"souls on fire"

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

I take a pencil from my bag and shove it down my cast, trying to reach an itch that has been bothering me for the last five minutes. This cast has been the bane of my existence lately. It wasn't the best traveling with and I was practically no help when loading the car and unpacking all of our stuff. It was most annoying when I had to wrap it in a ziplock bag when we went into the hot tub.

Luckily, all that changes right now. I'm sitting in the doctor's office waiting for my appointment to take it off. I'm not sure why, but the entire group is sitting here with me, all excited to witness this moment of my life.

I tried to tell them to stay home but they insisted on watching this, for reasons unbeknownst to me.

"Delaney Lawrence?" An older woman holding a clipboard calls my name and points to a small room down the hallway.

I just politely smile at her and get up, making my way over to where she pointed to. She does a double-take when she watches all of my friends get up as well and follow me in. God, we must look like idiots. I grimace at her in embarrassment and she, luckily, laughs it off.

Somehow, all 12 of us manage to cram into the smallest room in existence and we wait for the doctor to walk in.

"I'm going to miss you, Pinky," Luke gently pats my cast and bids it farewell.

"Oh god." I roll my eyes, knowing now everyone is going to follow suit.

Owen, Aspen, Daisy, and Jemma take this seriously, with a genuine goodbye. Chase, Harper, Beth, Mason, and Theo mostly laugh at this entire situation but still wish the pink piece of plaster a farewell.

I turn to Sterling, the only one who hasn't said anything, and raise my eyebrows in anticipation of what he's going to do. He chooses not to say anything and instead, reaches down, grabs my hand, brings it to his lips, and gives it a quick kiss.

Before I or anyone else has the chance to react, the doctor walks in. "Alright, do I have a Delaney Lawrence?" He looks up from his clipboard and his eyes go wide.

"Hi, yes, I'm here." I raise my cast in the air and he nods his head.

"You know, I've seen a lot of things in my time, but never..." He quickly counts all the people in the room "Eleven people here to watch a friend get their cast off."

"Well, now you can check it off your bucket list," Harper jokes and the doctor cracks a smile.

I look down at my cast and smile at everything on it. Of course everyone in the group signed it and added their own notes. There are many obscure drawings on it made by mostly Luke and Beth who both love to draw. In addition to this, stickers cover about 50% of the surface area, all placed down by the kids I coach, lots of them from Charlotte's personal collection. But my favourite decorations are the few messages Sterling would write when I was asleep. I read my favourite one and take a mental picture right as the doctor begins cutting the cast off. 'Sometimes, when you think you need to disappear, you actually need to be found.'

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

"You're coming tonight, right, Dell?" Aspen asks as she holds up a tight black dress to her body.

Apparently, the boys throw one big party a year and tonight is that night.

"Yeah, I think so." I almost surprise myself with my answer considering I almost always so no to these types of things.

Aspen and Harper's eyes go wide. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's at the guy's house so I'm familiar with it. Plus, I'll have all of you to keep me comfortable."

"Aw, I'm so glad," Jemma coos. "Really, Dell, this is great. I know parties aren't your favourite thing in the world but I'm glad you're giving it a try, getting out of your shell." Beth's words make me smile.

"Yeah, you should be proud of yourself," Daisy says, giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

God, I love these girls so much.

We spend the next hour and a half doing our hair, makeup, and changing into new outfits. With lots of help from the girls, I'm in a short, tight black skirt paired with a light blue corset top. My hair is simple, with loose waves cascading down my back. My makeup is heavier than normal. Still consisting of my regular makeup routine which is some concealer, blush, highlight, and mascara, but this time Aspen added some glittery eyeshadow and eyeliner and I topped it all off with a dark pink lip.

Once we're all ready, we pile into a couple cars and make our way over to the boys' house.

The music is already blasting and people are beginning to accumulate when we arrive.

We walk in and quickly head to the kitchen to find the guys. Chase sees us first and makes his way over to us. He gives me a quick hug and kisses me on the forehead. "I'm glad you came Laney. I'm proud of you, always." He gets unexpectedly sappy and I just squeeze his forearm as a thank you. He moves his attention on to Jemma, checking her out and wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

I take that as my cue to leave them alone and follow the rest of the girls through the house. "The ladies have arrived," Owen calls out and everyone comes over to meet us. As I hug each of the guys, most of my anxiety leaves my body. Just knowing that the most intimidating men at the party will have my back and watch out for me, makes me feel so much better. All of them are tall and jacked from hockey, yet they are the biggest softies and treat me like a little sister.

Mason nods his head to someone behind me and I turn around, coming face to face with Sterling who just walked down the stairs.

A smile instinctively appears on my face and I am now one hundred percent at ease.

"Hi," I speak softly as he takes a step closer to me and pulls my body into him by my waist.

"Hi," he returns to greeting and tucks a piece of hair out of my face. "I wasn't expecting you to be here, I was actually about to go over to your house and see if you wanted to do something. But, I'm happy you're here." His eyes scan down my body. "You look damn good, Laney"

I blush but I don't think he can tell with the overall darkness and bright colour lights flashing around the room. "Thank you, and so do you, Darling." It's my turn to check him out. He's in black pair of jeans and a white t-shirt that fits him perfectly, showing off his muscular biceps.

Theo hands me a drink and I take it, not offering one to Sterling who doesn't drink. "What is it?" I ask before I take a sip.

"Luke calls it his specialty, basically a mix of a bunch of different juices and some alcohol, but not much at all. Try it, it's actually pretty good."

I'm pleasantly surprised when I enjoy the taste. I guess I need to give Luke a little more credit.

I spend the first hour or so dancing, playing beer pong, and just chatting with whatever member of the group I can find. Memories of the last party I attended flood my mind and I deny any drink offered to me, not wanting to be drunk again. For the most part, Sterling is by my side throughout, constantly making sure I'm safe and checking in on me.

And it makes all the difference in the world.

Parties are, essentially, my own personal hell. But with Sterling, somehow, it's not that bad. Actually, it's kind of fun.

That is until he leaves to go to the washroom and I'm by myself. He offered to get someone to stay with me while he was gone but I declined. I mean yeah, this isn't my favourite place in the world, but I can handle being alone for five minutes.

My heart rate speeds up when I see a guy make his way toward me and I internally scream at myself for staying put and not going to find one of the girls.

Good going there, Delaney.

"Hey, gorgeous." The guy stops in front of me and begins to speak. He's not drunk but he's definitely not sober, and I can smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Uh, hi." I give him an impassive reply, hoping he'll take the hint and realize I'm not interested.

Of course, he doesn't and continues talking to me. "So, how are you enjoying the party?"

"It's fine, I guess."

He takes a step closer to me. "Cool. How about you come dance with me?"

"Yeah, no. I'm good."

"Oh, c'mon. Just once dance, it'll be fun, you'll see." He reaches to grab my hand.

Panicking, I do the first thing that comes into my mind; stepping on his foot, really hard. "How about, you take no for a fucking answer."

"Bitch," he sneers.

"Dick." I mockingly smile at him.

An arm snakes around my waist and I don't even spook, recognizing the arm right away.

His arm.

"I would listen to what she says and get the fuck out of this party," Sterling says.

He scares pretty quickly and walks away muttering something probably rude.

"That's my girl," Sterling cups my cheek and smiles down at me proudly.

"Did you watch that whole thing?"

He nods his head with a big grin plastered on his face.

"How come you didn't do anything?"

"I knew you could handle yourself. You're strong, Laney. And I was one step away from punching distance anyway, if he even thought about trying anything, he'd be crying on the floor before he got the chance."

He scans over my face, assessing my emotions and his eyesight goes to my wrist.

I notice as she fidgets with the hair elastic on her wrist, a habit I've become familiar with when she's anxious.

"C'mon, let's go upstairs for a little bit."

Her shoulders relax at my suggestion and she makes her way up the stairs and into my room. I take a key out of my pocket and unlock my door. She looks over at me, tilting her head in confusion, probably at the new security system I've never used before.

"What? I'm not an idiot. I know what happens in bedrooms during parties. No one is fucking on my bed but me."

"Oh, yeah? And who are you fucking?" Laney challenges.

Someone's feeling bold tonight, and I like it.

I take a step closer to her and she swallows hard. "Whoever I want to fuck."

She stands up taller to try and limit some of our height difference. "And who is it that Sterling Blake wants to fuck?"

I curl my finger around the belt loop of her skirt and pull her flush against my body. I lean down and tuck her hair behind her ear so she can hear me as clear as possible.

"You," I whisper.

She looks up at me through her long eyelashes and takes a shaky breath. "I was supposed to hate you, you know?"

God, the tension is killing me. The feeling of her body against mine is enough to drive me clinically insane. I can feel her chest rise and fall and she bites down on the corner of her lip.

Her eyes drop down to my lips and I lose every sane bone in my body. "Then show me how much you hate me, Laney." My voice comes out deep, raspy, and strained.

She starts to lean in as I begin to bend down but she hesitates.

"Just kiss me," I almost plead.

And she does.

My heart beats out of my chest the moment her soft, plump lips meet my own. I kiss her slowly, melting into the kiss and deepening it with my tongue. Both my hands move to cup her cheeks and I hold her face to mine. Her hands move to my shirt and she balls the fabric in her hands, gripping the material and pulling me impossibly close to her.

My mind goes blank, with only one thing on it; her. All of my senses are heightened and my brain makes fast work of memorizing her touch and taste. The kiss is light and delicate at first and I savour every millisecond.

But soon, it turns passionate and desperate. Our lips move against each other quickly and I swallow down a moan that escapes her lips. In this moment, we are the only two people on earth, and kissing her is the only thing that matters. It's as if I'm drowning and she's my lifeline.

I get lost in the kiss, I get lost in her, and I welcome it.

What seems like both an eternity and a split second later, we pull away. I look into her big brown eyes and my heart almost stops at the sight.

She's perfect.

In every sense of the word.

She releases her grip on my shirt but my hands stay put, still needing to touch her, to feel her, to hold her.

"Fuck, Laney." Desire and craving dripping from my voice.

"Yeah," she replies almost drunkenly from the kiss.

I open my mouth to speak, not sure what I'm actually going to say, when we hear a knock on my door.

"Sterling? Are you in there?" I hear Mason call out.

I sigh, knowing my moment with Laney is almost over. "Yeah, I am," I speak, yet I don't move my eyes from their trained position on her perfect face.

"Daisy wants to take a picture of us all, come on down." His voice gets quieter as I hear him walk away from my room and presumably back downstairs.

I give her a quick peck on the lips, still not prepared to part from the feeling of kissing her, and I drop my hands from the sides of her face. I watch as she walks away, opens the door, and joins the party.

Holy fuck.

Ahhh! I can't believe I just wrote that. The slow burn is officially on fire... This is such an important moment in the book so I hope I did it justice and you all enjoyed it. I was basically screaming as I was writing this, I was so embarrassingly giddy.

I just want to thank each and every one of you for reading this book and supporting my as an author. Thank you for everything, it truly means the world to me. Knowing that my book has resonated with some of you motivates me to write.

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Stay safe and healthy <3