He worked me fast, rough, like he needed to make me come before he shattered. My forehead pressed against the shelving unit, breath fogging the cold metal. I could feel how hard he was against me. The thick imprint of his cock wedged between my ass cheeks. I could feel the tension vibrating through his body, the way he gritted his teeth and refused to let himself go.
He took me to the edge again and again. But didn’t let himself fall.
I let out a strangled moan, the coil inside me snapping hard and sudden. Heat flushed down my spine and surged through my limbs like a live wire. I came into his hand with a gasp, hips twitching, body shaking.
Theo held me through it, jaw clenched, breathing uneven—like he was forcing himself to memorize the moment and then forget it at the same time.
When I finally turned, heart still thudding, he was already wiping his hand on a rag he pulled from a nearby shelf. Avoiding my eyes as he cleaned my cum from his fingers.
“Theo—”
“Don’t,” he breathed. A soft, brutal blow.
He stepped back, ran a shaky hand through his hair, flattening it down and righting his shirt, then pulled open the door like it was just another shift. Just another goddamn Tuesday and I wasn’t still standing there with my pants hanging around my knees, panting in the wreckage of what we just did.
What we always did.
He left without a word and I didn’t stop him. Didn’t call his name. Didn’t beg him to stay, even if my chest ached with the weight of what Ididn’tsay.
Instead, I leaned against the shelves and stared at the space where he’d stood. I tried to breathe around the emptiness he left behind and wondered why I kept doing this. After every time he touched me, I felt like I’d lost another piece of myself.
My shift draggedon like a slow bleed. I did what I always did—smirked, flirted, laughed too loudly. Played the part of the guy no one could get under. But it was all numb. My skin buzzed with phantom touches. My stomach churned every time I caught a glimpse of Theo leaving the room I’d just entered.
He didn’t look at me once. Not even when I had to ask him about an anniversary celebration Mr Cleary wanted to book for his wife, because Timothy had suddenly vanished from thebuilding. I swear that prick was trying to do everything he could to get me fired.
By the end of the night, my fuse was a breath away from blowing. So I did what I knew best. Slipped out the back, lit a cigarette, and stared out at the lot like it held the answers to questions I didn’t want to ask.
The night was cool, quiet, and cruel. The smoke curled from my lips like a prayer I didn’t believe in.
“You’re gonna give yourself cancer,” Thalia chuckled behind me.
“Everyone’s gotta go somehow,” I muttered.
She walked over and plucked the cig from my fingers, took a drag herself, and exhaled like she’d been holding it in all day. “You looked like you were about to combust during closing.”
“I’m fine.”
“Right.” She flicked ash into the wind. “That why you spent half the night staring into space?”
I didn’t answer. Just stared ahead, jaw tight.
After a beat, she nudged my side. “Come on.”
“What?”
“Get in the car.”
“I’m not in the mood to party, Thalia.”
“Not a party. Just… drive with me.” Her voice was softer now. Less best-friend-who’d-throw-a-punch-for-you and more someone who knew how far you were slipping without having to see the edge.
I hesitated. Then followed, squishing myself in her busted-up Fiat. No questions. Just the hum of the engine and the wind whipping through the open windows. Fifteen minutes later, we were parked at the top of the old lookout point—this hill on the edge of town where kids used to make out, drink cheap beer.
Neither of us said anything for a long time.
The town looked tiny from up here. The stars didn’t give a fuck what you were going through. I kind of admired that. I leaned back on my elbows in the grass, cigarette forgotten behind my ear.
“You know,” Thalia said, lying down beside me, “I used to come up here when my mom would drink too much. I’d just lie here and look up until it felt like the sky could swallow me whole.”
