ARRIVAL OF THE THIRD

JULIAN

The silence inside Rowan’s sports car was heavy enough to give me a migraine.

My head was throbbing where the metal light had split my temple open. Blood had run down my neck and dried, gluing my hoodie collar to my skin. I kept my face turned toward the glass, watching streetlights smear across the wet window like bleeding yellow ink.

Rowan didn't say a word. his knuckles raw and white, his jaw clamped so tight the muscle twitched every time he shifted gears. He wasn't acting like the untouchable captain who had me pinned against a library hours ago. He looked unhinged. Bloodshot eyes, pale skin, driving like he was trying to beat a police scanner.

He killed the headlights two blocks from my building, jerking the car to the curb under a dead streetlamp.

Without looking at me, he grabbed a heavy, unopened plastic water bottle from his gym bag in the back and crammed it against my lap.

"Put it on your head," he grumbled. His voice cold and curt.

"I don't need your fucking water, Ashcroft," I said, shoving it back.

Rowan snapped. His hand shot across the console, his thick fingers locking around my jaw with enough force to bruise. His thumb dug right into my cheekbone, terrifyingly close to the split skin at my temple. His palm was burning hot.

I went still, my breathing short, my skin itching where his calluses bit into my face.

"Hold the bottle on your head or I'll press the fucking thing there myself," Rowan growled. His eyes locked onto mine, dark and completely stripped of his usual fake varsity composure.

"Touch me again and I'll bite your thumb off," I spat, but I didn't pull away. My face was hot where he held me, my brain short-circuiting because even with blood dripping down my neck, my body was locking into the sheer weight of his grip.

"You're an idiot," Rowan muttered, his voice dropping into a rough pitch. "Taking a metal Maglite to the skull for what? To play hero? You should've let Miller call the cops on me."

"And let some security guard steal my hit?" I sneered, leaning into his grip just to throw it back in his face. "Nobody gets to wreck you but me, Captain. You belong to me."

Rowan’s eyes dropped to my mouth. He let out a low, rough breath, his thumb dragging across my lower lip once hard enough to press my lip against my teeth before he yanked his hand back and smashed it onto the wheel.

"I know what I did to Theo," Rowan said softly. The bite in his voice vanished, replaced by something dead and flat. "I know he took the rap for the bribery claims I know I let him take the fall so I wouldn't lose my starting spot... and I deal with that shit every single day."

The words sat between us I stared at him. No arrogance, he gave No smooth excuses. Just ugly, pathetic truth.

He hadn't just used Theo. He had loved him. Deeply enough that three years later, my brother's ghost was still tearing him apart from the inside.

A sharp, foul knot twisted in my stomach. Hearing Rowan admit he actually cared about my brother made my skin crawl with an ugly, unhinged jealousy. I hated that Theo had owned him. I hated that Rowan looked so broken over it. And most of all, I hated that I wanted that same ruined look aimed directly at me.

"Fuck you," I rasped, slapping the door latch open. "Save the guilt trip."

"Julian..."

"Don't say my name," I snapped, stepping out into the cold rain and slamming the door hard enough to rattle the glass.

The engine roared, the tires slicking against the rowd as he sped off, leaving me on the curb with my pulse pounding in my ears.

My apartment was dark, illuminated only by the faint orange glow of the streetlamp outside the window.

I didn't bother turning on the overhead lights. I walked straight to the bathroom, turned the cold tap on full blast, and shoved my face under it. I groaned as the water hit the split on my head, leaning over the sink and staring at my reflection in the dark mirror mismatched eyes bloodshot, skin pale, jaw aching where Rowan’s fingers had clamped down.

"I saw him touching you."

My back went completely stiff.

Standing right outside the bathroom doorway, leaning against the frame in the shadows, was a figure I knew down to the bone.

Thin, hollow-cheeked, pale as paper in the dim streetlamp light filtering through the window. Sunken eyes, zero color, a dark hoodie pulled over his messy hair.

Theo... he certain didn't look like a guy who’d been broken by detention. He looked tense, and mean.

"Theo?" I wiped the cold water from my chin with the back of my hand. "How the fuck did you get in here?"

"The fire escape lock is bullshit," Theo said, stepping straight out of the shadows and crowding into my personal space. "I was standing on the corner when his car pulled up. I saw him grab your jaw, Julian. I saw his hand on your face through the glass...and you just sat there and took it."

"I was doing the plan," I grumbled, knocking his arm back as he tried to get in my face. "I made the team. I’m getting close to him."

"Getting close?" Theo snapped, his voice dropping into a harsh, bitter whisper. "You were leaning into his hand! He had you pinned in his passenger seat and you didn't even try to shove him off!"

"He was shoving a water bottle at my head because I took a hit for him at the library! Back the fuck off!"

"I spent three years in a state facility because of that bastard!" Theo shoved his hand hard against my chest, knocking me back against the rim of the sink. His breath was hot, smelling like stale tobacco and cold coffee. "I know how Rowan operates. He acts guilty, he acts pathetic, he gets you feeling soft for him, and then he uses you!"

"I'm not soft for him," I hissed, stepping right back into his space, my chest heaving against his.

"You better fucking not be," Theo whispered, getting so close his dark eyes practically burned into mine. "Rowan Ashcroft is mine to destroy. He was mine first. You were supposed to help me drag him through the dirt, not let him put his hands on you."

Theo stepped back, pulling his dark jacket straight, a cold, empty look settling over his face.

"Keep your distance from him, Julian," Theo warned, turning his back toward the dark living room. "Because if I see him touching you like that again... I'm going to tear both of you down together."