Novel-novel oleh ANGELA

OUT IN THE OPENCYRUS POINT OF VIEWI woke up to noise, I didn’t open my eyes at first because my head was pounding and my body felt pinned, heavy, wrong, the whispers kept going anyway.“—that’s him.”“I know.”“I thought he died.”“Well obviously not.”I opened my eyes. I saw White ceiling. Hospital lights. Curtains half pulled. Two nurses standing just outside my room, angled toward each other, heads close. One of them noticed my eyes were open and stopped talking mid-word. They both looked at me like I’d caught them doing something dirty.I swallowed. My throat burned. “Morning.”Neither answered. They exchanged a look. One nodded. They walked off together and started whispering again the second they were a few steps away. My heart started racing. I lay there staring at the doorway, jaw tight, chest feeling too small.Another nurse passed by. I tried again. “Hey.”She smiled without stopping. “Morning.” Already gone. They were avoiding me. All of them. Talking around me. Like I wa

I LOVE YOUCYRUS POV.“I love Doninic ,” I say, and I don’t pause, don’t soften it, don’t give her time to brace because I’ve been bracing for years and I’m done carrying that weight alone. “I don’t love you, Stella. I never did. I tried to convince myself I could, that it would come with time, that marriage would fix something that was already broken in me, but it didn’t. It just made the lie heavier. If you need the truth stripped bare, then here it is: I've been gay my entire life. This didn’t start with him. It didn’t start last year or last month or whenever the rumors decided to crawl out of the gutter. I was born this way, and I buried it because it was easier to be the son, the husband, the partner everyone expected than to be honest.”She doesn't move at first. Just stares. Like she’s watching something collapse in slow motion and can’t look away. Her lips part, then press together again, like she’s tasting every word, weighing how much damage they’ve already done. I can se

OUT IN THE AIRCYRUS POV.I swore I’d never step foot in Festus’s house again.I said it years ago, out loud, drunk and furious and bleeding from a fight that never should’ve happened. I remember pointing at the place like it was cursed ground, telling Timone if he ever dragged me back here it’d be because I was dead or desperate. Turns out desperation counts.The door closes behind me and the sound lands wrong in my chest. Too final. Too quiet. The house smells like coffee and wood polish and something citrusy that doesn’t belong to me. Festus’s place has always felt like a territory line I wasn’t supposed to cross. Clean. Controlled. Everything I’m not right now.I stand there longer than necessary, hands shoved in my pockets, jaw tight, trying not to think about how I don’t actually have anywhere else to go.Timone notices. Of course he does. He always notices.“I’m sorry,” he says, low, careful. “I know you hate this place. I know you said you never wanted to come back here.”I le

THE GRAND PLAN Dominic I haven’t stopped moving since I got here. That’s the first thing that hits me every time I become aware of myself again. Not where I am. Not what I’ve done. Just the fact that my body refuses to settle, like if I stop, something worse will catch up to me. The room feels wrong in a Foreign hotel. Neutral colors meant to offend no one, comfort everyone, and somehow they do the opposite. Thick curtains pulled shut even though it’s still daytime. My suitcase is open on the bed, clothes half unpacked, folded and unfolded again without purpose, like my hands needed something to do so they wouldn’t reach for my phone.I pace from the window to the desk to the bed and back. Over and over. The same steps, the same path, like if I repeat it enough times it will start to make sense. My fingers twitch. My jaw aches from being clenched too long. My chest feels tight, heavy, like something is pressing inward, something that won’t let me take a full breath. I keep thinking

SILENT REMORSECYRUSA week passes and it doesn’t soften anything. It just stretches the pain thinner until it’s everywhere, like I’ve been skinned and forced to live anyway. Every hour feels the same. I don’t wake up refreshed, I just surface from one kind of numb into another. I keep thinking there should be a moment where my body realizes Doninic is gone and adjusts. It never does. It just keeps waiting, stupid and hopeful, like I trained it wrong.I stop eating first. Not deliberately. I sit in front of plates and stare at them until the smell turns my stomach. When I try to force it down, my throat closes. My body rejects it like it’s foreign. Like it doesn’t deserve to be fed when the person who mattered most to it isn’t here anymore. I tell myself I’ll eat later. Later never comes.Sleep goes next. Or maybe it goes first and I just don’t notice. I lie in bed for hours, eyes open, staring at ceilings, at corners, at nothing. My mind loops relentlessly—what I said, what he said,

JUST ONE NIGHTCYRUSThe apartment was quiet. Dominic and I sat on the couch. The TV was off. The lights were dim. The only brightness came from the city outside the window, He was sitting close to me. Close enough that our thighs touched i looked at his hand. At the lines on his palm. At the way his fingers curved slightly, relaxed."You keep looking at my hand," he said."I like your hands."He turned his head. His eyes found mine. In the low light, they looked darker than usual. Almost black."Yeah?""Yeah." I reached out and traced my finger along one of the lines. "This one means something. I forget what.""It means I'm going to live a long life.""Does it?""No. I made that up." He smiled. "But I'm going to anyway. Live a long life. With you."I felt my chest get tight. Not in a bad way. In the way that happens when someone says something so simple and so true that it knocks the air out of you."You can't promise that," I said."I know." He turned his hand over and caught mine.

Chapter 111Aaron POV“Listen,” I whispered, voice rough and low, intimate in the charged space between us.My finger stayed pressed lightly against Leon’s lips for another heartbeat, feeling the warmth of his breath, the slight tremble there, the way his anger seemed to pause under my touch. The room felt smaller, the air thicker, like the whole chaotic night had narrowed down to this single moment. Leon’s eyes were locked on mine—still burning with that mix of fury and hurt, but something else flickered there too. Want. Confusion. The same pull I’d felt since the first time I cornered him in the library. My own pulse was hammering, adrenaline from the pool fight mixing with the deeper, more dangerous heat that always seemed to flare whenever he was this close.But we weren’t alone. Not really.I heard it clearly now—the faint shuffle of footsteps right outside the door. Low voices murmuring, someone trying (and failing) to stay quiet. A soft laugh. The creak of floorboards as peopl

Chapter 110Aaron POVI didn’t answer right away. The question hung in the air between us like a live wire—where were you?—and it burned hotter than the pool water still clinging to my skin. Leon stood there in the middle of the guest room, water still dripping from his soaked hair onto the plush carpet, my oversized hoodie hanging loose off his frame, the remnants of that damn dramatic costume peeking out underneath like ugly evidence of every bad decision I’d dragged him into tonight. His eyes were locked on mine, angry and hurt and demanding the truth I wasn’t ready to give. Not yet. Maybe not ever.Guilt twisted sharp in my gut. Upstairs, just minutes ago, I had been lost in alcohol and heat and bad choices—Sonia’s mouth, Tyler and Jace’s hands, the kind of reckless release that felt good in the moment but now left me feeling dirty and hollow. While Leon was being cornered, stripped, and humiliated by the pool, I was upstairs living up to every stereotype of the untouchable hockey

Chapter 109“Let’s get you dried up?” Aaron murmured, his voice low and gentle against the chaos still echoing behind them. He didn’t wait for an answer. With one last protective glance at the dispersing crowd—phones still flashing, murmurs spreading like wildfire—he guided Leon away from the pool area, arm firm around his waist. Damian gave a subtle nod from the sidelines, silently offering backup if needed, but Aaron shook his head. This part was theirs.The mansion’s interior felt like another world compared to the humid, hostile backyard. The thumping music had dulled to a distant bass, laughter and chatter bouncing off marble floors and crystal chandeliers. A few lingering partygoers stared as Aaron led Leon up the grand staircase, but no one dared approach. Aaron’s reputation—and the scene he’d just caused—carried weight.“Upstairs,” Aaron said firmly when Leon hesitated on the second step, his bandaged knees protesting with every movement. “Michael’s guest rooms are always stoc

Chapter 108This made Aaron angrier.The fury boiled up from somewhere deep, hotter than the alcohol still buzzing in his veins, sharper than any hit he’d taken on the ice. Leon was trembling against him, clutching the soaked shirt like it was armor, his bandaged knees visibly raw under the torn fabric, water dripping from his hair and mixing with the humiliation in his eyes. Aaron’s arm stayed locked around Leon’s waist, possessive and steady, a silent promise that he wasn’t letting go. Not now. Not with the entire party circling them like vultures.Sonia reduced her tone, smoothing her voice into something almost sweet as she walked toward Aaron. The crowd quieted slightly, phones still raised, hungry for the next twist. She tilted her head, eyes raking over Aaron’s wet torso and clinging shirt.“Aaron, you’re all wet now,” she said softly, reaching out as if she might touch his arm, playing the concerned girl in front of everyone.He ignored her completely. Turned instead to Leon,

Chapter 107Aaron’s heart slammed against his ribs as he shoved through the glass doors, the cool night air hitting his still-flushed skin like a slap. His shirt was half-untucked, hair messy from the chaos upstairs, the taste of alcohol and regret still lingering on his tongue. The scene before him froze him for half a second—then shattered everything.Leon was in the pool.Not swimming. Struggling. Water streamed down his face as he treaded desperately, the shredded remains of the costume clinging to his body like wet rags. His bandaged knees must have been screaming. His eyes—wide, humiliated, furious—locked onto Aaron’s for a split second before another wave of laughter from the crowd made him flinch.Kayla stood at the edge, shrieking, one hand clutching the brutal bald stripe down the center of her once-perfect blonde hair. “You fucking freak! I’ll kill you!”The crowd had swelled. Phones glowed like fireflies. Sonia stood a few feet back, arms crossed, lips curled in dark satis

Chapter 106The buzzing clippers hovered just inches from the back of Leon’s head, the low, menacing hum cutting through the night air like a threat. Kayla’s fingers were tangled in his hair, holding him steady while the two hockey players kept his arms pinned painfully behind his back. His knees throbbed against the rough stone tiles, fresh blood seeping through the soaked bandages. The turquoise pool lights flickered across the scene, turning everything into a surreal nightmare.The crowd’s chant had reached a fever pitch: “Shave him! Shave him! Shave him!” Phones were held high like weapons, recording every tear that slipped down Leon’s flushed cheeks. Laughter came in cruel waves, each one stabbing deeper.Leon’s heart slammed against his ribs so hard he felt dizzy. The humiliation had burned through every defense he had left. The shredded costume clung to his body in pathetic rags. He was exposed, freezing, and completely at their mercy.Kayla leaned in closer, smiling sweetly. “