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Riot took a step toward me. “Maria, you knew what this was.”

The words hollowed me out instantly because, suddenly, every memory between us twisted into something unrecognizable. I’d mistaken intimacy for commitment, and maybe that made me the stupid one.

My throat tightened painfully. “I really thought . . .” My voice cracked hard enough that I couldn’t finish.

Riot looked like I’d knocked the ground out from under him.

I shook my head before he could recover. “No,” I whispered. “Don’t.” Because if he said we never promised each other anything, I thought it might genuinely destroy something inside me. My eyes stayed locked on Riot standing shirtless in front of me, looking genuinely confused by the magnitude of my pain.

He held up his hands, but I backed away before he could touch me, I didn’t want his hands anywhere near me.

“Maria, stop.”

I turned blindly down the hallway while music and voices blurred together around me. The clubhouse suddenly felt unbearable and humiliating, like everyone would know exactly what I’d just walked in on. They probably did.

“Maria.” His hand wrapped around my wrist near the exit.

I ripped free instantly. “Don’t touch me.”

Riot froze, finally, something shifted in his face like he’d realized it wasn’t a fight. It was loss, it was the end of us. Whatever the hell that had been.

I wanted to scream at him. Wanted to throw something. Wanted to hate him enough that it stopped hurting. But all that came out was, “You made me feel like I mattered to you.”

Riot followed me home. I saw his headlights behind my car the entire drive back to the apartment.

By the time I shoved open the apartment door, my hands were shaking so badly I nearly dropped my keys. Riot didn’t say a word, he just hovered.

Everything inside looked painfully normal. My textbooks still sat scattered across the coffee table. One of Riot’s hoodies hung over the back of the couch where I’d left it that morning, meaning to put it in the wash before work. Two coffee mugs sat in the sink from breakfast. Evidence of a life I suddenly didn’t understand anymore.

I went straight for the bedroom before I could completely fall apart.

The sound of drawers opening filled the apartment while I shoved clothes into a bag blindly, barely folding anything properly. My vision kept blurring every few seconds while tears burned hot enough that I angrily wiped them away before they could fall.

Behind me, the apartment stayed silent, though I could feel Riot standing near the doorway, watching me. He didn’t try stopping me at first.

“You don’t have to leave.” His voice sounded rough behind me. Tired and confused, like he still couldn’t fully grasp how we’d ended up there.

A broken laugh escaped me as I shoved another hoodie into the bag harder than necessary. “I can’t stay here.”

Because, suddenly, all I could picture was Brandi in his lap, his hands on her body, and her moaning against his mouth. How much of a fool I’d felt, and everybody knew besides me.

Every room in the apartment felt tainted and dirty.

I grabbed toiletries from the bathroom counter as quickly as I could before the tears finally spilled over properly. I braced myself against the sink and let them fall, a sob tearing out of me before I could stop it.

I’d really fallen in love with him.

Behind me, the floorboards creaked softly. Then Riot was there, one large hand wrapping carefully around my waist before I could shove my toothbrush into the bag. “Maria.” His deep voice nearly shattered me.

I jerked backwards so fast my shoulder slammed painfully into the wall. “Don’t.”

Riot stopped immediately, his eyes moving over my face. “I’m trying to talk to you.”

“Then maybe you should’ve done that before fucking somebody else.” The words cracked through the bathroom.

Riot looked away briefly, tension pulling across his face. “I didn’t think⁠—”

“God,” I laughed shakily, wiping furiously at my cheeks, “I can still smell her on you.”