Chapter 15: Countdown
December 31, 2025 – New Year’s Eve.
The week between Christmas and tonight had been a blur of stolen hours and aching restraint.
Quick mornings at his house before Mia woke. Afternoons where I’d “run errands” and end up in his bed for hours. Evenings with family—board games, movies, leftovers—where we sat inches apart, his hand secretly on my thigh under blankets, my foot tracing his calf when no one looked.
Every touch felt like foreplay for tonight.
Mia was hosting the New Year’s party at their house—her tradition since college. “Low-key,” she’d said. Just twenty or so friends, champagne, music, countdown at midnight.
My parents were going to a neighbor’s thing. I was “sleeping over at Mia’s” after the party.
Damien and I had planned it perfectly.
But plans
