The next morning at Ridgewood felt… different.
Lila walked into school, hair still damp from her shower, jacket zipped up tight. To everyone else, she was the same old Lila Hart—junior, football player, Tyler's little sister.
But inside, her veins still buzzed with last night's adrenaline. The roar of the crowd, the burn of asphalt, the wind slicing past her face.
Black Angel.
The name still echoed in her head like a song.
Sliding into her seat, she dug out her notebook, determined to focus. She was safe. Nobody at school knew. Nobody could ever know.
"Rough night?"
The pen slipped from her hand. She froze, pulse skipping. Slowly, she looked up.
Ethan Cole lounged in the desk beside hers, smirk sharp, eyes dark.
Her throat went dry. "…What?"
"You look tired," he said smoothly, leaning closer, his voice pitched low. "Like you were out all night."
Her heart kicked hard against her ribs. No. He couldn't know. He couldn't.
"I was studying," she snapped, too quickly.
Ethan's smirk widened. "Studying? Sure. We'll go with that."
Before she could respond, the teacher started class. But she couldn't shake it—the way he looked at her, like he knew. Like he'd been there.
At lunch, it got worse.
Lila sat with Harper, Maya, Ryan, Jace, and Olivia, trying to enjoy a moment of normalcy. But across the cafeteria, Ethan's gaze burned into her like a spotlight.
He wasn't even subtle about it. He leaned back, arm slung over his chair, smirk never wavering. Lukas and Zane whispered beside him, snickering at something, but Ethan's eyes never left her.
"Seriously," Harper muttered, stabbing her fork into her salad. "If he stares any harder, he's going to set you on fire."
"Let him," Lila muttered, refusing to look back. "I don't care."
But she did care. Because every time she thought of his stare, she remembered the neon lights, the roar of engines, the way the crowd had screamed Black Angel!
She shoved the thought down, hard.
After school, football practice dragged. Lila ran her drills, catching every pass, ignoring the weight of Ethan's gaze. But during water break, he found her.
"Nice reflexes," he murmured, stepping close enough that she had to tilt her chin up to meet his eyes.
"Don't," she warned.
He smirked, leaning down until his lips nearly brushed her ear. "Funny. You're just as fast off the field as you are on it."
Her chest tightened. "What are you talking about?"
"You know," he drawled, eyes gleaming. "Late nights. Tight turns. The kind of speed that makes your heart race."
Her blood ran cold.
But before she could demand what he meant, the coach's whistle blew, breaking the moment. Ethan straightened, smirk sharper than ever.
"See you later, sunshine."
And just like that, he jogged off, leaving her rooted in place, her heart pounding with panic.
Because Lila Hart had a secret.
And Ethan Cole was getting too close.