Chapter Seventeen Rowan
527 Words
I shouldn’t have stayed.
The second Elena walked into Luca’s apartment and looked at both of us like we’d completely lost our minds, I should’ve left.
Instead, I stayed exactly where I was.
Watching her.
Wanting her.
Ruining myself over her.
Elena paced slowly across the apartment, arms wrapped around herself while tension swallowed the room whole.
“This is insane,” she whispered again.
Luca leaned against the kitchen counter looking exhausted.
“Probably.”
“You’re talking about sharing me like I’m some kind of object.”
That made both of us straighten immediately.
“You’re not,” Luca said firmly.
“Then what exactly is this?”
Silence.
Because none of us fully knew anymore.
I watched Elena drag shaky fingers through her dark hair, beautiful brown eyes full of confusion and frustration and something dangerously close to temptation.
“You both hate each other,” she whispered.
“That’s not the problem,” I answered quietly.
Her eyes snapped to mine instantly.
The tension between us tightened sharply.
Because deep down…
She already understood.
Luca stepped toward her carefully.
“The problem,” he said softly, “is that somehow we both love you more than we hate each other.”
The room went completely still.
Love.
Nobody had said it out loud before.
Elena’s breath caught instantly.
My chest tightened painfully because I realized at the exact same moment—
It was true.
I was completely screwed.
Because somewhere between fighting Luca and trying not to touch Elena…
I’d fallen for her.
Hard.
And judging by the devastation on Luca’s face, he realized it too.
Elena looked overwhelmed now.
Scared.
“You can’t say things like that.”
“Why?” I asked quietly.
“Because this isn’t normal!”
“No,” Luca admitted. “But neither are we.”
She looked at him helplessly. “Luca…”
The hurt in his expression nearly made me leave right then.
Because despite everything, he loved her honestly.
Fiercely.
The guy would destroy himself before hurting her.
And somehow that made me respect him even more.
Luca brushed his thumb gently across Elena’s cheek.
“If you tell me to walk away from this,” he said quietly, “I will.”
I stared at him.
Because I knew how much that offer cost him.
Elena looked shattered hearing it.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Her eyes filled instantly with emotion.
Then slowly—
Painfully slowly—
She looked at me.
And God.
That look nearly ruined me.
Because there was longing there now.
Real longing.
Not confusion.
Not curiosity.
Want.
“You too?” she whispered.
I swallowed hard.
“If you ask.”
The apartment fell silent except for rain against the windows.
Elena looked between us like she stood on the edge of something life-changing.
Maybe destructive.
Probably both.
Then quietly—
Almost too quietly to hear—
“I don’t want either of you to leave.”
Every muscle in my body locked instantly.
Luca closed his eyes briefly like the words physically hit him.
And suddenly none of us knew what happened next.
- Writer
