Cole:
I stood in the shower longer than necessary, letting the scalding water beat against my back, steam rising in thick curls around me. It felt like the only thing tethering me to the moment, anchoring me before I did something I couldn't take back.
I was going to tell her.
Everything.
The truth I had buried under smirks and shrugs. The part of me I’d hidden behind cold calculation and football bravado. The piece of my guilt I thought I could outpace.
But I couldn’t.
Not anymore.
Not with Juliette.
She had unraveled me in a thousand small ways without even realizing it. It wasn’t just her laugh or the way she rolled her eyes when she caught me watching her during rehearsal. It wasn’t even the way she’d curled into me that night in the park, sobbing like the world had ended.
It
