Fire Burning

No Turning Back

The morning sunlight filtered through the cracked blinds, painting thin golden lines across my comforter.
I blinked up at the ceiling, heart already hammering.

Today wasn’t just any day.
Today was the date.

I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand, hands a little shaky.
A new text was already waiting — his name lighting up my screen like a match to gasoline.

Riley:
"Can’t wait to see you tonight, pretty girl. Wear that black dress. Make it hard for me to breathe."

My stomach flipped.
A smile broke over my face — the kind I couldn’t even fight if I tried.
That dangerous, dizzy kind of smile that meant I was already far too deep.

I hugged the phone to my chest for a second, heart thudding against it, before forcing myself out of bed.

---

The house bustled quietly downstairs as I got ready — Hades yelling something at Jackson from the kitchen, the clatter of dishes, Sarah humming under her breath.
Everything felt normal.

Everything felt wrong.

I pulled on my jeans and hoodie mechanically, trying to shove down the wild flutter of nerves rising in my chest.
As if pretending today was normal would somehow keep it from tipping off its axis.

But it was already too late for that.

---

The drive to school with Addie, Hades, and everyone else was a weird kind of torture.

Addie kept sneaking glances at me — like she could see right through the casual way I sat there, chewing my thumbnail raw.
Every now and then, Hades would shoot me a knowing smirk in the rearview mirror, making some stupid joke that Addie elbowed him for.

But the second we rolled into the parking lot, the rest of the world blurred out.

Because he was there.

Leaning against his truck like he had nothing but time — hoodie sleeves shoved up to his elbows, jeans slung low, one boot kicked casually against the bumper.
And that lazy, wrecking smile curved his mouth the second he saw me.

Like he was already undressing me with his eyes.
Like I was the only thing that mattered on the whole damn planet.

Heat rushed up my neck, leaving my skin burning under my jacket.

Addie bumped her shoulder into mine.
"You're so screwed," she whispered, laughing.

"I know," I muttered, dragging my gaze away before I could make even bigger of a fool of myself.

---

School dragged like wet concrete.

Every class felt endless — every second stretched thin by the slow throb of anticipation in my chest.

And everywhere I turned, it was him.

Riley brushing past me in the hallway — fingertips trailing lightly across my lower back like a secret.
Riley catching my eye from across the lunchroom — smirking that slow, wrecking smirk that made my thighs clench under the table.
Riley slipping folded notes into my hand during Chemistry, each one more devastating than the last:

"I’m going to ruin you tonight."
"Counting the minutes until you’re mine."

I buried my face in my hands after the third one, my whole body buzzing.

Meredith — sitting beside me — just cackled quietly.
"God, you're gone," she whispered.

I didn’t even bother denying it.