Always you

CHAPTER 7 : EMOTIONS

(Daxon’s POV)

The city outside my window glowed like it was holding its breath. Ridgeview’s skyline shimmered beneath a soft haze, streetlights blinking against the dark — alive, busy, indifferent. From here, everything looked peaceful. But peace wasn’t something I’d felt in a long time. Not since her.

The clock on my nightstand read 11:48 p.m.

Too early to sleep. Too late to keep pretending I wasn’t thinking about her.

Downstairs, faint music drifted up from the game room. Ryder and Kai were probably arguing over a controller again, Nolan recording them for his story. The usual chaos.

But I couldn’t join them tonight. Not when my head was spinning the way it was.

I leaned against the window frame, looking down at the pool lights reflecting off the glass. It was strange — how quiet my life could feel even with everything I had.

The car, the house, the money — all of it meant nothing when the one thing that ever made it real was gone.

Tamsyn Dane.

Her name alone hit like gravity. A year should’ve been enough to move on, right?

Except it wasn’t.

A year ago, she’d been my entire world — my calm and my chaos. We’d known each other long before that, but that year together? It changed everything.

And when it ended, it changed me.

I exhaled, dragging a hand through my hair.

People think time heals everything, but that’s a lie. Time just hides the scars until someone — or something — brings them back to the surface.

For me, that something was seeing her in Ridgeview’s courtyard again yesterday. One second was all it took. One second, and the wall I’d built around my chest started to c***k.

I turned away from the window and stared at the framed photo on my shelf.

It was from last summer — the last one we’d spent together. She was sitting cross-legged on the pier, sunlight in her hair, stealing fries off my plate with that smug little grin she always had when she thought she’d won.

I remember pretending to be mad, grabbing the last one just to make her chase me for it. She’d laughed until she couldn’t breathe.

Now that same laugh haunted me.

My phone buzzed beside me.

Lexi. Again.

Lexi: You disappeared after class. Something up?

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have the patience for her games tonight.

Lexi always wanted attention — especially mine — but she didn’t understand that some silences weren’t for her to fill.

Another buzz.

Ryder: Bro, where’d you go? Kai says you’re acting weird.

Me: Just tired. Long day.

He reacted with a thumbs-up emoji. Typical Ryder — always knew when not to dig deeper.

I tossed the phone aside and lay down, staring at the ceiling. My chest felt tight, heavy with everything I’d tried not to feel.

The truth was simple: I missed her.

But missing her was complicated.

Because I was the one who broke it.

I thought distance would make it easier — thought it would help me focus, stop feeling so exposed. Instead, it made me realise how much I’d taken her warmth for granted.

The last day we spoke replayed in my head again — her eyes wet, voice trembling, asking me what she ever did to deserve this pain

I’d told her it was just a bet, but the way I said it had been cruel.

Detached.

Cowardly.

I’d told myself I was protecting her. But the truth? I was protecting myself.

And now she was back.

Different.

Colder, maybe. But still… her.

Still, the girl who could make a room feel smaller just by walking into it.

I closed my eyes, and for a second, I could hear her laugh again — the soft one she only used when she was trying not to show she cared too much.

I’d give anything to hear it for real.

The night stretched on, quiet except for the low hum of the city.

Sleep didn’t come easily anymore.

It hadn’t been for a year.