Chapter 11: Don’t Let Go
583 Words
Ava
The night air was cool as she sat on the cabin’s wooden deck, wrapped in a blanket, watching the moon reflect on the lake.
Lucas joined her a few minutes later, silent, holding two mugs of tea. He handed her one without a word and sat beside her.
Ava took a sip. Jasmine. Warm. Calming.
“You surprise me sometimes,” she said softly.
“How?”
“You pretend you don’t care… but you notice everything.”
Lucas didn’t answer at first. “That’s how you survive in my world.”
“I’m not sure I want to survive your world. I want to live.”
His jaw clenched.
“You think I don’t?” he asked after a moment.
“I think you forgot how.”
They sat in silence, tension pulling tight between them, even in the stillness.
She turned to him, searching his eyes. “Why did you bring me here, Lucas? Really?”
“I needed to breathe.”
“And you couldn’t do that alone?”
He looked away. “I didn’t want to.”
That simple confession sent a tremor through her.
He didn’t want to be alone.
Not with his past. Not with his guilt. Not with his cold walls closing in.
He wanted her there.
---
Lucas
He didn’t know when it happened.
Maybe it was her laugh. Or the way she looked at the stars like she still believed in something better. Maybe it was her fire when she argued or her silence when she hurt.
But she was inside him now—in his thoughts, his chest, his hands.
He couldn’t push her out.
Didn’t want to.
She turned to him, her eyes soft, her skin glowing in the moonlight.
“Lucas,” she whispered, “do you ever let yourself feel anything real?”
“I do,” he said, “with you.”
That was the truth.
The only truth he’d said in weeks.
Ava reached out and touched his face gently, her fingers light but grounding.
And for once, he let the moment happen.
No walls. No cold mask.
Just her.
---
The First Time
They didn’t speak much as they went inside.
Their bodies moved slowly, drawn together like magnets with history behind them.
He kissed her like he was starving.
She touched him like he was breakable.
Their clothes melted away like the pretense they’d worn for weeks.
And when he entered her, it wasn’t fast or reckless.
It was deep. Intimate. Silent except for their breaths and the sound of sheets.
Ava’s nails raked down his back.
Lucas groaned her name against her throat.
And when she cried out his name, he didn’t flinch.
He held her.
Close.
Tight.
Like he never wanted to let go.
---
Later – Ava
She lay in bed next to him, heart pounding, skin flushed.
He was asleep.
Peaceful, for once.
Her fingers brushed his arm, and he didn’t stir.
This man.
This broken, guarded, guarded man...
Had just made her feel wanted. Needed.
Even if only for tonight.
And that terrified her.
Because feelings don’t obey contracts.
And love doesn’t care about consequences.
---
Lucas (Awake, but silent)
He wasn’t asleep.
He felt her breathing. Her soft touch.
He could barely breathe with the weight of what just happened.
He’d crossed the line.
And he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to go back.
But something inside him warned...
That getting too close to her?
Could destroy them both.
- Writer
