Chapter 10 — Midnight Rules
846 Words
Ethan Hayes
Ethan should’ve known things with Lena wouldn’t stay simple for long.
Not after the pool night.
Not after the way she looked at him now.
Because something had shifted between them permanently.
And neither of them knew how to stop it.
The problem was:
they still weren’t officially together.
Which meant every interaction felt dangerous.
Every touch felt stolen.
And every moment alone together became harder to walk away from.
By Thursday evening, Westbridge was preparing for the regional qualifiers. The academy buzzed with stress as athletes rushed between practices and meetings.
Ethan finished swim training late, exhaustion settling heavily into his shoulders. His injury burned tonight worse than usual.
He sat alone in the locker room wrapping ice around his shoulder when the door opened quietly.
Lena.
She stopped immediately after seeing him shirtless.
Ethan noticed her eyes flick downward for exactly half a second.
Then she looked away quickly.
Cute.
“You’re still here?” she asked casually.
“Practice ran late.”
“You missed the leadership meeting.”
“Coach kept me.”
Lena frowned slightly as she noticed the ice pack.
“That shoulder again?”
Ethan shrugged carelessly. “It’s fine.”
“Ethan.”
He hated when she said his name like that.
Soft.
Concerned.
Like she actually cared.
Because it made him want things he couldn’t afford emotionally.
Lena stepped closer slowly.
“You’re in pain.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Before he could brush it off again, Lena gently took the ice pack from his hands.
Ethan froze instantly.
Her fingers brushed his skin carefully as she adjusted the wrap over his shoulder.
And suddenly breathing became difficult again.
Because Lena Carter touching him was becoming dangerous for his self-control.
“You always pretend you’re okay?” she asked quietly.
“Mostly.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
He laughed softly under his breath.
“You have no idea.”
The locker room fell silent.
Only the faint buzzing lights overhead remained.
Lena stood between his knees now while he sat on the bench, her hands still lightly resting against his shoulder.
Too close.
Way too close.
Ethan looked up slowly.
Big mistake.
Because she was already staring at him.
And the tension hit instantly.
Heavy.
Slow.
Impossible to ignore.
Lena swallowed slightly as Ethan’s hand slid carefully around her wrist.
“You should stop looking at me like that,” he murmured.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re thinking too much.”
“I am thinking too much.”
“About?”
Her eyes dropped briefly toward his mouth.
That answered enough.
Ethan stood slowly.
Now they were inches apart.
Lena’s heartbeat visibly sped up beneath his gaze.
“You nervous, Captain?”
“You make me nervous constantly.”
His smirk softened slightly.
“Good.”
Then he kissed her.
Slow at first.
Testing.
Like he was giving her time to stop him.
Lena grabbed the front of his shirt immediately instead.
Definitely not stopping him.
Ethan’s self-control snapped almost instantly after that.
His hands slid to her waist, pulling her closer while the kiss deepened.
Lena melted against him with a soft breath that nearly ruined him completely.
God.
This girl.
Every kiss with her somehow felt worse than the last because now Ethan knew what she sounded like when she lost control.
And he was becoming addicted to it.
Lena’s fingers tangled into his hair while Ethan backed her gently against the lockers without breaking the kiss.
Metal clanged softly behind her.
Neither cared.
The tension between them had built for too long.
Every argument.
Every glance.
Every almost-touch.
It all exploded whenever they kissed.
Ethan’s lips moved slowly along her jaw for a second before he whispered near her ear—
“You have no idea what you do to me.”
Lena’s breath caught sharply.
Then the locker room door slammed somewhere outside.
Both of them jumped apart instantly.
Reality crashing back.
Again.
Lena looked completely flustered now, cheeks pink and breathing uneven.
Ethan honestly wasn’t doing much better.
“We almost got caught,” she whispered.
His grin returned immediately.
“You say that like it’s stopping us.”
Lena rolled her eyes weakly while trying to fix her hair.
“This is a disaster.”
“Probably.”
“You’re way too calm about this.”
“That’s because you keep kissing me back.”
Her glare returned instantly.
“There’s the ego again.”
Ethan laughed softly.
Then his expression shifted slightly as he reached for her hand.
More serious now.
More honest.
“Stay for a little?”
The softness in his voice surprised both of them.
Lena hesitated for exactly two seconds before sitting beside him on the bench.
Neither spoke immediately.
They didn’t need to.
Because somehow sitting beside Ethan in comfortable silence had started feeling natural.
Dangerously natural.
And Lena wasn’t sure which terrified her more—
the fact that she was falling for him…
or the fact that he might be falling too.
- Writer
