Chapter 65 TYLER
By morning, the house was too quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet. The kind that sits on your chest and makes you too aware of your own breathing. Sunlight crept in through the tall windows, landing across the floor and stopping just short of my bed. I hadn’t really slept. Not properly. I kept replaying yesterday in my head, every wrong look, every clipped answer, every second Harper’s face tightened like I’d done something I couldn’t take back.
I had.
Peter was still out cold in the king sized camping bed he'd brought in, face turned toward the wall, one arm hanging off the mattress. I lay there staring at the ceiling, my sling tugging at my shoulder when I shifted. My stomach felt twisted and hollow at the same time.
She was coming today.
That thought was the only thing pushing me out of bed.
I needed to fix it. Apologize. Say something that didn’t come out wrong for once. Yesterday had been a mess. She’d looked at me like I was bored of her. Like I didn’t want her there. That wasn’t it. That had never been it.
It was just… her.
Being around her messed with my head. Made my thoughts tangle. Made me act like an idiot who didn’t know how to speak anymore.
I showered, dressed, paced the room. Checked the time too many times. The house started to fill with noise as the morning dragged on. A door opening. My mom's voice echoing as she made her way downstairs. The clatter of dishes. Normal life, like I wasn’t stuck in the middle of something that felt way too big for my chest.
By the time I heard her voice float up the stairs, my heart was already beating wrong.
I stepped out into the hallway just as she came up the last few steps.
And she wasn’t tense.
She was smiling.
Not a careful smile. Not a forced one. A real one that lit up her whole face as soon as she saw me.
“Morning,” she said brightly. “You in a good mood today or still hiding behind your walls?”
I froze.
That… wasn’t what I expected.
“Uh. Yeah,” I muttered. “Good mood, I guess.”
She tilted her head, studying me for a second, then stepped closer like nothing was wrong. “About yesterday,” she said lightly, like it wasn't a big deal. “You were acting weird.”
My throat tightened. “Yeah. I was. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to—”
She waved it off. “It’s fine. You’re forgiven.”
Just like that.
No tension. No edge. No guarded distance.
Forgiven.
I stared at her like she’d spoken another language. “You… sure?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Everyone has off days, right?”
Something shifted in my chest. Relief hit first. Then confusion. Then something darker underneath it all.
She should’ve been mad.
She wasn’t.
She walked into my room like she owned the place, just like always. Peter groaned awake when she flipped the light on.
“Why is the sun attacking me?” he complained.
“Because you deserve it,” she chirped. “Up. Both of you.”
Chirped.
This wasn’t yesterday’s Harper.
We did the session like usual. Same stretches. Same routine. Only this time she talked more. Laughed more. Teased me when I messed up. Made faces at Peter when he exaggerated his suffering from the floor.
I barely kept up.
I watched her between movements. The bounce in her voice. The way she kept smiling at nothing. The way her energy felt lighter than it had since the bonfire.
It didn’t make sense.
“You’re in a good mood,” I said finally, keeping my tone casual.
She glanced at me. “Am I?”
“Yeah.”
She smiled wider, like it was a secret she wasn’t going to share. “I guess I am.”
That only made my stomach sink.
Halfway through the session, Peter’s phone started buzzing nonstop. He checked it and grinned.
“Oh, hell yeah,” he said. “Group’s getting back together.”
Harper looked over. “Who?”
“Jax. Kane. The usual. Jax just texted me to bring y’all out. It's been a while since we all hung out.”
He flipped his phone, holding it up so Harper could read the text. She giggled at something and Peter arched a brow, pulling his phone back to check what was funny.
“Where?” I asked.
“Arcade near the boardwalk,” Peter said. “Drinks. Games. Stupid challenges. Pretty mid stuff. So how many minutes before you guys are done here?”
Harper shifted in her chair, biting her lip like she was lost in thought.
“I can’t,” she muttered. “I’ve got stuff to do.”
My chest tightened without permission.
Peter looked between us. “Tyler, you in?”
“I’m good,” I answered.
He stared at me like I’d just insulted his bloodline. “You’ve been cooped up for days, man. You need this.”
“I’ve got therapy,” I said automatically.
Harper lifted her bag onto her shoulder. “We’re done for today, actually.”
Of course we were.
Peter opened his mouth again. I spoke before him this time. “Have fun.”
She smiled at me. A soft, easy smile. “You too.”
She left before I could figure out what any of it meant.
Peter turned to me the second the door shut. “You’re coming.”
“I said I’m good.”
“No,” he snorted. “You only said that because she's not coming.”
“I’m injured.”
“You’re sulking.”
I shot him a look. “Stay out of my head.”
He clapped a hand on my shoulder, careful of the sling. “One hour. If you hate it, I’ll drive you home myself.”
I didn’t answer.
An hour later, I was in the passenger seat of his car.
The arcade was loud, packed, flashing with light and sound and too many people pretending their lives were perfect for an afternoon. Jax tackled Peter the second we walked in. Kane followed with a grin and a punch to my good arm.
“Look at you,” Kane said. “All broken and mysterious.”
“Shut up,” I muttered.
They dragged us into games. Air hockey. Racing simulators. Basketball hoops. Peter was in his element, flirting with two different girls while talking trash to Jax at the same time. Kane kept handing me tokens and telling me to stop looking like I was at a funeral.
I tried.
It didn’t stick.
My thoughts kept drifting back to Harper. To her smile. To how easy she’d forgiven me. To how wrong that felt.
Then I saw her.
She walked in laughing, hair pulled back, eyes bright.
And Mark had his hand at her waist.
Everything inside me locked.
Peter noticed my change in posture immediately. “Oh, shit.”
Mark saw us next. His face lit up and he guided her closer, still touching her like it was natural. Like she was his.
“Yo,” he said. “Didn’t know you guys were here.”
“Team got dragged out,” Peter said easily. “Where the hell’ve you been?”
Mark glanced down at Harper, cheeks blushing a little. “Was kinda busy.”
She smiled at him.
That smile hit worse than anything else.
Mark turned back to me. “Where are the others at?”
“Back by the racing sims,” I said. My voice sounded flat even to me.
“Cool. I’ll go find them.” He leaned toward Harper. “You good?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll join you in a bit.”
He left without another word.
Silence settled between us.
“You’re here,” I said.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah.”
With him.
I swallowed. “You seem… different today.”
She smiled a little. “Different good or different weird?”
“Different happy.”
Her eyes flicked away.
My chest tightened. “Is that because of him?”
She hesitated this time.
That was answer enough.
“We’re seeing each other,” she said quietly. “Mark and I.”
The words felt like they punched straight through my ribs.
“Seeing,” I repeated.
“Dating,” she clarified.
The air rushed out of my lungs in a way that hurt.
“Oh,” I said.
She studied my face. “You okay?”
“No.”
“Yeah,” I lied.
Mark called from across the room before she could respond.
Her attention shifted instantly in his direction, body already turning. Then she hesitated, like she’d only just remembered I was still there.
“I’ll… be right back.”
Then she was gone.
And just like that, I was standing in the middle of a crowd feeling like the world had tilted sideways.
Peter reappeared a minute later. One look at my face and his smile dropped.
“Did you tell her?” he asked.
“No,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “She's with Mark now.”
“Ty—”
“I’m leaving.”
“Don’t drive like this.”
I was already moving.
Streetlights blurred past as my thoughts spiraled in tight, ugly circles. Her smile. Mark’s hand. The word dating echoing in my head like some cruel joke.
I didn’t see the other car until it was too late.
It slammed into my headlight, metal crunching, tires screeching. My whole body jolted forward, pressed hard against the seatbelt.
Then silence followed.
My hands shook on the wheel, the world plunging into darkness for a split second as my head swam.
Yet all I could think of was that I was too late in more ways than one—that I didn't notice when my car door was yanked open and a hand reached for me.