I chuckled. “You are pretty irresistible,” I murmured.
“I know,” she said confidently, and I reached up and smoothed a blonde strand off her face.
“I don’t want you to feel jealous of my past with Nova. I know you felt it earlier, and I don’t want you thinking you’re ever second in my life. You’re the first person I’ve ever cared for when I’ve been healthy.” I let out a slow breath, my smile fading as I leaned closer, my voice low but steady. “I don’t want you carrying that weight, feeling like you’re competing with a past you had no part in. I saw it earlier—the way jealousy crept in. But listen to me.” I squeezed her hand gently, grounding both of us. “You’re not second. You’ve never been second. You’re the first person I’ve let in while being fully myself, without the fog of addiction, without all the chaos. You’re the first person who’s seen me for who I am now, and that means more than I can say.”
She held my hand for a second. “Austin, I don’t know how to be the first person for you. I’ve spent so long having other people make my choices for me that I’m still figuring out who I am when I’m the one in control. Some days, not having someone else dictate my life feels freeing. Other days, it makes me question every decision I make.” Her voice lowered. “I don’t know if I canhave sex with you, because if we did, it wouldn’t just be sex. It would mean something permanent. And if this is how connected we are after just… masturbating in front of each other, then can you imagine what it would be like if we… did it?”
Yes. I absolutely could imagine it. It would be out of this fucking world.
A sly smile widened my lips, and Charlie pulled back and splashed water at me. “Stop it.”
I held my hands up. “You brought it up first.” I lowered my hands. “Let’s try this, Charlie. Let’s try this... together.”
28
charlie
It was hard pulling myself out of bed and leaving Austin there. He didn’t have to be at work until later, and part of me wanted to stay, to soak up the warmth of his body beside mine for just a little longer.
Last night had been everything I didn’t know I needed. After the bath, we ended up back in bed, tangled together, holding each other in the quiet. It was safe, warm, and felt so right. His heartbeat under my hand, his steady breathing—it was like we’d created our own little world, and for the first time in a long time, I felt whole.
As I quietly left the house and headed to work, I thought about how important last night was—not just the physical closeness, but the foundation we were building. Every moment together felt like another brick laid, another step toward something solid. It wasn’t rushed or forced; it was steady, intentional.
I needed that. I needed to feel the ground beneath us, the security of knowing we were on the same path. It wasn’t about jumping ahead or skipping steps—it was about making sure we had something real to stand on. Something we could build onwhen the time came to step up, to decide what this was and where we were going.
I pulled up into the school parking lot. Jennie, Maura, Sara, and Lynn were huddled at the back door.
“Did I miss a meeting?” I asked after I hurriedly grabbed my bags from the back and strode toward them.
“A meeting?” Lynn asked.
Sara followed up with “No, but apparently we missed a wedding?”
“I tried to wait to tell them, I promise, but then this one”—Jennie pointed to Maura—“asked me what I did this weekend, and suddenly it all spilled out.”
I giggled softly before walking past them and opening the door. “Well, are we all going in and eating breakfast together, because I think I might win for best gossip for the weekend.”
Their mouths dropped, and all four of them grabbed their bags and hurried into school.
I was drained. It had been one of those days that somehow felt both endless and like it had passed in a blur. After meeting with the girls this morning and filling them in, the rest of the day was nonstop. Between instruction and a lunch meeting with HR to finalize Austin’s insurance, there wasn’t a second to breathe. They confirmed the paperwork was being processed, and his new medical card would be emailed in a week or so.
By the time the final bell rang, I was spent. I hadn’t even touched my phone all day. When I finally pulled it out, I didn’t text Austin like I probably should have. Instead, curiosity got the best of me, and I searched his name on a popular social media site to see if videos from the game had surfaced.
Sure enough, there were a few clips—some of us together, others just him on the ice. Hundreds of comments flooded in, most of them buzzing about how good Austin looked after disappearing from the public eye for so long. It wasn’t as many as I’d feared, but it was enough to remind me I had to call my mom and brother tonight. As for Austin? I’d tell him everything when we were home later. I didn’t have the energy to text, and honestly, I wanted to see his reaction to getting his medical situation settled in person.
I sighed, and someone knocked on my classroom door. Evie was standing at the window of the door, waving furiously.
I smiled, and, with a soft laugh, I walked over to unlock the door.
“Hey.” Austin’s familiar blue eyes greeted me.
“Hi,” I whispered back.
“Austin said you were starving. He said we can get burgers before we go home.”
“You said you had a meeting during lunch. Figured you’d want something to eat. We can leave your car here, and I’ll drive you to work in the morning.”
I was exhausted, and while I was definitely hungry—starving, actually—I didn’t have the energy to go to his parents’ house today. The thought of having to socialize and wear that mask of politeness made my stomach churn.
