One Temptation

Keep whispering (Chapter 72)

Guys I have really bad memory and the timeline of the current week in the story isn't lining up. 

So me and you are going to have to assume that currently in the book it's Friday.

They had their study session on Monday, Tuesday was them hanging out and West designing Mads dress. West had court on Wednesday and then Thursday has been skipped from both their POVs.

Now it's Friday.

Heads up, it's a long chapter.

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Mads POV:

The sunlight streaming through my curtains had no right being that disrespectful.

I blink against the golden glare slicing into my room and groan, dragging my blanket up over my face like that would somehow make the day disappear. 

For a second, there was this soft morning silence— the kind that made me think I can go back to sleep.

Then my alarm decides to screech like it's been possessed.

I slap my phone with the reflexes of a corpse. It takes three tries before it shuts up, leaving that annoying buzz in my ears.

If this had been a Monday, I might've genuinely cried. 

But thank god it's Friday.

I force myself out of bed with the grace of a dying fish and walk to the bathroom.

 Shower. Hair. Uniform. Makeup. 

I scrape together some version of "put together" of myself, and call it a win.

But there's been a heaviness on my chest that refuses to go away. It's been there all week. I can't tell if I'm just tired or if something's seriously off.

It started Tuesday night. After the whole dress-designing thing at West's. Which was actually the highlight of my week.

I left his place feeling amazing. But then I got home and everything just felt... off.

West said he had early footie training the next day — Wednesday morning— off-campus, apparently. 

Which struck me as weird, considering he'd already bruised a rib that same day from training. But whatever. I didn't question it too hard. I told myself I was overthinking.

And yet I couldn't shake that gnawing suspicion in my gut. That there was more going on with him than he was letting on.

The suspicion only grew on Wednesday morning. 

It was absolute chaos. 

Mum and Dad were in full panic mode—running around the house like they were about to face a judge in court or something. Screaming about documents and deadlines and God knows what else. 

No good morning. No "have breakfast." Just slammed doors and silence. Me and Aiden just stood there, like 'what the fuck?'.

To make myself feel better I texted West a "good luck" for his training. He replied. Casual. Normal. So why didn't it make me feel better?

School that day was shit. I was floating through the halls like a ghost, drained and irritable.

Thankfully though, Jaxon wasn't there, and Zora was also missing. That made it a bit easier to breath.

But what really sent my day spiraling even more was what happened right before fourth period.

I was walking down the hallway, brain half-fried from my last class, when I saw them.