With a resigned sigh, he took the letter, his fingers brushing against mine.
The contact sent a jolt through me, a reminder of the connection we shared. But just as quickly, he pulled back, his expression guarded.
Just then, Shane and Sabrina stepped outside, breaking the tension. “Dinner’s ready!” Shane called, a bright smile on his face.
As we gathered around the table, I could feel Caiden’s anger simmering beneath the surface. He sat across from me, his brow furrowed.
As we ate, the conversation flowed around us, but I found it difficult to focus.
My gaze kept drifting to Caiden, who seemed lost in his thoughts, a storm brewing behind his dark eyes.
I was desperate to reach him, to break through the walls he had built, but each time I opened my mouth, the words felt stuck in my throat.
It wasn’t until Alex arrived that the tension shifted. He came bounding in with his usual charm, his smile brightening the room. “Hey, everyone!” he exclaimed, his gaze landing on me. “Amelia! You look fantastic!”
“Thanks, Alex,” I said, trying to keep my tone light, but I could feel Caiden tense at the compliment.
“Are you ready for some fun?” Alex asked, clearly in high spirits. “I brought a game for us to play after dinner. It’s going to be epic.”
“Sounds great!” Sabrina replied, her enthusiasminfectious.
As the evening wore on, I couldn’t help but notice Caiden’s eyes narrowing each time Alex flirted with me.
It was a subtle thing. Just a glance, a slight tightening of his jaw. But it spoke volumes, igniting a possessiveness.
At one point, Alex leaned in closer to me, his voice lowered as he joked about something that happened at work. A bright, carefree laugh escaped my lips, yet Caiden’s burning stare pierced me.
“Amelia, you should definitely join us for a hike this weekend,” Alex suggested, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “It’ll be a blast!”
“Yeah, maybe,” I replied, stealing a glance at Caiden, who was now visibly irritated.
“Right, because that’s exactly what she needs, more outdoor adventures,” Caiden said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
I felt the shift in the air, and the laughter around the table faded, replaced by an awkward silence. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, my voice was steady, though my heart raced.
“Nothing,” he replied, his jaw clenched. “Just that some people aren’t cut out for?—”
“Cut out for what?” I shot back, my frustration bubbling over. “For living life? For having fun?”
“Amelia,” Sabrina interjected, sensing the tension rising. “Why don’t we all just enjoy dinner?”
After dinner, as we moved to the living room for games, I took a deep breath, my heart pounding.
I couldn’t bear the tension another second. I feigned interest in the game that Alex had brought. A sickly-sweet party charade that required far more social lubrication than any of us possessed. While my eyes kept drifting to Caiden, who brooded in the corner, jaw ticking, eyes flat and dangerous.
A knife in a drawer, waiting for a hand to draw it.
The game itself was a fever dream of laughter and humiliation; I watched Shane perform a ludicrous pantomime of “pterodactyl mating season” and Sabrina dissolve into gleeful peals at his dinosaur squawks.
I laughed too, but it was a mechanical sound, the kind my mother used to make in the good years, before her pills stripped the brightness from her throat.
Alex dominated the room, his energy relentless, his confidence engineered to absorb every photon of attention.
His hands were always in motion, like he was conjuring the air, and he kept finding excuses to brush them against my arm, the small of my back, the inside of my wrist.
“Amelia, you are absolutely brilliant at these clues,” Alex enthused, locking his gaze onto me, blue eyes alight. “I’d want you on my team for any game night, hands down.”
The compliment was harmless, but it sent a jagged ripple through the air. Caiden’s gaze flicked up. He looked at Alex, then at me, then back down at his cards.
