• Chapter 21

  • Chapter 21

  • Zephyr attempted to find me many more times that semester.

  • I perfected the art of looking right through him.

  • Meanwhile, Sid and I grew closer each day.

  • During Stanford’s chilly winters, he’d wrap his scarf around both our necks, warm my hands between his, and tuck me inside his coat when we walked across the windy quad.

  • But unlike what I’d experienced before, he treated me with genuine respect and care.

  • He always asked before even the smallest displays of affection, his cheeks flushing adorably when he’d lean in to kiss my forehead.

  • We studied together in coffee shops, laughed over inside jokes no one else understood, and built the kind of relationship I hadn’t known was possible–one where I felt both cherished and equal.

  • Zephyr saw all of this from a distance.

  • eventually

  • after watching us leave a campus event together, he snapped and tried to

  • separate us.

  • without a second thought, calmly providing

  • for mercy

  • there was nothing left in me that could be

  • through an old high school friend that he’d dropped out of UC Davis mid–sophomore year.

  • old patterns–drinking, fighting, street racing–but worse

  • drunk and cry about

  • Velvet Nights

  • 46.2%

  • Chapter 21

  • would listen.

  • him off financially after he wrecked

  • had lost his shine, his future,

  • afternoon in my junior year, I sat cross–legged on my apartment floor, methodically going through my phone contacts and

  • the last few mutual

  • throwaway accounts he

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255