Page 24 of Declan

She’s leaving after the fight tomorrow. She’ll go back to her life, wild and chaotic, filled with color and noise and energy I have no business chasing. And I’ll return to mine, structured, brutal, and lonely as hell. Just the way it’s always been. Just the way it’s supposed to be.

This thing between us, whatever it is, it’s not real. Not permanent. It can’t be.

I step out of the shower, water trailing down my skin as I grab a towel and wrap it around my waist. That’s when I realize it, my dumbass forgot to bring clothes. I’m not used to having someone here. Especially not someone I’m trying desperately not to fantasize about seeing me naked.

Hoping she’s still in the kitchen, I crack the bathroom door open and listen. Nothing. I make a quick dash to my room, towel clutched tight, and breathe out in relief when I see it’s empty. Thank fuck.

I yank open my drawer and grab a pair of boxers and gym shorts, pulling them on fast. Two layers, just to be safe. Not that it’ll help with the way she’s been invading my thoughts, wrapping herself around my self-control like a damn vice.

The day’s exhaustion slams into me all at once. My limbs are heavy, my head foggy. I grab a pillow, ready to make good on my plan to crash on the couch, but I don’t even make it out of the room before I feel it, her presence, soft but certain. A warm pressure in the air that instantly tightens something low in my gut.

“I said absolutely not,” Lena says, her voice soft but strong, steel wrapped in velvet.

I turn, pillow still in my hand. “I’m not gonna make you sleep on the couch.”

“I’m a big girl, Declan. I’ve slept on plenty of couches. Don’t be ridiculous.”

I arch an eyebrow and walk over to the dresser to set down the pillow. “And I’m a decent human being who doesn’t let a woman sleep on a lumpy-ass couch while I take a bed.”

She moves to the opposite side of the bed like she belongs there. I can’t help the grin that tugs at my mouth.

“I’ve slept on worse. I’ll be fine,” she insists, grabbing one of the pillows.

“Damn it, Lena,” I snap, yanking the pillow right out of her hands. “Can’t you ever just do what you’re told?”

She doesn’t even flinch. Her chin lifts like she’s daring me to say something else. “I do what I feel is right at the time. I’m not taking your bed.”

The anger I’ve been swallowing all night starts to bubble up, mixing with something else, something dangerous. “Lena, fuck! Just sleep in the goddamn bed!”

“Declan, shut up!”

My eyes narrow, and for a second, the silence between us crackles. If anyone else had told me to shut up like that, I would’ve snapped. But this is her. She’s different. She gets away with things no one else can. Not because I let her, but because I want her to.

“We are grown-ass adults,” she goes on, her voice calmer now, but still firm. “Stop arguing and demanding things of me like you get to control every damn thing I do. We can both sleep in the bed. You stay on your side, I’ll stay on mine.”

She yanks the blanket back and slips beneath it like she owns the place, like she’s done it a hundred times before. She staresat me, challenging me with just her eyes. “You can keep being a stubborn jackass, or you can get some much-needed sleep.”

It’s a bad idea. It’s the worst fucking idea I’ve ever heard in my life.

But I walk to the other side and climb in anyway.

She lets out a soft laugh, smug and adorable and absolutely maddening. “See? You didn’t spontaneously combust.”

She rolls onto her side, her back to me, and I turn to face the opposite way, because facing her, facing this, is too damn much.

But even with her back to me, I can feel her. I can smell the shampoo in her hair, can hear the soft rustle of the sheets every time she shifts. Every nerve in my body is aware of her like a live wire crackling just beneath my skin.

And I hate how right it feels. I hate how much I want to roll over, pull her close, and pretend just for one night that she’s mine.

But I don’t.

I lie there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, while every fantasy I’ve buried claws its way out of the shadows and taunts me. I shove them back down, one by one.

Because Lena’s not mine.

And she never will be.

Chapter 9

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