In Love With Him

Chapter 60

Dominic's POV

I stormed down the stairs, fists clenched so tight my knuckles turned white. My jaw ached from how hard I was grinding my teeth, but I didn’t care. Rage thrummed through me like a goddamn war drum, deafening and hot. The second I rounded the corner and stepped into the kitchen, I saw them—my so-called friends.

They were standing around laughing, drinking coffee like nothing happened. Like they didn’t just completely f**k up my life.

Then I saw him.

Jaxon.

The one who shoved the drink into my hand last night. The one who insisted I stay. The one whose smirk made my blood boil all over again.

“Hey, look who’s finally up—did you have a—”

I didn’t let him finish.

My fist connected with his jaw so hard he flew back into the fridge, hit the floor like a sack of bricks. The sound was loud, sickening, satisfying. The other guys jumped back with startled yells, frozen for a half-second before lunging toward me.

I would’ve beat Jaxon into the goddamn tile if they didn’t grab me. It took four of them—four—to hold me back.

“What the f**k did you do to me?!” I roared, fighting against their grips, ready to tear the house apart.

Jaxon groaned, dazed, rubbing his jaw as he sat up against the cabinets. He wiped a bit of blood from his lip and looked at me with confusion and insult. “What the f**k, man? I— I just gave you a little something to take the edge off.”

He pushed himself up to his feet, swaying like a drunk i***t, one hand gripping the counter for balance. “You haven’t been yourself lately, alright? We figured you were stressed—so I gave you something to help you loosen up. Chill the f**k out.”

“Chill out?” I shouted, shrugging off the guys holding me back. “I had no control of my body, Jaxon! I don’t even remember half the night!”

“I was trying to help, man!” he barked back. “You’ve been walking around like a zombie, turning down girls, skipping parties, ignoring your boys. What the hell happened to you?”

None of them knew.

None of them knew what the hell they’d really done.

None of them knew I was in love with Kennedy.

I was in love with my stepsister.

And last night, I f****d her bully.

I stared at Jaxon, shaking my head slowly, my entire body vibrating with fury and shame. “You drugged me. And now I have to live with what happened last night for the rest of my goddamn life.”

“Jesus, Dom, it wasn’t—”

“Save it.” I pushed past the rest of them, my shoulder slamming into one of their chests. “If any of you ever come near me again, I swear to God—”

I didn’t finish the sentence.

I didn’t need to.

They knew.

The second I slammed my car door shut, I started to feel it—the weight.

My grip tightened on the steering wheel, and I fought the urge to punch the dashboard. I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe I let it happen, even if I didn’t have a choice.

Amber.

Of all the people—f*****g Amber.

I don’t remember saying yes. I don’t remember touching her, or kissing her. All I remember is trying to fight it. Like I was screaming inside my own mind, trying to claw back control of my body. Like I was trapped in a nightmare.

I never wanted her.

I never wanted anyone else but Kennedy.

God.

What would Kennedy think if she found out?

Would she believe me? Would she hate me? Would she ever even look at me the same?

The drive home was a blur. Just the sound of the tires on pavement and the static in my head. I didn’t turn on music. I didn’t speak. I just kept my jaw clenched and drove like I was running from something.

Because maybe I was.

When I pulled into the driveway, I sighed with relief at the empty house. Paul and my mom were at work. Max and Kennedy were still at school.

Thank God.

I closed the front door behind me and leaned my back against it for a second, letting the silence of the house settle over me like a blanket. My heart was still racing. My fists still tingled with leftover adrenaline. But the guilt…

The guilt was something else entirely.

I thought I could maybe wash it off. Scrub it away.

So I went straight upstairs, peeled off my clothes like they were soaked in gasoline, and stepped into the shower. The water was hot—scalding—but I didn’t care. I wanted it to burn. I wanted it to cleanse. I wanted it to do something that made me feel clean again.

I leaned my head against the tile wall and let the water pour over me, my eyes closed, trying to erase the images burned into my brain.

But no matter how long I stood there…

No matter how much soap I used…

No matter how hot the water got…

I couldn’t wash away Amber’s touch.

And worse… I couldn’t stop thinking about Kennedy’s face if she ever found out.

---

Kennedy’s POV

Dominic never came home last night.

I tried to act like it didn’t bother me, like I wasn’t refreshing my phone every five minutes or checking the driveway from my window every time a car passed by. But the truth was—I was worried. Really worried. He didn’t text, didn’t call. Not even a stupid meme or one of his sarcastic "I'm alive" messages.

And now, here I was, sitting in science class, staring blankly at the board as Mr. Dunning rambled about chemical bonds and the upcoming partner project we’d be starting that week. My pen tapped anxiously against my notebook.

Where the hell was he?

“Alright, listen up,” Mr. Dunning said, clapping his hands. “We’ve got a lab project that’ll count for 40% of your quarter grade. You’ll be working in pairs, and yes—I will be assigning them.”

Groans echoed through the room as students glanced nervously at each other. I tried to pay attention, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Dominic. I sent him a text this morning, something casual like "you okay?" But nothing. Not a single reply.

My chest felt tight with nerves.

“…And Kennedy,” Mr. Dunning said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I blinked. “Wait—what?”

“You’ll be working with whoever walks through that door in about… three seconds,” he said, glancing at the clock with a smirk.

Just then, the classroom door opened with its usual loud screech.

In walked Amber.

Wearing her usual smug expression, fake lashes, and a shirt one button away from detention.

The entire room shifted with uncomfortable energy. I could practically feel half the girls roll their eyes and half the guys sit up straighter. I didn’t even turn around—I knew it was her the second the air in the room turned toxic.

Mr. Dunning crossed his arms. “Miss Thompson, nice of you to join us. Late again, I see.”

Amber didn’t apologize, of course. She just popped her gum and gave him a lazy shrug. “Overslept.”

“Well,” he said dryly, “that’s not surprising. Take a seat. You’ve been paired with Kennedy for the lab project.”

Both of us groaned at the same time.

“Oh, come on,” I muttered under my breath, slumping lower in my seat.

Amber let out a dramatic sigh, flipping her hair as she walked over and plopped down next to me like it physically pained her to be so close.

“Looks like we’re stuck together,” she said without even looking at me, her voice thick with sarcasm.

I ignored her. I had bigger things to stress about than the girl who made my life hell.

Like why Dominic hadn't come home.

Why I hadn’t heard from him.

And why the knot in my stomach just kept getting tighter.

I stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, already mapping out how I could just do the entire project myself. I’d done worse. I'd stay up late, drink enough iced coffee to power a small nation, and bang out the work. Then I’d slap both our names on it and be done.

It wasn’t like I trusted Amber to actually contribute anything useful. She’d probably try to flirt her way out of doing her share or—God forbid—copy and paste something from Wikipedia. No way was I putting my grade in her claws.

I sighed through my nose and glanced up at the board, already thinking about what materials I’d need from the lab storage room after class.

“And before anyone gets clever,” Mr. Dunning said, looking directly—directly—at me as if he had a sixth sense for bullshit, “this project is a shared effort. Fifty-fifty. I’ll know if only one of you does all the work, and in that case—both of you fail.”

The collective gasp of betrayal I gave him was silent, but internal and dramatic.

I groaned audibly, dragging my hand down my face.

Beside me, Amber let out a scoff of her own, flipping her hair over her shoulder like this was somehow my fault. As if she hadn’t shown up fifteen minutes late and been dumped into my lap like expired meat.

“Well,” I muttered, finally turning toward her with a forced smile. “Looks like we’re stuck.”

Amber gave me a tight, bitter smirk. “Unfortunately.”

I exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Fine. You can come over after school. Let’s just get this f*****g thing done as fast as possible so I never have to talk to you again.”

Amber c****d a brow, chewing her gum obnoxiously. “Whatever. Just don’t expect me to sit through any of your musical theater shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll try to restrain myself.”

We both turned forward, arms crossed and perfectly in sync in our mutual disgust. The irony would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so miserable.

But the real reason I was annoyed wasn’t just the project.

It was Dominic.

Still no word. Still no clue where he was last night.

And now, somehow, I was stuck in science class from hell, with the girl I hated most in the world.

What a f*****g Thursday.