Page 13 of Heatstroke

Back at the guesthouse,Daniel stood under the shower until the water ran cold, scrubbing at his skin like he could wash away the past. It didn't work. Nothing ever did.

His phone buzzed from the counter. Again.

He knew without looking who it was.

Thierry wouldn't give up. That was the problem. Daniel had spent years building walls thick enough to keep everyone out, but Thierry?—

Thierry climbed them like they weren't even there.

He picked up the phone.

Thierry:You can run all you want. I'll still be here when you're done.

Daniel exhaled, slow and ragged.

Then he typed a single word.

Daniel: Why?

The reply came instantly.

Thierry: Because you're worth the wait.

Daniel shut his eyes.

Damn him.

Damn him for knowing exactly what to say.

Thierry showed up just after sunset, when the cicadas were loud enough to drown out thought and the sky had gone that gauzy, pinkish gray that made everything look slightly unreal. Daniel heard the knock before he saw the shape behind the screen door—a silhouette that was all tension and broad shoulders, one hand braced against the frame like it was the only thing keeping him from breaking it down.

"You weren’t answering my texts before," Thierry said when Daniel opened the door.

"I got them," Daniel replied, flat, almost bored, though his heart was hammering like a warning bell in his chest.

Thierry stepped inside without invitation."You don't get to use me and vanish."

"It was just sex," Daniel said, and hated how thin it sounded the second it left his mouth.

Thierry stilled. His mouth set into a hard line, but the real betrayal was in his eyes—those sharp, intelligent eyes that had once looked at Daniel like he was something worth discovering. Now they searched him like a crime scene.

"Don't do that," Thierry said, quiet now, which was worse than yelling. "Don't pretend like it didn't matter."

Daniel folded his arms, a useless shield. "You're reading too much into it. People have sex. It happens."

"You think I'm angry because we had sex?" Thierry stepped closer, heat coming off him in waves. "I'm angry because you ran. Like a coward. Like none of it touched you."

"It didn't," Daniel lied.

Thierry laughed once, but it was sharp and mirthless. "Liar."

Daniel opened his mouth—what for, he didn't even know—but Thierry was already halfway out the door.

"Lie to yourself all you want," he said, pausing on the threshold. "But don't lie to me."

And then he was gone.

The room felt bigger when Thierry wasn't in it. Emptier. Daniel moved through it in a daze, each step heavier than the last. The air was too still, the shadows too long.

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