Millie felt as if she was walking inside a haze. She hadn't fully appreciated just how much more pleasant and safe her room would feel without the constant toxic cloud of Karen's presence.

She hadn't asked Davyn how he'd done it. Where he'd gotten the cocaine or how he'd managed to remove Karen in just a little over two hours since he'd found out what she'd done to her. She hadn't even questioned him to confirm that it was really his doing because a part of her didn't want to know.

At first, she'd been confused, maybe even a bit scared because this went beyond a simple prank. Then, she just felt safe. Powerful. Because the way he'd looked at her outside after the police had taken Karen had sent her heart into a convulsive dance. The passion and determination, as if he'd burn the world down for her.

In that very moment when his darkness was maybe the most obvious, she'd seen his light as well. That had been the end of her fight with herself and her doubts.

The moment she'd returned to her room and dropped on her bed for the night's sleep, she'd had to come to terms with the obvious truth.

She was in love with him.

Rude, abrasive, a little unhinged, dangerous. Protective, funny, smart, and gorgeous. Intense and made just for her. There for her. Always there for her from the moment he'd promised he'd be in her corner. And he was making it happen. It was no longer just teenage passion. It was much more and she wanted all of him, not just his body.

The problem was, it was over before it even began. Time ticked to the end of the semester and she would have to go home for the summer. Davyn was graduating. Would she even see him again once the school year was over? What reason would he have to stick around?

The thoughts circled her mind even as she tried to focus on the last classes, drilling a permanent hole in her stomach that she couldn't escape. It even took the joy out of her impressive exam results. All she could think about now was the moment when she'd have to leave, head back to her home town and lose her first love. The words felt so wrong. He couldn't be just that.

The uncertainty made her hands tremble and it took her several attempts to open her locker and deposit her books for the end of the day. She lingered, her gaze fixed on her art books. Maybe she should try distracting herself again. And yet, the idea that grabbing those books might somehow summon Freider stopped her. Though he might be a welcomed distraction at this point. She didn't mind talking to him, though she couldn't understand why he would want that in the first place.

Her distraction came in an entirely different form. Davyn propped his hand against the neighboring locker and leaned towards her, a grin on his face.

She couldn't help her own smile, even if her stomach was churning worse than ever with nerves.

"How's the Karen-free life going?"

Fluttering took over and she scanned the hallways for witnesses. Since it was the end of classes, the hall was mostly empty. Only a few students lingered, throwing them curious glances, but ultimately minding their own business. Davyn didn't seem to care either way so she turned her attention to him.

"Unexpectedly great."

He hummed in thought. "I wouldn't say unexpectedly. Her awfulness was apparent."

What about yours? You shipped her off to jail for drugs that weren't hers. Or maybe they were. She hadn't asked that either.

"You seem in a good mood."

"That's because I'm smarter than I give myself credit for. It's always a pleasant surprise to rediscover intelligence."

The news made it easy to shove her worries to the back of her mind. "Really? You did well on your finals?"

"Yeah. Of course, not as well as I would have if I'd actually studied."

"I bet you would've gotten maximum scores then."

"Exactly." He wasn't even trying to seem humble, but she knew him well enough by now to believe it possible. "What about you?"

"Oh, I've done well. Better than ever, actually."

"Congratulations, darling." And he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.

A part of her wanted to ask if his scores meant he would be going to college after all. She sincerely hoped he would change his mind. But he'd used the safeword so she wouldn't bring it up again unless he did. She would respect his choice this time. So, instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her for another kiss.

She could feel him smiling against her, but he kissed her back, in that smothering, lingering way which took her breath away. Her heart hit the walls of her rib cage with force as she realized she was desperate to feel him while she still could.

"Hey, what the fuck?"

Mille jumped and let Davyn go, turning to her left. He didn't make a move, didn't tense, as if they hadn't just been walked in on.

"Hey, Max," he said, sounding amused if anything.

"Seriously, Davyn? That's my sister."

"I know she's your sister."

Millie turned from him to Max, filled with confusion. She had no idea Davyn knew her twin. She hadn't even thought to talk to Max about any of this either.

"Then keep your fucking hands off her."

Davyn tensed and fear scampered through her veins. She knew he didn't take orders or insults kindly and a part of her was afraid he might be thinking of ways to get rid of Max as well. But it shouldn't be the case because her brother was overreacting.

"Max, it's okay," she said, raising her hands to placate him.

His burning eyes moved from Davyn to her. "How is this okay?"

"It's okay because he's my boyfriend."

The magic word had Max's shoulder slumping and he let out a soft 'Oh'. It didn't help the tension in Davyn's body at all, though. It only got him pulling away from her. When she looked up at him, she shuddered. The look in his eyes was terrifying.

"Since when am I your boyfriend?" His voice was low, but strong enough to carry clearly.

The question made her falter as their entire relationship flashed before her eyes. Why was that wrong? What was he if not her boyfriend? Was she an idiot ruled by feelings he didn't share? Was she consuming herself over his imminent departure when he didn't care about her at all?

"Then what are you doing kissing her?" Max demanded again.

Davyn ignored him. He just glared at her, as if daring her to give him an answer. When her tongue stayed tied, he just scoffed.

"Yeah, thought so." And he whipped around and stalked further inside the school.

Millie still couldn't breathe. It felt as if Davyn had taken all the air in the world with him and now she was left empty. She'd just admitted to herself that she loved him. He couldn't just walk away from that. He wasn't an idiot. He had to know. But then again, maybe he didn't.

"Millie, you should stay away from him."

Max's words snapped her out of it. Yes, maybe that would be wise. But it would have been wise not to approach him or get involved with him in the first place. It was much too late now. Now she wanted him and she wasn't going down without a fight.

"I've got this," she said absently.

"You've got this?"

"Yes, Max, I've got this." Her voice came out a lot more fierce than she'd intended, but anger had replaced the confusion.

It wasn't directed at Max. It wasn't even directed at Davyn. More likely at the situation and the fact that she'd let it get so far. She needed to own up to her feelings and decide whether she wanted to take the plunge or not. It was terrifying, but if she didn't face Davyn now, she knew she'd regret it. That she'd spend her last year of high school feeling even more invisible. And even if she'd always kept to herself, after being seen, she didn't want to go back into the shadows.

So she strode away from her twin and traced Davyn's footsteps. Of course, she didn't know where he'd gone, but she could guess. After all, she'd found him there many times before when he was distressed. And she wasn't wrong this time either.

Davyn paced the length of the basketball court, his hands clasped behind his back. She'd half expected him to be blasting his noisy music as well, but it was quiet. All the better because they needed to talk.

"Just what the heck was that?"

He halted, one foot in midair, glancing at her. Something seemed to have cracked behind his eyes, but she couldn't tell if it had left room to fear or rage. Either option was unsettling. But she drew herself up and strode to him with purpose.

His entire body angled towards her, as if ready to intercept her. "I should be asking the same thing, but without sounding like a five-year-old."

"No. This is on you! What I said made sense."

"Calling me your boyfriend made sense?" The snide edge of his tone had the hairs on the back of her neck standing, but she'd plunged into this so there was no turning back.

"What are you then? How long do you want to keep beating around the bush?"

"I'm not your boyfriend, Millie. I can't be your boyfriend."

The way he said it had her shuddering. "Why not? Do you have a secret other girlfriend or wife or something?"

"Millie." He sounded so exasperated, but she could identify the edge of panic in his voice. "Just let it go."

"No! If you don't want to be with me, fine, but at least let me know so that I don't waste my time on you."

"You shouldn't waste your time on me regardless of what I want."

His words were so frustrating as he refused to understand the real issue here. What he'd done to her, what she'd taken from her.

"This isn't a waste of time for me. Not unless you don't want it. Not unless what you took from me meant nothing to you."

She expected him to scoff, to roll his eyes and tell her to stop being pathetic. She most definitely didn't expect him to bite on his lip, his gaze moving downward as if he were doing some very quick, panicked thinking.

"You know that's not true." The words were so quiet, she almost missed them.

And at that moment, she knew. This was it. She had to lay it out in the open, because if she didn't, he'd find a reason to walk away. He could still walk away, but at least then she'd know where she stood and she could take it from there.

"You're making it feel like it. Like you have no feelings for me whatsoever. Because why else would you avoid labels? Why else would you want to hurt me like this?"

He had no answer as he kept looking at his feet. Then, he raised his gaze to her, and the chill in it terrified her. "This has gone too far."

With a gigantic crack, her heart shattered into pieces, the edges of the shards digging into her chest and her ribs. Tears blurred her vision, but she held them back.

"Further than you think," she said between her teeth. "At least for me."

He frowned and tilted his head in confusion. "What?"

She let out a hollow laugh. It made the tears roll down her cheeks, but she ignored them. "Oh yes. You with your cool head and aloof attitude. With your mysteries and your cat and mouse games. You claim you know what you took from me, but you don't. You have no idea what it meant for me to give you my first kiss, to give you my trust, to rely on you. To tell you my insecurities. Give you my heart."

His frown deepened. "You told me all that stuff because you didn't care about my opinion."

"How dense are you? You were just claiming you were smart. Yes, it may have started like that, but even you should have figured it out by now."

"Figured what out?"

"That I love you!"

She'd screamed the words. Screamed them in his face and they seemed to echo around the large room. Davyn stood frozen, staring at her with wide eyes as if those three simple words were hard to compute.

"So forgive me for assuming that, after everything, you were my boyfriend." And that was it, she was done.

The ache in her chest now stung full force as he remained silent. She couldn't even read anything in his eyes or on his face other than the shock. He really hadn't known, hadn't figured it out despite the multiple signs.

"Why?"

The question was filled with genuine disbelief as if he couldn't imagine any reason why she would love him.

"Oh, I don't know." Even if her entire body felt as if it was tumbling into the abyss from the inside, she rolled her eyes because he was being so dense. "Probably because you rushed to me before the break of dawn because you thought I would hurt myself, because you kissed me in front of everyone just to save me from humiliation, because you spent over an hour combing bubblegum out of my hair, because you got rid of Karen even if I didn't ask you to." She drew a deep breath. "Because you push me to be better. Because you call me out on my nonsense. Because your kisses are all I can think about when you're not with me."

"No." He shook his head, but the word had come out desperate.

"Why not?"

"Because I'll hurt you!"

Now his tone was filled with anger and she took a step back. Davyn clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, his desperate eyes moving to the floor again. As if he was fighting himself and not her.

"How do you know that?" she whispered.

"Haven't I done it before? Pushed you, insulted you, made you wonder if there was one single redeemable thing about me."

"There is, a lot. You can be so kind and considerate."

"When have I ever been kind and considerate?"

"Just because you show it differently, it doesn't mean it's not there."

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Don't you want to be loved?"

He bit his lip so hard, he drew blood. "That's not the question you should be asking."

"Why not?" But the moment the question was out, she realized he was right. This wasn't only about her and about her feelings. This was about him as well. "Say it then. Tell me you don't love me back and it will be over. You would have been right. You will win."

He didn't answer and his silence rekindled her hope. But the longer it stretched, the more her stomach felt as if it was shattering as well.

"Come on, say it." The words were distorted and filled with pain, but she didn't care.

He opened his mouth but closed it again. Then he heaved a giant sigh. "Why can't you understand? I will hurt you. I will break you. You don't want to be with me."

"Tell me you don't love me."

"You haven't even seen the tip of my issues. The depth of my thoughts and my obsessions, what I'm dealing with, and what I'll have to keep dealing with until I figure out how to cope. I'm not functional, I'm barely hanging on and you're just..."

"Just what?"

"Sanctuary!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You help, but that doesn't mean that what we have is a proper relationship. I don't even do proper relationships."

"Oh, excuse me, Mister Bad Boy with a jaded past. I forgot you're well above us mortals."

"I am. At least that's what I've been told." His voice lowered until it was barely a whisper. "And then it was gone. It still is. I'm... I'm not what you need, so spare yourself the pain."

She wanted to kick him so badly for not understanding the meaning of that one simple four-letter word. "Don't tell me what to do."

He huffed. "That's the thing. You always want someone to tell you what to do. That's not love. It can't be."

"Shut up."

He didn't. "I'm not romantic. There will be no roses, no letters, no candies, and walks on the beach. I can't play into your fantasies because I don't give a shit about them. You're just in love with some prince you conjured inside your head."

"I love you. Just the way you are, all your crap and snark included."

"No, you don't. You have no idea what love is."

"Stop deflecting. Tell me you don't love me."

"I can't!"

Silence fell again. Millie's heart reformed with the speed of light, beating against her ribs. He took in a deep breath as if he was trying to regain control over himself.

"But you don't want it," he said, his voice low and controlled. "Not the way I feel it. Not the way I know how to do it. Not the way I want it. I could ignore it if you'd just kept your mouth shut. Maybe I still can't."

Hope was painful, tethering on the edge of disillusion. "I don't want you to."

"I'm not good and you should know that by now."

"You are, deep inside. All the things you did to protect me--"

He shut his eyes as if it would protect him from her words. He took in another deep breath. "Please, stop finding excuses for me and listen. You know a good deal about me by now. You know that I'm proud, arrogant, that I don't play well with others. But what you don't know is how I want love."

This got her attention because she'd never thought that could be a problem. "What do you mean? You told me you didn't have girlfriends--"

"I don't and I never have because I don't do romance. I'm bad at that."

She disagreed. Every little thing he'd done for her, every concession he'd made... That was romance. Not flowers and candy. Making her feel seen, important. Protecting her.

"In my mind, love is absolute. It's all-consuming. It's everything."

The way he whispered those words made her stomach flutter. "I see."

"That's not something everyone wants to get into," he continued. "And it's not something I would ask of anyone."

She nodded in understanding, wondering why this conversation only made her want it more. Maybe she had issues. "What if I want that?"

He shook his head. "You don't want that. That's dependency and pain. That's a risk of having your heart ripped out of your chest beyond any teenage crush."

"Don't patronize me! I'm not crushing on you."

His eyes flashed and it sent a shiver down her spine. "How would you even know that? You've never been in love before."

"Neither have you!"

He took a step closer to her and it took everything inside her to hold her ground. The thrill of their discussion was making her lightheaded.

"All I know is that I feel safe with you. I don't feel as if I'm just a leaf, floating in the wind. You inspire me. You make me better. You're in my corner and you would do anything to protect me."

She swallowed heavily because the last thing she wanted to say could not be true. It also sounded melodramatic. But it was the thing that had opened her eyes and made her realize the depth of her feelings.

"You would burn the world down for me," she whispered.

"That I would," he whispered back.

"Then how could I not love you?"

He closed the space between them, his gaze fixed on hers, the intensity of it breathtaking.

"You don't want me to be your boyfriend."

"Yes, I do."

"You don't even know what that entails. I'd want more, so much more from you."

"I'm ready."

He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Are you?" The heat of his breath had her shuddering. "Because it will not be about kisses. If you want me to love you, it won't be nice and it won't be pretty. It will come with everything."

"That sounds like what I want." The words barely came out between her shuddering lips.

"Does it now?" There was malice in his voice. "You'll have to give me everything as well. Every inch of your skin, everything you are."

She swallowed heavily as he leaned even closer, his lips pressing gently to her neck.

"I would run my tongue all over you, take you so fully that you wouldn't know where you end and I begin."

"Is that supposed to scare me? Because it's having the opposite effect."

He pulled back, eying her warily. "This is your final warning, Millie. Walk away while you still can."

She'd won. At that moment, she knew she'd won. So she shook her head.

"I'm not walking away. I'm in your corner."

He put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her. It was much deeper than anything they'd shared so far and it had her toes curling and her heart beating inside her chest so hard, it seemed to want to escape and go inside his. He'd been right. There was a difference, but something that she longed for, not something which scared her. Because now she felt she belonged.

"Say it," she whispered, breaking away from him for a moment.

"I love you," he whispered. "Now you say it."

Somehow, after their conversation, she knew what he meant. "I'm yours."

The intensity of his kiss let her know she'd said the right thing.

End of Part II

Well, that got intense fast 😂 when two melodramatic teenagers meet, their words are a sight to behold. And you got to see them in all their glory.

The thing is... they might truly believe in that intensity. And now they appear to finally be together for real. Which of course means I must ruin things! So let's see how that goes.

Thanks for sticking with the story. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.