Hazel's POV
By the next morning, I had barely slept, the memory of last night kept replaying in fragments, the sound of Jaxon’s pained groan, the feel of his hand gripping mine, the quiet plea not to tell anyone about his injury.
This morning was a whole new game because I was about to walk straight into hell.
Jaxon waited for me by the administration block, dressed in a plain black hoodie and his team jacket slung over his shoulder.
“You ready?” he asked softly.
“No,” I admitted. My voice came out small, my palms slick with sweat but I forced myself to swallow the panic. “But I don’t have a choice.”
He looked down at me for a moment, then slid his fingers through mine. “Then we face it together.”
Something in his tone made me feel steadier and better, because no matter how bad th
