Rose looks up, smiling the way she always does when she sees me. Like I’m not chaos, or complicated, and I’m not carrying something dark and stupid inside me. I’m just hers.
“I brought you coffee,” she says, holding out the cup. “Figured you’d need it.”
I take it, but what I really need is her. I pull her in, kissing her before she can say another word. It’s slow, deep, and dangerous, because I mean it too much. And she tastes like safety and want and everything I shouldn’t have but took anyway. Without any regard for what she might need.
She melts into me with this little sound I feel straight down my spine, and I can’t help tangling one hand in her hair, pulling her closer.
“Cal,” she breathes, cheeks flushed. “Not out here…”
“I don’t care.”
And I don’t. Not about the team, not about the windows above us, not about anything except getting her somewhere I can touch her properly. I open the passenger door. “Come with me.”
She gets in without hesitation.
As soon as we reach my flat, gravity takes over. I barely get the door shut before she’s pressed against it and my mouth is on hers again. Her hands slide under my shirt, nails dragging up my skin, and I swear I feel myself unravel in real time. She jumps, wrapping her legs around my hips, and I carry her to the bedroom like I’m starving for her.
We hit the mattress tangled, breathless, pulling at clothes as if they’re cutting off oxygen. When I finally sink into her, it’s a rush that hits so hard I almost lose myself instantly. She grabs my jaw, kissing me fiercely, rolling her hips in a way that destroys my restraint.
“Cal… God, don’t stop.”
I don’t. I push harder, deeper, the room filled with our breath, our sounds, the headboard barely muffling the rhythm of us. Her thighs tighten around my waist, her nails dig into my back, and when she comes, it’s with my name broken against my mouth. I follow right after, burying my face in her neck as heat tears through me, every muscle tensing then giving out.
We collapse together, tangled and damp, and breathing as though we’ve run sprints. And I swear I could stay this way for hours with her body against mine, her fingers tracing the back of my shoulder, and her lips grazing my jaw as though she can’t help touching me.
But the moment she falls asleep, peaceful and warm against my chest, the dread creeps in. The guilt. The what if. What if she finds out? What if she pieces together the crash? What if everything I’m building with her rests on a foundation she’d walk away from if she knew the truth? I hold her tighter, hoping that might keep anything from getting to her. As if I can stop it from the outside.
Eventually, exhaustion drags me under too.
When I wake, sunlight’s slipping under the blinds. Rose is curled against me, scrolling her phone.
My stomach sinks. “What is it?”
She hesitates, just long enough for the fear to spike in my veins. But then she sighs and shows me her screen. More posts. More comments. More people assuming shit that never happened.
I take the phone gently and set it aside before climbing over her, caging her in with my body. “Listen to me,” I say, my voice low. “None of that matters. They don’t matter. I’m with you. I choose you. Not her. Not the past. Not the noise.”
Her eyes soften, and she touches my cheek like she believes me completely. It’s terrifying.
“I know,” she whispers. “I just don’t want to cause problems for you.”
“You’re not,” I tell her, pressing my forehead to hers. “You’re the only thing keeping me sane.”
Her breath catches, and when she kisses me, it’s slow, deep, and full of something I almost recognise as dangerous. Maybe love.
I wrap her in my arms and hold her close, burying the truth deeper in my chest. She can never know about the crash. Because losing her now, after everything we’ve started, would break something in me I’m not sure would heal.
And I’ll protect what we’ve got however I have to. Even if the storm outside is still building.
Even if the actual one is inside me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ROSE
The morning feels too bright for how little sleep I got, but when my phone buzzes and Callum’s name fills the screen, everything in my chest lifts. He’s outside my building waiting to take me to the rink before he heads into pre-game warmups.
Come down,his text reads.Miss you already.
