Chapter 20: Chapter 20
Music Recommendation: Champagne Problems by Taylor Swift.
....
Dominic reached for her. One hand traced a tender line up her spine, as his lips descended to claim her mouth again. However, Celeste twisted away.
"Don’t," she whispered, breathless.
Before he could pull her back, she had already slipped from the sheets. Her legs wobbled as they touched the floor, and her knees threatened to give out, but she straightened her back, with her heart racing, as she reached for her clothes scattered across the room.
"Celeste—" his voice was low, with a mixture of command and plea. He pushed himself up on one elbow, with sweat on his bare chest gleaming under the dim light.
He couldn’t remember the last time he pleaded with someone but right now, he could be on his knees, begging her if she wants. He hated how much control she had over him.
She didn’t turn around as she pulled omr of his shirt over her head.
"Please don’t make this a thing," she said. Her voice trembled even though she fought to sound firm. "It’s just another night,"
"We already made it a thing the moment you said yes," Dominic replied, getting off the bed and putting on his pants. "You didn’t stop me, Celeste."
His shirt was just enough to reach slightly above her knee. She found her pantie near the edge of the bed and yanked them on.
"I didn’t stop you because I was weak tonight. That’s all this was. Weakness."
"Don’t do that," Dominic snapped, stepping closer. "Don’t turn this into some mistake you regret."
She turned, finally meeting his eyes, and what he saw there gutted him—uncertainty, shame, and something else he couldn’t name.
"I can’t do this with you," she said. "I don’t even know what this is. What we are. I’m engaged to someone else."
"You don’t love him."
"And what makes you so sure of that?"
"Because when I touch you, when I kiss you, you fall apart. You don’t fall apart for him."
She blinked at him, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
"You don’t know what I feel for him."
He moved in then, slow and deliberate. The air between them crackled with tension.
"Maybe not. But I know what you feel when you’re with me."
She stepped back.
"Dominic, don’t. Please. I need to go."
He exhaled through his nose and looked away. "You always run."
"And you always chase what you can’t have."
Silence slapped them so hard after those words.
"Is that what you think you are? Something I can’t have?" he asked finally.
"I am something you can’t have," she whispered. "And I think you know that." She breathed roughly, staring at him with challenge in her eyes.
She picked up her bag. With trembling hands, she looped the strap over her shoulder.
Dominic watched her like a man clinging to the last seconds of a dream. He walked toward her, slowly, and stopped just in front of her.
"You asked me what now," he said quietly. "I’ll tell you. Now, we don’t pretend this didn’t happen. Now, we stop lying to ourselves. You belong with me."
She closed her eyes.
"You belong with me, Celeste. I won’t let you marry him."
"It’s not your decision."
"The hell it isn’t."
He moved to touch her face, but she flinched. That small motion broke everything inside him. He returned his hand to him,self, and nodded, taking in a painful gulp.
"I can’t keep doing this," she murmured. "I can’t keep giving myself pieces of a man who doesn’t even know what he wants."
"But I do. I want you."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "You want the idea of me. You want to win me. That’s what you’re good at. Winning. But I’m not a fucking trophy."
She walked toward the door.
"Celeste—"
"Don’t follow me," she said without looking back.
He stood there, naked from the waist up, breathless. Every word he had to say was caught in his throat.
The door clicked shut behind her.
......
One hour later.
Celeste sat on the curb outside her dorm, her arms wrapped around her knees, trying to hold herself together. The streetlight above flickered, buzzing faintly. She still tasted him in her mouth, and still felt the echo of his hands on her skin.
Her phone buzzed.
DOMINIC: Please. Come back.
She didn’t reply.
DOMINIC: At least tell me you’re safe.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Finally, she typed: I’m fine. Don’t text me again.
She hit send and then shut her phone off.
"I shouldn’t have gone there," she whispered to herself.
But she had. And she knew the worst part wasn’t the regret. It was the way her body still ached for him.
And the way her heart already missed him. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to be a joke.
She buried her face in her knees, pressing down a sob that threatened to split her in half. Her heart was too loud in the silence. She tried to convince herself that it was just one night, just a lapse in judgment, just—
But her soul knew better.
He had touched something no one else had ever reached. And now she was breaking, not because it ended, but because it had meant something.
To her.
To him.
And that terrified her more than anything.
Footsteps approached her, slow and hesitant, crunching against the loose gravel near the sidewalk.
Her heart seized, stupidly hoping it was him—but it wasn’t.
"Celeste?"
She looked up quickly, her eyes darting in alarm, only to find Lydia—her roommate—standing there with a concerned frown and a half-eaten granola bar.
"You okay? What the hell are you doing out here at 2 a.m.?"
Celeste nodded quickly. "Yeah. I just needed air."
Elara narrowed her eyes. "You look... you look awful,"
Celeste forced a laugh that came out more like a sob strangled halfway. "I know I do."
Elara sat beside her without asking and handed her the other half of the granola bar. "Want to talk about it?"
Celeste shook her head, gripping the edge of her knees tighter. "No. Because if I say it out loud, it’ll become real."
Elara nodded like she understood. "That bad, huh?"
Worse.
Celeste didn’t say it. She just stared at the dark stretch of the road, half-wishing a car would appear and take her away. To anywhere but here.
"Was it Dominic?" Elara asked finally.
Celeste froze.
"I saw you leave earlier. You weren’t exactly subtle, but I could guess who it was when you kept trying to avoid everyone. Only the Cross family gets you into so much drama."
Celeste swallowed the lump in her throat. "It was a mistake."
Elara looked at her sideways. "You don’t sound convinced."
"Because I’m not." Celeste’s voice cracked. "It didn’t feel like a mistake when he held me. It felt like..." She shut her eyes. "Like I belonged there."
Elara said nothing for a while, just sat beside her in the quiet.
"You know, sometimes the worst thing isn’t falling for the wrong person," Elara said at last. "It’s falling for the right person at the wrong time."