Chapter Sixteen
MILA
Luke had already gone downstairs to make coffee, the smell drifting up the staircase before I’d even finished brushing my hair.
I took my time in the shower, letting the hot water loosen the last of the tension in my shoulders.
The last of the adrenaline. The night could have exploded. But it hadn’t.
Mom and Edwardo hadn’t loved the story when I called them in the morning. He had gone silent in that focused way that meant action was already happening somewhere behind the scenes. Once Luke got on the phone and walked Edwardo through how it had been handled, they’d relaxed enough to let it go.
After breakfast, we would head back to Blackwood. I wanted to stretch the last few hours of this bubble as far as they would go.
When I stepped downstairs, sunlight cut through the tall windows in long pale stripes, stretching across the hardwood floors and the empty bottles that hadn’t made it to recycling yet.
Outside the sliding glass doors, damp towels hung over the deck railing, heavy and twisted from the night before. The faint scent of chlorine drifted in through the cracked door.
It felt almost… ordinary.
Theo stood at the stove shirtless, flipping something in a pan with exaggerated concentration. Jax sat at the island with Avery perched sideways on his lap. He had one arm wrapped loosely around her waist while he scrolled on his phone with the other.
Tori leaned against the counter beside Theo, hip brushing his, stealing pieces of whatever he was cooking when he wasn’t looking. He didn’t protest.
Chase stood near the sink, arms folded, staring into space like he was replaying something he didn’t like.
Luke crossed the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me from behind before I even reached the counter. His chin rested against my temple.
“You sleep?” he murmured against my hair.
“Enough.” He’d kept me up most of the night, and he knew it. Not that I was complaining.
His arms tightened for a second.
Theo glanced over his shoulder at Chase’s broody expression. “For the record, it was contained quickly. No harm done. I’ll have a cleaning service come in before I leave. Alarm will be set. Don’t think about it anymore.”
Chase’s jaw flexed. “She knew what she was doing.”
Theo shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. She got a ride from a couple of girls. She’s gone.”
Avery reached back and squeezed Chase’s hand. “It didn’t spiral out of control. That’s what matters.”
Chase nodded once. Agreement without commentary.
Luke didn’t join the conversation. He stayed behind me, arms locked loosely around my waist, as if he needed to feel we were still here. Still intact.
I turned slightly in his hold. “You good?”
His gaze met mine. Clear. Steady. “Yeah.”
The night hadn’t broken us, but it had reminded us.
Theo pushed a plate across the counter toward me. “Eat before King drags you back to civilization.”
Luke huffed a quiet laugh. “We’re not that dramatic.”
Theo raised a brow. “You? Always.”
The mood stayed light after that. Plates passed. Coffee poured. Avery laughed at something Jax muttered under his breath. Tori leaned further into Theo, comfortable now. Chase’s shoulders eventually lowered half an inch.
For a few hours, it was just us. No social feeds. No headlights in the trees. Just the ease of good friends hanging out.
When Luke grabbed the keys from the counter, I felt it before he spoke.
“Ready?”
I slipped my hand into his, our time away cut short because of Chloe outing us on social media. “I guess.”
He squeezed once.
We stepped out into the cool mountain air together, leaving the warmth of the house behind us, knowing it wouldn’t stay that simple once we reached Blackwood again.
But for the length of the drive down the mountain—it was.
The rest of Thanksgiving break passed in a compressed, fragile rhythm.
Mom didn’t dissect the mountain trip when I walked in. There were no pointed questions and no subtle cross-examinations disguised as curiosity. She poured wine, loosened her hair, and let the evening move at its own pace.
Edwardo was already in the kitchen when I came downstairs later, sleeves rolled up, finishing something on the stove. He moved through the space without hesitation.
Mom brushed past him to grab a glass, her hand trailing briefly along his back. He leaned down and said something near her ear that made her smile.
A few days away had done something. They were lighter with each other. Less guarded. The time alone had been good for them.
And for the most part, it had been good for me and Luke too. A break from Blackwood. At least until Chloe decided to make our location public.
Still, most of it had been ours. Not complicated. Just him and me without anything pulling at us. I hadn’t realized how tight my chest had been until it wasn’t.
At dinner that night, Edwardo’s phone lit up, and he excused himself mid-conversation. When he returned, his gaze lingered on me a fraction longer than necessary.
Luke grew quieter during that week. Drew’s name flashed across his screen more than once. His posture tensed before he stepped away to take the call. When he came back, something in his expression had hardened.
Darren’s letter to my mom, his alias, secret phone—none of it really left my mind. The warning not to trust the Kings lingered, so did Darren’s death and what he’d uncovered. Even in the mountains, it all sat there in the background.
Marcus called again. Darren had a shell company and a credit card. He’d built something bigger than we thought.
And we were still waiting.
Monday was coming, where school and routine would return, along with whatever Elise and her father were setting in motion.
But the break had been worth it. For a few days, we weren’t reacting. We were just… together. And for now, that was enough.
Still, a silent Elise unsettled me more than her cruelty ever had.
When I stopped by Luke’s hockey practice, Logan hadn’t taunted. He’d just watched, and somehow that was worse.
Blackwood held its breath. So did we.
By the time we returned to campus, the heaviness of Blackwood had resettled on our shoulders.
The courtyard buzzed with post-break energy. Laughter spilled across the brick walkways. It seemed normal. Except it wasn’t.
I stepped through the gates and felt it immediately. The quiet underneath the noise.
Avery walked beside me, mid-story about something Jax had done the night before. I nodded at the right moments, but my focus drifted.
The wind caught my hair, lifting it briefly before dropping it back against my shoulders. I slowed.
“Hey,” Avery murmured. “You good?”
“Yeah.” A lie.
I felt it before I saw him. That pull. That pressure at the back of my neck. Logan stood near the lockers at the far edge of the courtyard. Still. Just watching us. No smirk curved his mouth. No mocking glint in his eyes. The laughter around me dulled, muffled beneath the rush of blood in my ears.
Avery followed my line of sight. Her grip firmed around my wrist.
Luke was across the courtyard near the steps, talking to Jax and Theo. His posture remained loose, but I saw the exact second he noticed the change in my stance.
His gaze tracked and found Logan, his expression hardening with anger. Logan’s eyes never left mine.
The mountains hadn’t been safety. It had been distance. And distance had given whoever was planning something time to reposition.
For the first time since that night, understanding locked into place, cold and precise in my chest. The quiet hadn’t been peace. It had been a warning.