Genny: Call me.
Talia: Proud of you for not going quiet.
My throat tightens again. I lock the screen before it turns into something I can’t hold.
Gio watches me like he’s reading the choice I just made. “You done?” he asks.
“I’m done with you,” I say, stepping around him.
His hand comes out fast—controlled. Two fingers hook the strap of my bag for a second, stopping me without touching my skin.
It’s nothing. It’s everything.
My body lights up like I’m the problem.
I turn my head slowly. “Let go.”
His fingers loosen, but he doesn’t step back. His voice drops. “I’m not your enemy, Barnes.”
I drag my gaze over his face—slow, deliberate. The bruised exhaustion. The control. The restraint doing real work.
“You’re something,” I say. “I’ll give you that.”
His eyes darken. “Yeah?”
Heat crawls under my ribs, unwelcome and alive. I smile without warmth. “A complication.”
His mouth twitches. “Story of my life.”
I step free of his fingers and force my feet to move. “Goodbye, Gio.”
He doesn’t follow.
But I feel his attention between my shoulder blades like a hand I never consented to—steady, unbroken—and it tightens my chest just enough to keep me walking.
The cold air cuts across my skin, sharp and grounding. The decision settles like steel.
I’m done performing gratitude for scraps.
If they want to keep their connections sweet, they can choke on the taste when I stop going quiet.
This continues.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 6
Gio
Ilean against the wall of the campus café in the student center, the morning rush grinding through the building like a machine that chews and keeps moving. The hum of voices blends into a low buzz that scrapes against my skull. My phone keeps lighting up in my pocket—vibrations I ignore on principle—but the café is already angled at me anyway.
I catch Maya approaching, expression tight, eyes sharp. She comes in straight. No drift. No smile.
Something’s off. She isn’t here for pleasantries.
“Gio,” she starts, voice low, almost conspiratorial. “Did you paralyze someone?”
My body goes still.
