✦CHAPTER 2 — His Brother’s Warning
468 Words
*Nova POV*
Hangovers have a smell—cheap beer, stale perfume, bad decisions.
Mine also smells like Luca’s cologne.
Bri’s car rattles down the street as sunlight drills through my skull. She hums along to a song about heartbreak and freedom, and I want to tell her neither exists.
“You were quiet last night,” she says.
“I was drunk.”
“Drunk doesn’t explain the way you looked at him.”
I flinch. “At who?”
She just grins. “You know who.”
The memory snaps: his eyes, the kitchen, that pulse between us. I squeeze my phone like it’s a secret keeper.
When I get home, Mason’s truck is already in the driveway.
Of course it is.
He’s leaning against it, arms folded, that same half-smile that used to make me melt. Now it just feels heavy.
“You went to my brother’s party?” he asks.
“Bri dragged me.”
“And Luca talked to you?”
My throat dries. “Barely.”
He pushes off the truck, closes the distance. “Nova, don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t get close to him. He’s not like me.”
“That’s the point, right?”
His jaw ticks. “He’ll ruin you.”
The words sting because part of me hopes he’s right.
*Luca POV*
I should be at the shop, not replaying her face against the kitchen light.
The guys laugh around me, the radio hums, but all I hear is her saying my name without sound.
Mason storms in like a storm with shoes. He tosses his keys, glares. “Stay away from Nova.”
I wipe my hands on a rag. “Morning to you too.”
“I’m serious, Luca.”
“So am I. I haven’t done anything.”
“Yet.”
He’s always been the loud one; I’m the calm before it. “She’s not yours anymore,” I say.
That earns me a punch to the shoulder—brotherly, but it lands with warning.
“You screw up enough for the both of us,” he says. “Don’t drag her into it.”
When he leaves, the air tastes like metal and regret.
I light a cigarette I don’t need.
Nova’s face flickers in the smoke.
Maybe Mason’s right. Maybe I’m poison.
But damn if I don’t want her to take the sip anyway.
*Nova POV*
Later, I scroll through my phone, pretending not to wait for a text that will never come.
Then it buzzes.
Unknown Number: You left your bracelet on the counter.
My breath stops.
I type back before my brain can stop my fingers.
Keep it safe for me.
A long pause. Then—
Him: I don’t do safe, Nova.
And just like that, I’m falling again.
- Writer
