Hug
1108 Words
Lena’s POV
The cold metal of Domi—Jake's locker—stared back at me like it was mocking my very existence. I couldn’t believe what I had done. I’d actually dropped the letter in his locker. His. What the hell was I thinking?
Jake, the untouchable. The dangerously hot guy everyone whispered about but never dared approach. He wasn’t just good-looking, he was scorching. The kind of hot that made your breath hitch and your brain short-circuit. But it wasn’t just his looks. He was powerful. Not just strong, Lycan powerful. Way beyond the average werewolf. People kept their distance for a reason.
And now, I had made myself the center of his attention… and not in a good way.
“What the hell are you doing in my locker?” Jake’s voice exploded behind me like a thunderclap. Before I could even blink, he had me slammed against the lockers, his arms boxing me in. The clang of metal echoed like a gunshot, and the hallway fell into stunned silence. Every eye was on us. It felt like I was standing on a stage, the lead in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
My mouth opened, but no sound came. My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear anything else.
“I asked you a question!” he barked, eyes blazing.
He yanked the locker open and snatched out the folded paper. My letter.
I watched helplessly as he unfolded it. His lips curved into a smirk as he read, but then his expression shifted, disgust? Amusement? I couldn’t tell. But whatever it was, it made my stomach twist into knots.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered, voice low and sharp. “A love letter? Seriously?”
I blinked rapidly, my cheeks burning. My lungs refused to work.
“I didn’t know you were this cheap,” he sneered, his words slicing through me like shards of glass. “For your information, I’m not interested. Stay away from me.”
Then he pushed me. Just enough to knock me off balance. I stumbled back, hitting the lockers with a dull thud. My pride cracked open on impact.
Ryker appeared out of nowhere, his hand reaching for my arm. “Lena, are you okay?”
I jerked away before I could think. The concern in his eyes only made it worse.
I turned and walked. Fast. My friends hurried after me.
“Lena!” Angel called.
“Wait up!” Rose added.
But I kept going.
I was supposed to be the girl everyone wanted to be. The one who had it all. And now… I was the pathetic girl who threw herself at a Lycan and got destroyed for it, in public.
My reputation? Gone.
That night, sleep avoided me like the plague. I lay on my bed, eyes on the ceiling, replaying it all. His voice. That mocking smirk. The way the whole hallway stared like I was some joke.
God, even in that moment, he was stunning. Cold, heartless, and still so impossibly beautiful. Those piercing eyes. That sculpted jawline. He looked like he’d been carved by gods... and he knew it.
At some point, I must’ve drifted off, because I woke up soaked in sweat, trembling. The dream again. That night. The night I was killed. The screams. The blood. The shadows clinging to me like smoke. I could still feel the terror, like icy fingers gripping my chest.
Desperate, I reached for the pills Angel had given me last week. Sleep followed quickly after—deep, dark, and empty.
Morning came like a slap in the face. The sunlight poured in as if mocking me.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Lena! You better be up!” Angel’s voice rang from the other side of the door.
“I’m not going to school!” I croaked, burying my face deeper into the pillow.
“What?!” she snapped. “You are!”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t face them. Not after what happened.
I checked my phone and instantly regretted it.
My notifications were swamped. Messages from people I barely knew. Girls I never liked. Guys who never noticed me. And now? They were all talking.
“Desperate much?”
“Did you really think the Lycan would want you?”
“LOL. Pathetic.”
I hurled my phone across the room. It hit the wall with a dull thud and bounced onto the carpet.
This was a disaster. Everything I had built, my plan, my image, shattered.
I didn’t eat. I didn’t move. I just lay there, curled up like something broken.
Time passed. I didn’t know how much. The world kept spinning outside my door, but mine had stopped.
“Lena?” Rose’s voice, soft and hesitant.
“School’s over now…”
Still, I said nothing.
Then I heard it.
His voice.
“Did you really skip school because of me?”
My breath caught. No. No, no, no.
That voice, velvety and sharp. Instantly recognizable. It made my spine go stiff.
I turned slowly, heart slamming against my ribs.
Jake.
What the hell was he doing here?
I stood and started pacing, my feet dragging over the carpet. My thoughts scrambled.
“Open the door,” he said, closer now.
I stayed silent, praying he’d just go away.
“I’ll open it then,” he said, and the door creaked open.
He stepped in like he owned the place, his presence sucking all the air out of the room. I gasped and scrambled to sit up.
“Let’s talk,” he repeated, his tone unreadable.
“I don’t want to talk,” I rasped, my voice raw from crying.
“Well, too bad,” he replied, crossing the room and grabbing my hand. “Because I do.”
His grip was warm. Firm. Not rough. My skin tingled where he touched me. I tried to pull away, but he didn’t let go.
And for just a moment, his mask cracked.
There was something else in his eyes, something that didn’t match the cruel boy from the hallway.
“What do you want from me?” I whispered.
He sighed and raked a hand through his tousled black hair. “I have something to say. Something you’ll want to hear.”
I stared at him, heart thudding. Was this another trap? Another cruel joke?
“Why now?” I asked bitterly. “After humiliating me in front of—”
He didn’t let me finish. Instead, he pulled me into a hug. Tight. Warm. Real.
And just like that, the ground beneath my feet shifted again.
- Writer
