Chapter 17: One Touch from Family to Fantasy
Nash rubbed his mouth with the side of his forearm, like he was trying to wipe the tension off his face.
Zayela kept her eyes low, arms folded under her chest, pressing against the thin fabric of her clingy top, not for modesty, but for stability.
Neither of them said it out loud, but they both knew.
Something broke.
One massage. That’s all it took.
Ten years of coexistence. Mutual respect as cousins. Boundary lines etched in silence and familiarity.
Gone.
Now? They couldn’t even look at each other without heat bleeding in. Every glance carried context. Every breath had weight.
The air between them was different now, charged, fragile, and one brush away from being unrecoverable.
Nash slowed, glancing toward the alley entrance as a pair of shopkeepers passed in the distance.
"People are starting to come," he muttered, voice low. "We should go back in."
Zayela nodded hesitantly.