get use to..” He thrusts into me deeper. “This.”
Tate sinks back down to his knees between my thighs and licks circles on my clit while Carter picks up his pace.
“C-carter, I’m.. I can’t” His arms are now hooked under mine, a move I regret Tate showing him.
”Mmm no, you can.” Tate groans, pressing my clit harder with his tongue. “Come all over my brother’s cock angel, all over my fucking tongue.
I lose it, Carter thrusts as deep as he can as I cry out both of their names.
We quickly clean up our mess just as Cassie texts me asking me where the hell I am. Carter presses a kiss to my forehead.
“Next time,” Tate groans. “We leave the fucking door unlocked.”
I’m fixing my hair in the hallway mirror when I hear it.
“Is that my little screen queen?!” Cassie’s voice slices through the hall.
I spin just in time to see her rushing toward me in heels way too high and a leather jacket that’s probably more expensive than her car. James’s behind her, trying to keep up, looking mildly terrified but supportive as ever with two coffees in hand and a tote bag slung over his shoulder.
“Cassie—what the hell—” I don’t finish the sentence. She crashes into me at full speed, arms around my neck and her face buried in my shoulder.
“You did it,” she says, breathless and slightly choked. “I told you. I knew you would.” She pulls back just enough to glance over my shoulder at the trophy Carter is now holding for me. “Holy shit,” she whispers. “That’s the trophy?”
“Feels fake,” I say.
She grins, her eyes misty. “It’s not. You earned every molecule of it.” She touches the base like it’s a holy relic, then wipes her fingers on her jeans like she doesn’t trust herself not to cry.
I squeeze her tighter, tears threatening to make a second appearance. “I thought you couldn’t come.”
“I worked a half shift and lied to my boss.” She pulls back. “Do you think I was gonna miss your villain origin story just because I had a couple meetings?”
James steps in with the coffees. “Congratulations,” he says, offering Carter a nod and a tentative smile. “And uh, you were amazing out there, seriously.”
Tate grins. “Thanks.”
Cassie looks at me again, her eyes scanning every inch of my face. “You’re glowing,” she says quietly. “Like, actually glowing. It’s kind of rude.”
I blush. “Well, we did find a private room and—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” James says, lifting his hands. “No offense. Huge fan of your channel. Just don’t need the bonus content.”
SCENE brEAK
The walk back to the hotel is quieter than everything that came before it.
We make it upstairs to our room without much talking, the hallway outside the room dim and empty compared to everything we just walked through. Carter unlocks the door, holding it open while I step inside first.
The second the door shuts behind us, something in me gives. Not in a bad way, just release.
I set the trophy down on the dresser carefully, and press my hands over my face for a second before letting them fall. “I need a minute, or ten.”
Carter nods immediately. “Take it.”
Tate jerks his chin toward the bathroom. “Go, before you crash standing up.”
I step into the bathroom and turn the water on, steam fills the room slowly, the mirror fogging over as I sink into the bath and let the water close over my legs.
The heat hits me all at once, pulling a quiet breath out of my chest as I lean back and close my eyes.
For the first time all day, it’s quiet. No crowd and no pressure.
I don’t realize how tense I’ve been until it starts to ease out of me. There’s a knock on the door after a few minutes.
“You alive in there?” Carter’s voice.
“Barely.” I call out softly.
The door opens just enough for him to lean against the frame, careful not to let the steam spill out too much. Tate is behind him, dropping onto the bed, one arm thrown over his face like he’s finally letting himself feel the exhaustion he’s been ignoring.
Carter watches me for a second, his expression softer now that everything else is over. “You look like you’re about to fall asleep in there.”
“Don’t tempt me,” I murmur, sinking a little deeper into the water.
“You will,” Tate says from the other room. “And then we’ll have to come drag you out, and I’m not in the mood to deal with that.”
“You’re always in the mood to deal with me,” I call back.
There’s a pause. “Yeah, just not right now.”
Carter huffs a quiet laugh and shifts his weight against the doorframe. “Do you want anything? Water? Food? You barely ate earlier.”