I couldn’t look at him for long without my stomach turning. Because he’d done it for me.
And I didn’t know what the hell to do with that.
Then he turned, just slightly, enough that I could feel the weight of his gaze before I actually met it. When I finally looked up, he was staring at me like I was the only real thing left in his universe.
“I love you,” he said.
Just like that.
No hesitation. No buildup. Just truth, dropped like a bomb in the middle of the storm.
I froze.
He didn’t flinch, didn’t look away. He meant it. I saw it in the way his jaw clenched, in the quiet certainty on his face. And it scared the hell out of me.
“Don’t say that,” I whispered, heart in my throat. “Not now. Not like this.”
His brow furrowed. “Why not?”
“Because…” I looked away, suddenly too aware of how close we were, how fast everything was moving. “Because you think it’s adrenaline. Or a high. Or—God, I don’t know.”
“Because you think I’ll regret it?” he asked, voice low.
I nodded. “Yeah. Maybe.”
He shook his head slowly. “I won’t. I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
I let out a bitter laugh, but it wasn’t funny. “You’re bleeding, Kieren. You just got arrested. Your name is all over every feed in the country.”
“And I’d do it again,” he said without missing a beat. “For you? In a heartbeat.”
I closed my eyes, gripping the edge of my seat. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I couldn’t not.” His voice softened. “Because I’m tired of pretending this is fake. Because I’ve wanted to say it for weeks. And because when I saw that smug bastard dragging you on-air, I snapped—and I don’t regret it. I won’t.”
I looked at him then, really looked. And I hated that he meant it. That his wrecked face still somehow made my heart skip. That somewhere in the middle of this disaster, I had fallen for him too.
But I couldn’t say it. Not yet.
“I don’t know how to love you like this,” I whispered. “Not when everything’s falling apart.”
“Then love me anyway,” he said, gently. “We’ll figure the rest out later.”
And the worst part?
A small, terrified part of me already did.
"And how do I know you won't just… leave?" I asked.
I couldn't help but think of Ryder, how the first opportunity to be with someone Juan Ruiz would fuck around with, he jumped at the chance.
I didn't think I could survive it if Kieren did the same thing.
The silence between us stretched, thick and aching. Kieren sat in the passenger seat of my car, his hands still scraped and bruised, his expression torn between defiance and something softer—something that broke me a little every time I looked at it.
“I won’t,” he said quietly, voice steady in the dark. “You want to know why? Because I know what I have with you. Fake or not, it’s the only real thing in my life right now.”
I swallowed hard, staring out the windshield like it held the answers I didn’t. Rain tapped lightly against the glass. Everything felt still, suspended in this impossible moment.
