Before I could second-guess it, Shay leaned in.It wasn’t a real kiss; it was a stage kiss, closed-mouthed and slightly off-center, but he angled his phone and the camera flash went off.In the picture, with the soft lighting and my drunk, flushed face, it would probably look a hell of a lot more real than it felt.
I pulled back, my heart hammering for a completely different reason now.Adrenaline had cut through the drunken haze.“Send it to me.”
My phone buzzed a second later.The photo loaded.We looked...cozy.Shay’s arm was around me, our faces close.It was perfect.
With trembling, fumbling fingers, I opened my text thread with Henry.The one filled with my green bubbles of anguish and his one, gray, dismissive response.I attached the photo.My thumb hovered over the send button.This was the point of no return.This was lighting the fuse on a bomb.
I hit send.
For a full minute, nothing happened.The three of us sat in silence, staring at my phone as if it were a venomous snake.
“Well?”Felix finally said.“Is Siberia nice this time of year?”
Then, my phone exploded.
It wasn’t a single buzz.It was a relentless, vibrating torrent.Message after message after message lit up the screen, one after the other, so fast I could barely read them.
Unknown Number:What is the meaning of this, Charlie?
Unknown Number:Are you drunk?
Unknown Number:Tell me this is a joke.
Unknown Number:Where are you?
Unknown Number:Answer me.
Unknown Number:Is that Shayy?I will have him traded tomorrow.I will bury him in the minors so deep he’ll need a map to find the sun.
Unknown Number:You are mine.Do you understand me?You do not get to do this.
Unknown Number:Tell me where you are.Now.
Shay’s eyes were as wide as saucers.“Holy.Shit.Is that him?He sounds...unhinged.”
I was frozen, equal parts terrified and exhilarated.This was the reaction I’d wanted.This was the loss of control.The raw, unfiltered possessiveness in his texts was a balm on my bruised heart.He cared.He was furious.
Before I could type a response, the phone lit up with an incoming call.His name—or rather, his number—blazed on the screen.
Shay flinched back as if the phone itself had burned him."Don't.Don't answer it."
But I was already moving, my heart a trapped bird in my throat.I swiped to answer and held it to my ear."Hello?"
The silence on the other end was heavier than any shout.I could feel his fury radiating through the line.
"Where are you?"Henry's voice was quiet.A razor blade wrapped in silk.
"My apartment," I whispered.
"Is he still there?"
"Who?"I breathed, the single word a final, reckless act of defiance.
"Don't," he hissed, the control snapping."Don't play stupid with me.Is HE still there?"
I swallowed, my mouth dry."Yes."
The line went dead.
