Fire Burning

Bonfire

The night was already humming by the time we pulled up.

You could hear it before you saw it — the bass-heavy music thumping through the trees, laughter echoing off the trunks, and the sharp crackle of fire splitting through the night air.

Riley killed the engine, smirking like he owned the world. His hand slid across the console, fingers trailing up my thigh as he leaned in close.

“You ready for this, pretty girl?”

I nodded, heat crawling up my neck. “You have no idea.”

The fire glowed like a pulse in the middle of the clearing. Shadows danced across bodies, moving, grinding, laughing, drinking. A keg stood half-buried in a cooler of melting ice. Someone had brought those glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and now they littered the crowd like neon war paint.

It smelled like smoke, beer, sweat, and freedom.

Riley didn’t let go of my hand as we walked in — if anything, his grip got tighter. Possessive. Like he needed everyone to know.

A few people looked up. Whispers flared like sparks. I caught Aristotle’s face across the flames — unreadable, mouth set tight.

Addie was near the fire with Hades and Duke, already tossing back drinks like it was the end of the world.

“AYYY!” Addie shouted when she saw us. “Look who finally decided to show up!”

Riley just smirked and tugged me closer to his side, his hand slipping low on my back.

Hades passed me a red cup. “Drink up, heartbreak queen.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What’s in it?”

“Freedom and bad decisions,” he said, clinking his cup to mine.

I drank.

---

The night spun fast — like everything was just a little too loud, too bright, too much.

We danced near the fire, the heat licking our skin, Riley’s hands never straying far from my hips. His mouth brushed my ear more than once, words sticky and low.

“You’re mine, you know that?”
“You keep looking like that and I’m gonna fuck you right here in front of everyone.”
“You like them staring? Or just me?”

I laughed, flushed and dizzy, my blood buzzing.
He kissed me hard, messy, one hand fisted in my hair, the other sliding up my side, like he was branding me with every touch.

For a while, it felt good.
Too good.

But then it shifted.

It was when I wandered off to grab water, brushing past a guy I vaguely knew — Ezra something — who said something stupid and flirty like, “Damn, Emery, didn’t know you cleaned up that nice.”

I smiled — because I was drunk, and because it didn’t mean anything.

But Riley saw it.

And that’s when everything cracked.

---

“What the fuck was that?” he snapped when I got back, eyes hard, jaw tight.

I blinked. “What?”

“That guy. You smiling at him like that.”

I frowned. “Riley, he said something stupid. I laughed. That’s it.”

He stepped closer. “You think that’s funny? Letting assholes like that talk to you like they’ve got a shot?”

“You’re overreacting.”