CHAPTER 183
**WINTER**
The girls' toilet was too quiet. The kind of quiet that made your thoughts louder.
I gripped the edge of the sink, knuckles white, and stared at my reflection like it might give me answers.
Water dripped down my cheeks-not from tears, but from the handful I'd splashed on my face moments ago, hoping it would cool the rage boiling just beneath my skin.
It didn't.
It couldn't.
All because of Zion.
God, I was so stupid.
Only last night-last damn night-I had made the choice.
The leap.
I told myself I'd give him a chance. That maybe, just maybe, he meant it when he said he wanted to change. That all the chaos and confusion and pain between us wasn't just some game to him. That there was something real under that stormy stare of his.
But then today happened.
And he reminded me loudly that he was still the same arrogant, possessive, self-obsessed jerk who thought the world owed him something just for existing.
I wanted to believe in him. I really did. Not just for him but for me. Because what we had... what I felt... it wasn't nothing. But every time I reached out, he found a new way to prove that maybe change was just another lie he told himself to sleep better at night.
I let out a shaky breath, pressing my palms flat against the cool porcelain.
"Why do I even bother?" I muttered to no one.
Then there was Damien.
I rolled my eyes just thinking about him.
He was a whole different brand of infuriating.
That smug, greasy smile.
The way he leaned too close, like personal space was a suggestion, not a boundary.
The crap that came out of his mouth every five seconds-like he thought being disgusting made him charming.
Spoiler: it didn't.
From the moment I sat at the table, he was pushing buttons like it was a sport.
Every word out of Damien's mouth was dipped in sleaze, thick with innuendo and arrogance. The way he looked at me like I was something to toy with, something to claim my skin crawl. He didn't care about me. Not really. He just wanted a reaction, wanted to know he was getting under my skin.
And goddammit... he was.
Then Zion showed up.
For a second just a second, I almost felt relieved. Being alone with Damien was starting to feel like standing barefoot on broken glass. His presence was suffocating and invasive, and Zion's arrival felt like air after drowning.
But I should've known better.
Two egos the size of planets.
Two self-obsessed, arrogant bad boys with control issues and something to prove.
Of course, it was going to turn into a pissing contest.
I had watched it unfold like a slow-motion train wreck I couldn't look away from.
Damien pushed. Zion twitched. Damien smirked. Zion clenched his fists. Again and again.
It was like a rhythm, a beat I could feel pounding behind my eyes.
Every time Damien so much as breathed, Zion tensed a little more.
And then his hands curled into fists every time Damien opened that filthy mouth of his.
It wasn't just annoyance.
It was rage.
Raw, barely-contained rage that Damien kept poking like it was some kind of joke.
Zion couldn't walk away.
Wouldn't.
Every word Damien threw made it worse-threw gasoline on the fire already burning behind Zion's eyes.
And the longer I watched, the more it sank into
Zion wasn't stepping in like a friend.
He was acting like I was his.
Like he had some claim on me.
Damien's words weren't just offensive-they were a challenge to his territory.
It wasn't about protecting me.
It was about owning me.
And yeah... maybe Damien was the one running his mouth.
But Zion?
Zion was the one ready to set the whole place on fire over it.
His anger wasn't just intense-it was unhinged.
Dark and dangerous in a way that made my stomach knot.
And suddenly, I wasn't sure who I was more frustrated with-
The creep who wouldn't shut up,
Or the guy who couldn't keep it together.
Either way...
I was just another casualty in whatever the hell this power struggle was.
And now I was here, alone in a bathroom, scrubbing frustration off my face like it could be rinsed away with water.
My jaw clenched. I didn't know what I was going to do when I walked back out there. But I knew one thing for damn sure.
I was done being the reason boys with bruised egos acted like gods of war.
I took one last breath-long, deep, and useless-then yanked a paper towel from the dispenser and wiped my face dry.
My reflection stared back, still frustrated, still pissed, but at least I didn't look like I'd been crying.
That mattered more than I cared to admit.
When I pushed open the door, the hallway was silent- eerily so.
Too silent.
That kind of silence that buzzes under your skin, like the calm before a storm.
But then-voices.
Low, tense.
Heated.
Something in the air had shifted, sharp and electric like the whole building was holding its breath.
I followed the sound of instinct, unease twisting in my gut with every step.
And then I saw it.
A crowd.
In the centre of the cafeteria.
Students clustered together like moths to a flame-some standing on chairs, others craning their necks, drawn in by the chaos that hadn't quite exploded but was teetering on the edge.
And my heart dropped straight to my stomach.
Because I didn't even need to see who was at the centre of it.
I already knew.
Zion.
Damien.
And trouble.
.......
As I push my way through the crowd, a few whispers sneak through the noise, slicing through my thoughts.
“Zion is so fucking hot,” one voice says, and I can’t help but hear it.
“The way he’s defending Winter... he’s got that protective vibe. I love it... "
My cheeks flush before I can even stop it. Zion... defending me?
Another voice adds, barely audible, but it cuts through the buzz of the crowd.
“Yeah, he’s intense, but there’s something about him... comforting, too. Like he’d do anything to keep her safe...I wish a guy would defend me like that. I’d be giving him a blow job, morning and night.”
Gag!
Another voice, one that doesn’t belong to anyone I know, chuckles lightly.
“Not gonna lie,, the new guy’s not bad either,” she says, a low laugh in her voice.
“I mean, he’s got that dirty mouth... I kinda like it.”
I roll my eyes.
Seriously!
I pushed forward until I could see through the gap between two girls.
There they were.
Damien.
Zion.
......
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