“He can’t know.Not yet.Maybe not ever, I don’t know.”He sounds as conflicted as I feel.“He’s my best friend, and you’re his sister, and this is?—”
“Complicated.”
“Extremely.”His hand traces lazy patterns on my hip.“And you’re leaving tomorrow.”
There it is.The thing we’re both thinking.Tomorrow.Not in a few days—tomorrow.
“I know,” I say quietly.
His hand stills on my hip.“That’s not enough time.”
It’s not.It’s nowhere near enough time to figure out what this is or could be.“So this is just...”Just what?Tonight?Sex?Something that can never be anything more?“...for now,” I finally finish.
His hand finds mine under the covers, threading our fingers together.“I’ll take ‘for now’ if that’s what you’re offering.”
The words hit harder than they should.He’s willing to take whatever scraps I give him—one night, stolen hours, something that has to stay secret.And I’m selfish enough to let him.
I squeeze his hand, feeling the weight of it.The temporary nature of this.The impossibility of anything more.
“Just for now,” I whisper back, even though my chest aches with it.
I fall asleep trying to memorize how this feels—his warmth, his breathing, the safety of his arms—knowing that by this time tomorrow, I’ll be back in my apartment in New York.
When I look back on this, will it feel like a dream...or a mistake?
I wake up alone.
The sheets beside me are cool, which means Silas has been gone for a while.The house is quiet and still.
My stomach twists.
Oh god.What did I do?
I sit up, pulling the sheet around myself like it can somehow protect me from the reality of last night.The reality that I slept with my brother’s best friend.That I crossed a line I can never uncross.
This was a mistake.A huge, catastrophic mistake.
Silas probably realizes it too.That’s why he’s not here.He’s probably in the kitchen right now, figuring out how to politely kick me out.How to pretend this never happened.How to face Hunter without the guilt written all over his face.
Hunter.
My chest constricts painfully.
Hunter is the only good thing about my family.The only person who actually gives a shit about me, who shows up when I need him, who doesn’t make me feel like I’m perpetually disappointing him just by existing.Mom and Dad have made it crystal clear over the years that I’m the daughter who can’t quite measure up—not successful enough, not thin enough, notenoughperiod.
But Hunter?Hunter’s been my person since we were kids.
And I just risked that.For what?Sex?Yes, mind-blowingly good sex, but still, it was just sex.
If I ruin Hunter’s friendship with Silas—if this blows up and forces Hunter to choose sides—I’ll have nothing left.They both live here, they see each other all the time.
I’ll have no family worth speaking of.Just me, alone in the city.
I’d never forgive myself.
I need to go.Now.Before this gets worse.Before I do something even stupider like catch feelings or start believing this could be something real.
Sliding out of bed as quietly as possible, I gather my clothes from where they’re scattered across the floor.My hands shake as I pull on my jeans, my shirt.I need to get dressed, get out, and get back to the city where I can pretend this never happened.
