But he didn’t press when she grabbed her bag, mutteredc’monand started walking out of the rehearsal studio like a woman on a mission. No dramatic exit. No teasing glint in her eye. Just sharp, silent purpose. And for a second, Nate genuinely wondered if this was the part where she led him into the hills and buried his body where no one would find it.
Honestly? He’d let her. She’d already carved him open enough times this week that one more hit might just finish the job.
So he followed. Big and brooding and battle-worn, still in his rehearsal sweats and studio jacket, trailing after her like a hockey brute in search of a fight he had no hope of winning. The sun was setting as they left the car and headed up a narrow trail behind the Hollywood sign, dirt dry beneath their shoes, the sky bleeding from gold into bruised plum.
She didn’t say a word. Just kept walking, ponytail swinging, jaw tight, hands shoved into her hoodie like she was holding something in. Nate kept walking too, some part of him already aware he’d never forgive himself if he wasn’t there to see whatever she was about to reveal to him.
The wind picked up near the ridge, warm and dry, tugging at the hem of her sweatshirt as they came to a stop just above the sign. The city spread out below them like spilled diamonds on black velvet. Streetlights, windows, headlights, strip malls and nightclubs… dreams. He knew LA was mostly bullshit and beach and broken hearts. But up here, with her beside him? It could be a miracle.
And Holly? God, shelookedlike one.
Her cheeks were flushed from the hike, her hair windblown and curling at the edges. No makeup, rhinestones, or stage lights.Just Holly.Standing at the edge of the city and looking down like she owned it. Nate couldn’t look away. His whole chest ached with the sheer, unbearable weight of wanting her. Wantingthis. Wantingmore.
She didn’t say anything at first. She stood there with her arms wrapped tight across her chest, eyes trained on the glittering sprawl of Los Angeles like it was holding a secret only she could hear. The hush between them was warm, steady, not awkward now. Only the sound of wind through dry grass, and the distant hum of a city trying to pretend it wasn’t lonely.
Then, so quietly he almost missed it, she said, “When I was a kid, my mom brought me up here. Just one time.”
He blinked, still catching his breath from the climb… or maybe from the way she looked bathed in violet dusk with starlight in her eyes.
“Yeah?”
“We didn’t have a car,” she murmured, a ghost of a smile tugging at her mouth. “Took two buses and then walked the rest. She packed a thermos of powdered hot chocolate and some banana bread. We sat right here, looking out over all of this like it belonged to us.”
She exhaled slowly, her gaze sweeping across the skyline. “I’d never seen the city like this before. It looked like... all the stars had fallen and decided to live down there instead.”
Nate swallowed, the air thick in his chest thanks to the way her voice folded around the memory like a wish she’d never let go of. All he could think about was how unattainable the sign looked from her childhood playground. Chain-link fences, rusted ductwork, traffic like veins clogged with neon. It hadn’t looked like stars falling, it’d looked like survival.
Somehow, this incredible fucking woman had given himboth.
But she wasn’t finished. She nodded at the glittering expanse of LA, her eyes taking on a faraway look. Like she was already missing the incredible woman who’d given both toher.A woman she knew she probably couldn’t save.
“She pointed to it all and said, ‘Pick one, Holly. Just one. If you work hard enough andyou don’t give up, you can have it someday.’”
She turned to face him then. And there was something in her expression he hadn’t seen before.Hope.Pure and devastating. And then she said it, softly, like it cost her everything to find the words.
“Pick your star, Nate. I’ll go with you to get it.”
He didn’t answer right away. Couldn’t. In all his years of taking hits, throwing punches, fighting to be seen as more than a penalty box in a jersey… he’d never had this. She didn’t want to fix him. She didn’t need anything from him.
Holly just wanted to go with him.
His throat burned, and he could feel the telltale sting of tears in his eyes. For a moment, he was certain the world tilted on its axis, just enough to make room for the shape of her in his life. She stood there, silhouetted against a city that looked like it had swallowed the universe just to impress her. Allhecould do was try to remember how to breathe.
He stepped in, slowly, like he didn’t know if he was allowed to. Close enough to feel her breath hitch and to catch the glimmer of magic in her eyes. Close enough that if she said no,if she pulled away,he might actually come undone. But she didn’t.
Holly looked up at him like she already knew what he was about to do. Like she’d been waiting for it, too.
And when he kissed her—god, when he kissed her—it wasn’t heat or hunger, though those lived beneath the surface, simmering like always. It was tenderness.Awe.A prayer shared between two hearts choosing hope. His hands framed her face like she might shatter, and her fingers curled into his hoodie like she already had.
The kiss wasn’t technically perfect. It was better.
And below them, the city kept on sparkling.
47
MAN DOWN, I REPEAT—MAN DOWN
Nate
