DON’T STOP (Lila and Darrell) novel Chapter 60

Chapter 60

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The engine humed low beneath was Darrell’s car cut through the evening streets, the city lights smearing past the windows in golden streaks. I couldn’t sit sull My thighs pressed together under my skirt, the memory of his fingers still

over my skin from earlier in his office slow, deep strokes that had left me trembling against his desk, papers my gps echoing off the bookshelves. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face above me. calm, hungry, completely in control.

“Thinking about it His voice broke the quiet, smooth and knowing

1 turned my he heat from cr

“Can I

Our eyes met for a second before I looked away, biting down hard on my bottom lip to stop the my neck

ing?” The words tumbled out before I could overthink/them.

yes back on the road. “Go on.”

ded against my ribs. “What did you mean… that you and Gina aren’t serious? What’s going on? Why did you then?”

ed at me, jaw tightening just a fraction. Then he turned fully, gaze steady and unreadable. “It’s my private life.”

Words landed like a door slamming shut. I felt small and stupid. “Sorry,” I muttered, barely audible, and twisted toward window. The glass was cool against my temple. I watched buildings slide by, trying to swallow the sting in my throat.

e pulled up outside the hostel gates sooner than I expected. The familiar chipped paint on the walls, the buzzing security light over the entrance-it all felt too ordinary after what had happened.

“Your place?” he asked, his voice softer now.

“Yes” I nodded, fingers fumbling with the seatbelt. I pushed the door open and stepped out slowly, legs shaky.

I turned back toward him, dipping my head in a small, awkward bow out of habit. “Thanks for the ride.”

He leaned across the console, one arm resting on the steering wheel, that half-smile tugging at his mouth. “No… I should thank you for the ride.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You’ll be riding me on Thursday, Miss Sunday.” His tone dipped low, deliberate, every syllable curling around me like smoke. “So yes… thank you for the upcoming ride.”

Heat exploded across stared at him

the concr

Inside

ks, neck, ears, everything burning. I couldn’t breathe properly. Couldn’t speak. I just

ammed the door and hurried toward the entrance, my sandals slapping against

tant noodles and cheap air freshener. I made it to our room on

the bathroom. The shower was too hot, needles of water pounding the echo of his voice or the way my body had reacted in the car-like it

red tight over my chest, the front door was swinging shut. Lara.

with surprise.

?

↑ shift

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pg dn

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Trom Prickey hear tangle faint shimmer of club guter still dusting her shoulder i hadn’t

rrupting everything, then Darrell’s voice on the phone turning low and filthy until

of her shoes and headed straight past me toward Nge bathroom.

www grote ring from? Don’t tell me you’ve been at that club since Friday?”

a friend” the didn’t elaborate, just disappeared behind the door.

rubbing lotion into my legs, my arms, anywhere the memory of his touch lingered. Then I pulled on soft assert charts and an oversized T-shirt that swallowed me whole, spritzed a little vanilla perfume on my neck and was, and collapsed onto my bed. The mattress sighed under me. I pulled my knees to my chest and stared at the ceiling

The shower that off. Lara emerged a few minutes later, toweling her hair, already shimmying into black leggings and a cropped hoodie. She moved like nothing had changed, but I felt every seconflicking toward the fnoment I wouldn’t be able to hold it in anymore.

Sopped down on the edge of my bed, still damp, eyeing me. “You’re quiet. Like, really quiet. Anyway, what’s up with you and that professor? What’s going on now? Tell me about it.”

My heart warmed so hard I thought it might crack a rib. The room suddenly felt too small, too warm. I hugged my knees tirer, naik digging into my shins.

Nothing, I said.

The word came out flat and final. I couldn’t even look at Lara when I said it.

She stared at me for a long beat, waiting for the rest that never came. When it didn’t, she sighed-soft, disappointed, the kind of sigh that carried more weight than any lecture.

“You’re really going to throw away the plans?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, Lara” My voice cracked on her name. “I’m really sorry.”

She looked… hurt and upset, like I’d personally reached in and crushed something she’d been holding onto for me.

“After everything?” she said, her voice rising just enough to sting. Then she scoffed short and sharp, turning away, She crowed to her own bed, yanked the covers back, and dropped onto the mattress without another word. The silence between us stretched thin and brittle.

ľ

1 sighed too, quieter, and pulled my own blanket up to my chin. The room felt colder now. Smaller. I lay on my side facing the wall, staring at the faint glow of streetlight sneaking through the blinds, trying to convince myself I meant it.

I wasn’t sure I did.

My hand moved on its own, reaching for my phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up my face in cold blue. I opened our thread. His name sat at the top like it always did now, no emoji, no nickname, just Darrell. Clean. Dangerous.

My thumbs hovered.

Then typed

“Are you home?

the reply came in seconds. Like he’d been waiting.

2/3

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