My lungs burned, and the rhythmic thump of my sneakers against the track was the only sound that truly mattered. I pushed through the last lap, focusing on the tiny white tape stretched across the finish line. It wasn't about beating anyone else today; it was about beating yesterday's Nomi.
When I finally slowed down, bending over to catch my breath, a familiar, deep ache settled pleasantly into my hamstrings. That burn felt earned. It felt like control. I glanced down at my legs—long, toned from years of track, and currently slick with sweat. I knew they were my best feature, and I wasn't shy about showing them off in the shortest running shorts I could get away with. I was fast, and I looked damn good doing it.
I grinned, dumping half the bottle over my head to rinse the sweat and the stickiness away. My dark hair was clinging to my face, but even damp, it still managed to fall in heavy waves around my shoulders.
"Showoff," Maya drawled, leaning against the bleachers, sunglasses pushed up into her blonde curls. She handed me a bottle of water, already chilled. "You're going to break the school record before graduation, and you know Coach Miller will weep."
I reached for the towel Jess held out. "He deserves to weep. He makes us run up that death-hill 20 times yesterday."
Jess nudged my arm. "Speaking of weeping, guess who just drove by and risked whiplash trying to check you out? Trent."
"From the soccer team?" I asked. "I swear, that boy is always circling this track. He drives that ugly red pickup?"
"The one and only," Jess confirmed. "He is dumb as hell, but the boy is crazy hot. I'd jump him in a second if he ever directed one of his sexy smirks at me."
I laughed, wiping my face with the towel. "You'd jump anyone with a jawline, Jess."
"Not true," she protested, even though it absolutely was. "I have standards."
"Low ones," Maya said dryly.
Jess threw her water bottle cap at her. "Bitch, don't act like you're above appreciating a hot idiot when you see one."
Maya caught the cap midair and smirked. "Please. The only reason I'd go near Trent is to ask if he's ever had an original thought."
"An original what?" Jess teased. "We're talking sexy as sin abs, not boring essays."
I snorted, grabbing my backpack. "God, you two sound like a bad teen movie."
Jess looped her arm through mine as we started toward the parking lot. "A sexy bad teen movie. Don't ruin the fantasy."
I smiled. "I won't. But honestly, Trent needs to figure out that just because the sex was amazing doesn't mean I want anything more with him. I don't have time for boyfriends."
As the last word left my mouth, a strange, sudden shift happened.
It was like walking under a massive, silent lens. A powerful, invasive awareness settled over me, sharp and cold, as if someone had just pressed their icy palm to the back of my neck.
I felt intensely seen..not by Trent or a friend, but by something far more..
A dizzying wave of coldness hit me first, followed immediately by an equally intense, almost shameful heat that bloomed low in my stomach. The sensation was completely disorienting, and for a second, the light filtering through the stadium lights seemed to dim.
"Woah, you okay?" Maya asked, pulling her sunglasses down. "You just went crazy pale. Did Coach make you run too hard?"
I forced a laugh, shrugging off the backpack I'd just picked up.
"Must be the lack of sugar," I lied, though my skin was still prickling. The feeling was fading, but it left behind a profound, heavy sense of foreboding.
My eyes involuntarily snagged on the thick line of woods that bordered the far side of the school track. It was a dark, impenetrable wall of huge pine trees. I had never paid them much mind before too used to it to care much, but now, they felt oddly compelling, like a huge, dark magnet pulling on my attention.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I repeated, forcing my focus back to Jess's complaining. "Just need a shower and about a pound of chips." I didn't mention the cold, the heat, or the sudden, strange attraction to the trees. It sounded insane, even to me.
"Chips and a shower," Jess said, nodding solemnly. "Can't think of a better recovery plan."
"Don't forget the smoothie," Maya added. "If we're all going to die of Coach Miller's sadism, we might as well have protein in our systems."
"Yeah, yeah." I waved them off, but my eyes lingered on the woods for one more second. A faint wind moved through the trees, though the air around us was still.
Then Jess threw an arm around my shoulders, breaking the moment. "C'mon, hot stuff. Let's go bless the locker room."
I rolled my eyes but followed her inside.
The sharp tang of disinfectant and the steady sound of showers greeted us. The locker room was humid, noisy, and blessedly normal again.
"Move over," Jess said, slamming her locker shut next to mine. "Some of us need mirror space."
"Some of us need humility," Maya muttered.
I stripped off my tank and tossed it into my gym bag, feeling the cling of fabric peel away from my skin. My sports bra was soaked through outlining the full curve of my chest and sticking to my toned, flat stomach.
I caught my reflection in the communal mirror, which was conveniently fogged everywhere except the strip directly in front of the lockers. I quickly removed the bra, letting out a satisfied sigh as my chest gained much needed freedom. I was proud of my body: strong like a runner, but curvy enough to fill out a sweater. I worked hard for it and I wasn't about to pretend otherwise.
"God, Nomi," Jess said, watching me pull off my shorts, "if I had your legs, I'd never wear pants again."
"You don't wear pants anyway," I said with a smile.
"Yeah, but mine's a cry for help. Yours would be a public service."
I laughed, tugging a towel around myself and heading for the showers. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Jessica."
"Lies," she called after me. "It always gets me somewhere."
Entering the shower, I turned the knob and the water came out almost scalding, but I didn't care. The heat soaked into my muscles, washing away the ache, the sweat... and that weird, crawling cold from earlier. I leaned my forehead against the tile, eyes shut.
It had been nothing. Just exhaustion. Adrenaline probably. Or maybe I was just overthinking.
Except, under the hiss of water, I could've sworn I heard something else. A low hum. Almost a voice. Almost my name.
I opened my eyes.
Nothing but steam.
By the time I came out, hair dripping and towel knotted tight around me, the locker room was nearly empty. Jess was in front of the mirror, smearing on lip gloss she absolutely didn't need. Maya was scrolling on her phone.
"Party at Timothy's lake house tonight," Jess said, catching my eye in the mirror. "You're coming."
"I'm not," I said automatically.
"She is," Maya countered. "Even if I have to drag her."
"Fine," I sighed. "Maybe." But I knew I couldn't. I had to get started on my physics homework that was due tomorrow.
Maya grinned. "Progress."
I unwrapped the towel and reached for my clothes. I quickly pulled on a pair of tiny black jean shorts and a tight, ribbed white tank top that immediately drew attention to the curve of my bust and the deep tan on my shoulders. I left my dark, heavy hair down, letting the wet strands hang against the cool fabric to air-dry.
"Okay, but seriously," Jess said, capping her lip gloss. "You can't skip every party before graduation. You're gonna blink, and we'll all be old and boring."
"You already are," Maya said without looking up from her phone.
Jess threw her towel at her. "Rude!"
I laughed, slipping on my sneakers. "I'll think about it, okay? But if I show up and Trent's there, I'm pushing him into the lake."
Jess grinned. "God, please do. That would make my entire year."
We finalized plans to meet for coffee tomorrow morning before first period to review our notes for a test, then we made our quick goodbyes. I watched them drive off, the last rays of the sun fading behind the neighborhood trees.
When I finally got home, the house was quiet, smelling of my mom's fancy vanilla candle. My parents weren't fighting, or even arguing, nah they were just existing in their separate, comfortable orbits. My mom was in the kitchen, meticulously fussing over flowers, while my father as usual was hiding in his study.
I grabbed a bag of sour cream and onion chips and kicked off my sneakers, enjoying the feeling of my bare feet on the cool tile.
And then the doorbell rang.
It wasn't the insistent, rhythmic pattern of a friend or the quick double-tap of the pizza delivery guy. It was a single, authoritative, heavy chime that seemed to vibrate through the floorboards. The heck?
My father's study door remained shut. My mother's arranging stopped, but she didn't move from the kitchen.
I rolled my eyes. Naturally, the job fell to the only person in the house who wasn't actively avoiding life.
I wiped my salty fingers on my jeans and walked to the front door, pulling it open with a careless sigh.
The man standing on the porch was the end of all normalcy. He was impossibly tall, unnervingly pale, and wore a suit that probably cost more than my entire family's assets. His dark hair was gorgeous, pulled back just enough to showcase a jawline that could carve granite.
His eyes were the first thing that stopped my breath: a shocking, sinful bloody red, utterly hypnotic and full of cold command. They fixed on my low-cut tank top and bare legs with an unsettling intensity that made my earlier internal heat flare into a scorching, unwanted inferno. He was the single most gorgeous, utterly wrong, and devastatingly primal thing I had ever seen.
He didn't smile like a neighbor or a salesman. His lips, soft and unnervingly pink against his pale, flawless skin, curved into something that was pure, cold possession.
"Nomi English," he said.
The sound of my name, spoken by him, felt like a deep, intimate caress, the bass vibration of his voice didn't just hit my ears, but resonated straight through my chest, down to the sudden, aching emptiness between my thighs. Every ounce of my controlled sexuality flared up, demanding to be noticed by this dark stranger.
"I'm Lord Darius Dreymont. And I've come to collect my proposal."