Jamie
Things slow down for a bit. It's been a couple of days, and even though most days, I still feel like I'm being watched. I am finally accepting the new normal. It's supposed to be an ordinary day. Classes, coffee, pretending I slept more than three hours. By the time I reach the coffee shop close to my first class, I'm convinced everything is okay.
"Hey, man."
I glance up. It's the guy from the other day at the cafeteria. Easy grin, sharp jawline, too much charm for a Monday.
"Miles, right?" I say remembering.
"That's me." He slides into the seat across from me without waiting for an invite, and his confidence is charming. He's the distraction I need because I can't stop thinking about Adrien, and it's driving me crazy.
"You look like you could use a drink. Or ten."
I laugh under my breath. "That bad, huh?"
He shrugs. "You've had that thousand-yard stare for a couple of minutes. Come out tonight off-campus. A few of us are having a party at my place. No pressure."
A party. Noise, lights, distraction. Maybe I'd get a chance to fuck him while we're at it. I need to think about someone else's cock but Adrian's. He's fucking unattainable, and I'd have to be deceiving myself to think that we could have anything like my dreams.
"Yeah," I say finally. "Sure."
The night air tastes like smoke and cheap beer. Miles's place is alive, music so loud that it feels like it's travelling through the floor. I shouldn't be here without Matt, I know, but the fucker had a date and couldn't come with me.
"Jamie," Miles grins the second he spots me. He's leaning against the kitchen counter, a drink in one hand, his smile is easy and warm. He's the kind of guy who can make a whole room tilt toward him without even trying. "You made it."
"I said I would," I say, taking the cup he offers.
"Yeah, but you look like the kind of guy who cancels last minute," he teases. "Figured I'd have to guilt-trip you next week."
I laugh. "What makes you think I'm unreliable?"
He gives me a slow, knowing look. "You've got that mysterious, brooding energy. Always looks good on the quiet types. Until you ghost them."
I snort. "You think too highly of me."
He leans closer, his voice dropping over the music. "Maybe not highly enough."
The words hang there, light but charged. It's harmless flirting. It should be harmless. But there's something about the way he's looking at me, the way the room feels a little too hot, my pulse a little too fast. This is exactly what I wanted as a distraction, but something feels off. Something at the back of my mind is gnawing at me. But I ignore it.
We talk. We drink. We dance badly, mostly him dragging me into the rhythm while I laugh into my drink. For a moment, the world doesn't feel so heavy.
When the crowd shifts and the music changes, we end up outside on the porch, a little quieter, the buzz of conversation in the background.
Miles takes a step closer. "You know, you're not half as shy as you pretend to be."
"I'm not pretending."
He grins. "Then maybe I'm just good at breaking through."
I mean to say something witty. Really. But his hand brushes my wrist, light, casual, and I forget what words are. The warmth lingers, seeping under my skin. This is what I need, but there's still that gnawing inside me. The one that feels like it's going to burst out. I'm enjoying this moment, sure, but Adrian keeps creeping in.
And then he's closer. Too close. I can smell the faint tang of beer and mint on his breath when he says, "You've been staring at me all night, Jamie."
"I haven't."
"You have."
He smiles, and for a moment, I don't care about anything else. My brain shuts off. His hand finds my jaw, and when he leans in, I don't stop him.
The kiss is easy, slow, until it isn't.
Because something shifts. The air sharpens. My pulse spikes. That strange hum under my skin roars back to life, louder this time. It's heat and pressure and wrong, like there's something inside me clawing to get out.
I stumble back, breathing hard. "I... I don't..."
Miles frowns. "Hey, it's fine, I didn't mean to..."
"Don't—" My voice cracks. My chest burns. My vision flickers, gold bleeding into the edges of the dark.
And that's when it happens.
A guy stumbles out from inside, bumping into me, nearly spilling his drink on me. He looks up, and there's a sneer on his face. No remorse, not even an apology.
"Watch it," I manage, which is so unlike me. I have never been confrontational.
"You watch it."
Miles stumbles a bit, half-turning back to me. "Sorry, man, people are drunk..."
But something in me snaps.
The noise fades. The crowd disappears. It's just that guy, his smirk, the shove and then my body moves before I can stop it.
I grab him.
And throw him.
He hits the concrete wall so hard that it cracks. The sound is awful. A wet crunch.
Miles lets out a gasp. Someone shouts my name. I stumble back, my breath ragged, hands shaking so violently I can barely see straight. The guy's on the ground, coughing blood, his arm bent at an angle that shouldn't be possible. I don't know what happened, but it almost seems like a blur. I lost my mind for a second, and I don't even remember pushing him.
"Oh my God," Miles whispers. "Jamie... what did you..."
"I..." My throat locks. "I didn't mean... he..."
And then I hear it, a voice, low and calm, cutting through the chaos like a blade.
"Jamie."
I turn. Adrian's there.
What is he doing here?
Has he been here all along?
Did he see me kiss Miles, and why the fuck is that what I'm worried about? I almost killed someone tonight.
What the fuck?
He almost looked pissed.
He must have seen.
That's not important right now. A guy is bleeding on the ground, and all I care about is the fact that Adrian might have seen me kiss Miles. I must be losing my mind. My focus goes back to him, and he's watching me. His expression is unreadable, but his eyes... there's a glow in them. They're almost not humanlike. Like in my dream.
"What are you doing here?" I whisper, wondering if this is another fucking dream.
"Apparently, I'm fucking saving you," he says. His voice is calm, low, but there's something underneath it that vibrates through me, a command that my body wants to obey before my eyes even understand it.
And then I notice that he's not alone. His friend... I can't remember his name, but I've seen them at school together a couple of times, standing a few feet behind him. He looks even more tense than Adrian. His gaze flickers from me to the guy crumpled on the ground, then back to Adrian. Almost like he's waiting for something.
"Go," Adrian says without looking away from me. "Check him."
The guy moves immediately, dropping to a crouch beside the guy I just hurt. I'm still frozen in place, afraid to look at Miles. What must he think of me? Adrian turns slowly, finally taking his eyes away from me. His eyes lock on Miles, and something in the air shifts. Anger crawls out of him, and I can feel it.
"Go inside," he says softly, almost kindly.
Miles blinks, confused. "What?"
"Go inside," he repeats, his tone just a shade deeper. The space between them is charged. Mile's expression slackens, his fingers tremble, and I wonder why he is so afraid of him.
"You didn't see anything," Adrian murmurs, each word measured, deliberate. It's like a trance that I almost get sucked into. "You don't remember what happened out here. You're going to go inside, and you're going to forget."
For a moment, Miles just stands there, blank and empty. And then he nods once and turns, disappearing through the doorway like he's sleepwalking. I stare, my heart racing. "What did you do to him?"
Adrian doesn't answer. He looks back at his friend, who has a cloth over the bleeding boy's arm. "He'll live," he says tightly. "But he needs a hospital fast."
"Make sure he gets there," Adrian replies. "No police. Tell them he tripped, got drunk, anything that keeps Jamie's name out of it."
His friend glances at me, hesitates, then nods. "Got it." I watch him as he lifts the guy like it's nothing and heads out the picket fence gate and towards a car parked down the street. And then it's just me and Adrian.
The world is quiet now. Too quiet, and my hands are still shaking.
"You're lucky he's alive," he says finally. His voice is low, but it carries something heavy that feels like disappointment, maybe. Or fear.
"I didn't mean to... I just..."
He steps closer, the street light flickering over his face. "You lost control."
"I didn't even know I had control to lose."
He studies me, long enough that it makes my skin prickle. "You're changing, Jamie. And whether you like it or not… It's not done with you yet."
His tone is quiet, but it feels like a warning. Like he's not just talking about my strength, but about us.
I swallow hard. "What happens now?"
Adrian's jaw tightens. "Now, you try to sleep. And pray no one else saw what you really are."
He turns like he's going to leave, but stops. His shoulders are rigid, the kind of tension that comes from holding too much in.
"Adrian," I say, voice rough. "Wait. You can't just say that and walk away. What the hell does that even mean?"
He exhales sharply through his nose, muttering something under his breath before spinning back to face me. "It means you almost killed someone tonight, Jamie. It means you're walking around with power you don't understand, and I'm the one cleaning up after you."
"I didn't ask you to!" The words come out louder than I mean them to. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
"No," he snaps, stepping closer, "but now it's here. And pretending it isn't happening won't make it stop."
We stare at each other, neither backing down. His eyes are glowing faintly — not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough for me to feel it.
"Fine," I say finally, my chest tight. "You think I'm some kind of freak? Go ahead. Add me to your list of things to manage."
His mouth twists, almost like he's fighting a smile. "You think you're the first one to lose control around me?"
The words hang there, dark, suggestive, before he turns away again, shaking his head like he's angry at himself for even saying that.
"Come on," he says after a moment, voice low. "You're not staying here."
I don't argue. He walks me back to my dorm in silence. Every step feels too long, every breath too loud. I can still feel the echo of what happened at the party, that terrifying surge of strength, the crack of the wall, the way my vision went red for a heartbeat.
When we reach my building, Adrian doesn't leave right away. He lingers by the door, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets. The light from the hall catches on the curve of his jaw.
"I shouldn't have come tonight," he mutters.
"You did anyway."
He looks at me, and there's something raw in his expression, something I can't name. "Yeah," he says quietly. "I did."
There's a pause. Heavy. Thick with words neither of us is brave enough to say.
Then, almost absently, he adds. "You kiss another man when you promised me a kiss."
My blood goes cold. "What?"
He freezes, realisation flickering across his face, the kind that comes too late.
"Nothing," he says quickly, eyes hardening. "Forget I said that."
But I can't. My mind's already spinning. Last night wasn't real. It couldn't have been. It was a dream. The kind that leaves you sweating and shaking, every touch too vivid to be normal.
Except now…
"You said I promised," I whisper. "How could you possibly..."
"Go inside, Jamie," he interrupts, his tone suddenly cold again. "You need to get some rest."
I take a step closer. "Was it real?"
His jaw flexes, but he doesn't answer. Just a small shake of his head, denial, or maybe a warning before he turns away and disappears down the hallway.
And I'm left standing there, heart hammering, every nerve alive with confusion and something far worse.
Because if that dream wasn't a dream…Then Adrian had been there. And he's wanted me just as much as I did.
What in the actual fuck?