He exhaled slowly. “It’s fine.”
Cassie gave him a look sharp enough to cut through the night. “No, it’s not. You’ve checked out.”
“I haven’t.”
“You have.” Her voice didn’t soften. “You barely touched her. Just a few months ago you couldn’t keep your hands off each other, but tonight I even saw you pull away.”
Liam looked away, his eyes returning to the hazy stars. “It’s complicated.”
“No,” Cassie’s tone didn’t budge. “It’s messy. There’s a difference.” She leaned her shoulder into his. “Stop lying to me. Hell, stop lying to yourself.”
“I’m not.” The words came out rougher than he meant. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not trying to lie.”
“I know.” She was quiet for a moment, then simply asked, “Is it him?”
Liam’s pulse jumped. He didn’t answer.
Cassie’s nod was slow. “Thought so.”
Silence stretched. The air felt too heavy, pressing in on his ribs. He dragged his hands through his hair, pacing two steps down the patio before swinging back.
“It’s not just him,” he said, the words spilling out. “It’s everything. It’s… I don’t know. I’m tired, Cass. So fucking tired. I keep trying to step back into this version of my life, and it should fit, but something’s always off. Like my own skin’s shrunk and I can’t stretch back into it.”
She waited patiently, watching him spin.
“And then he’s there and it’s… it’s just clear. There’s no more static. I see him and I remember something I didn’t realize I forgot. Like… being awake. And that’s so fucked up, because I’ve only known him a couple of months… but still.”
She didn’t respond right away, but when she did her voice was kind. “That sounds like it matters.”
He managed a small nod.
"Are you really going to pretend you don’t know what that means?"
He didn’t have an answer to that.
“You don’t have to figure it all out tonight. Just stop pretending it doesn’t matter.”
Inside, the dome shifted to gold as Saturn’s rings arced across the ceiling. At their table Teo sat with his eyes closed, palms raised toward the stars like he was channeling the secrets of the universe.
Cassie shook her head, exasperated. “Christ, let’s go back inside before he starts levitating.”
A ragged breath of laughter slipped out of him. “Yeah. Let’s.”
Chapter 18
Liam
They were filming the most intimate scene of the entire season. The kind of scene that would make audiences lean forward in their seats and hold their breath. The kind people would remember long after the finale aired. This was hunger dressed up as fiction, and need disguised as plot.
It was a bedroom scene. They would be lying under tangled sheets in snug boxers and shorts, tight enough that nothing bunched beneath the covers to ruin the illusion. Their bare chests would brush as they moved together, and at some point he would even have to wrap his legs around Jacob’s waist, to really sell the impression of sex beneath the covers.
The set was closed, just like Ellen had promised. Only camera, sound, and lighting crew remained. The intimacy coordinator kept a careful distance, watchful without hovering. Everyone else had cleared out, and still Liam felt like every inch of him was under a spotlight.
The room was hot. Maybe from the equipment, maybe from the way his nerves had been sparking since morning, restless energy crawling beneath his skin. Jacob stood beside him, all sharp lines and lean muscle, impossible not to notice. Liam had to look away before he did something stupid like stare.
There was no need to speak. The plan had been drawn up with the intimacy coordinator hours earlier—every kiss choreographed, every shift of weight walked through, and every boundary agreed upon. No tongue, no wandering hands, no touches outside the frame. Keep it staged and safe, even when the illusion demanded something messy.
Liam knew how it worked; a scene like this was never one-and-done. It meant hours of kissing and breaking apart, resetting for wide shots, repeating for close-ups, again and again until it was done.
