Just a stare that saysthis is your one warning shot.
Aurora straightens slightly beside me, instinctively putting space between us without fully stepping away.
Ryder’s jaw tightens. He nods once, sharp.
And then he turns and disappears back inside.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“Wow,” I mutter. “Nothing like being threatened with bodily harm via eye contact.”
Aurora lets out a quiet, shaky laugh. “He’s… intense.”
“You have no idea,” I say.
We stand there a moment longer, the kiss still tingling, the warning still echoing.
I glance at her. “For what it’s worth?—”
She looks at me.
“I didn’t plan this,” I say. “But I don’t regret it.”
She smiles.
“Me neither.”
And somehow, that is the most dangerous thing that’s happened all night.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Aurora
It’s early.
So early the sun hasn’t even made much of an appearance, so it makes sense the house is quiet, the kind of still that makes my heartbeat feel too loud, too present.
Maybe it’s because everything has been in motion, tumbling too fast for me to catch up. Maybe it's because I’m alone, and the quiet is giving me too much space to think.
I stand in the kitchen, staring at the coffee machine, trying to figure out how to make the air not feel so stifling. I’ve been running on adrenaline and distractions, but now, in the calm of the morning, the silence is suffocating. I’m almost waiting for something to happen.
I rub my temples, trying to shake off last night. The way Zane held me. The way Finn kissed me. Thelookin Ryder’s eyes when he caught Finn and me. It’s a knot I can’t untangle, and every time I think I have it figured out, it tightens again.
I push those thoughts away. I’m here to figure things out, not get swept up in whatever the hell this town is doing to me.
The door behind me creaks, the sound too loud in the stillness.
I spin to see those intense eyes staring at me once more.
“I need to talk to you,” Ryder’s voice rumbles from the doorway.
I freeze, my pulse spiking before I even acknowledge what he just said. “Huh? Isn’t it a bit early for that?”
He’s already standing too close behind me before I even have a chance to process the movement.
“Now,” he says sharply, slicing through the air between us. “We need to talk now while we have the chance. You’re not safe here, Aurora. I don’t know what Finn has told you, about himself, aboutus… and I’ve tried to warn him about this, but…” He clucks his tongue in irritation. “You’re acting like this is some kind of vacation romance.”
I meet his gaze with an incredulous laugh, a short burst of sound that escapes me before I can stop it.
