Chapter 8 We Didn't Kiss, We Collided

Nathan was waiting near the gym, hair damp from practice, fingers twitching like regret had nowhere to settle. Tessa saw him before he saw her and almost turned around, almost gave herself the mercy of not facing what didn't matter anymore. But she didn't. She walked slower, arms crossed, not from nerves-she just didn't want to look him in the eyes and feel the nothing that had taken his place.

"Tess," he said when he spotted her, voice softer than she remembered it ever being. "Hey."

She stopped a few feet away. "Hi."

He rubbed the back of his neck, still searching for words. "I owe you an apology."

She waited.

"For yelling. For assuming. It just-it looked bad. And I guess I was hurt, not just about... my dad, but because I thought maybe we were getting somewhere again."

She stared at him. "Are you done?"

Nathan blinked. "I mean... yeah?"

She nodded once. "Cool. I accept your apology."

Relief sagged his shoulders. He took a small step closer. "So maybe we can-"

"No," she said, calm but clean. "We can't. There's no again. There was barely a before. You only saw me when I stopped orbiting you."

"Tessa..."

"You're not the one I need to forgive," she said, stepping past him.

And she didn't look back.

---

Zara was in the living room when she got home, arms crossed, already loaded like a gun. "Okay, no. Sit. We're talking."

Tessa dropped her bag, slumped into the chair.

Zara narrowed her eyes. "You're glowing."

"I'm not."

"You are. That's either good sex or a curse from a horny Greek god."

Tessa dragged her fingers through her hair. "Neither."

Zara raised a brow. "But he touched you."

Silence.

Zara hurled a cushion across the couch. "Jesus Christ, Tessa. Was it worth it?"

Tessa didn't answer.

"He will ruin you," Zara said, like a warning, not a guess. "That kind of man doesn't come with softness. He comes with teeth."

"I know."

"No, you don't. Because you still want more."

Tessa looked up, eyes hot and burning. "He sees me."

Zara leaned in. "No. He studies you. He memorizes how you fall apart so he can break you better next time."

Tessa stood. "I'm not afraid of breaking."

Zara didn't argue. She just stared like she was already mourning something that hadn't happened yet.

---

The rain started while she was still outside. No umbrella. No jacket. Just a hoodie clinging to her arms, hair curling like static around her face. The night was thick. The sky pressed in. Her head told her to go home.

But her feet walked her straight to the curb where the black car waited like it had known she was coming all along.

No honk. No call.

Just the window sliding down.

She got in.

The air inside was warm, too warm. It smelled like leather and storm. Dorian didn't speak. Hands on the wheel. Eyes forward. His jaw was tight, like restraint and rage were fighting over which would win.

"You shouldn't be here," he said finally.

"Then why are you?"

He looked at her.

And it wasn't soft.

It was hunger barely leashed.

"I didn't come to talk," she whispered.

That was all it took.

His hand shot out, wrapped around the back of her neck-not rough, but firm, possessive, dragging her in like gravity had run out of patience. Their mouths crashed together, no romance, just collision. Heat. Teeth. Need. His other hand slid under her hoodie, fingers wide across her waist, and she gasped when he gripped like he'd been dreaming of this since the beginning.

She straddled him, legs curling around his hips, knees jammed against the console. His hands tugged the hoodie over her chest, and the way he looked at her-it wasn't admiration. It was hunger dressed in worship.

"You want this?" he growled against her neck. "Say it. Or I stop."

"Don't you dare stop."

He didn't.

He shoved the seat back. Her hips rolled once and the sound she made could've rewritten scripture. His hand slid down between them and she rocked into it like it was oxygen, like she'd been holding her breath since the first time he looked at her and didn't blink.

They didn't undress all the way-just enough. Her shorts halfway down. His zipper open. The air thick and wet and filthy as she moved over him, her back arching, her breath shattering. His mouth found her collarbone, her chest, the underside of her jaw. His voice was a sin, rough and low in her ear.

"Say it," he murmured against her lips.

She gasped, shaking. "I'm yours."

He groaned, dragged her down harder, and she came undone for him-hips trembling, nails clawing into his shirt, breath catching on a prayer that sounded far too much like again.

---

She lay in his backseat after, hoodie pulled halfway over her chest, pulse still hammering. He didn't speak. He just watched her. Like she was something he wanted to remember exactly as she looked in that moment-wrecked and real and entirely his.

"I hate you," she whispered.

"No you don't," he said, voice hoarse. "You're just scared you'll never want anyone else again."

She didn't argue,because he was right.

---

She got home too late, skin still humming, hair wet from the rain, body loose in ways that made her feel more alive than safe. She dropped her bag on the bed, peeled off her damp clothes, hoodie hitting the floor with a soft thud-then something slipped out of the front pocket.

A USB drive.

Not hers.

She stared at it for a second, heartbeat already speeding up like it knew before her brain caught on. She picked it up, turned it over, plugged it into her laptop.

No label, no file name, just a single video.

She clicked .

Grainy footage filled the screen-angled from behind, too clean to be coincidence, too focused to be accidental. A car interior and it was her in his lap. Head thrown back. Hands in his hair. Her mouth open, gasping his name like a confession.

A hidden camera.

A timestamp flashing red in the corner like it was counting down to her ruin.

And then her voice-low, wrecked, real.

"I'm yours."

Tessa slapped a hand over her mouth, breath caught somewhere between panic and shame, her heart thudding so loud it drowned out the echo of her own moan.

At the bottom of the screen, a message appeared.

Sender: UNKNOWN

Message: You looked so beautiful when you broke. Let's see how fast you shatter.