The club pulsed with a low, sultry beat as she swirled her drink, the ice clinking softly against the glass. Her friends had abandoned her to the dance floor, leaving her alone at the bar to observe the blur of bodies and lights. She was content to stay there—until she felt it.

That familiar presence.

She turned, and there he was, leaning casually against the far wall, a drink in hand. Lucas.

Her breath caught. Of all places, of all nights—why here? He looked different now, sharper, harder, the boy she once knew buried beneath the man he’d become. His dark eyes found hers, and for a second, neither of them moved.

Memories rushed back in disjointed flashes. Climbing trees in the summer. Whispered secrets under a blanket of stars. The fight that tore them apart. The cold, bitter silence that followed for years.

But now, in this smoky haze of music and lights, all that seemed to dissolve into the space between them.

Before she could overthink it, he was walking toward her, the crowd parting around him like he belonged there.

“Maddie,”he said, his voice low, rough. “It’s been a while.”

“Lucas,” she replied, trying to sound indifferent, though her pulse raced.

His gaze swept over her, lingering just a second too long. “You look… different.”

She raised an eyebrow, smirking. “So do you. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Didn’t expect to see you either,” he admitted, stepping closer. The scent of his cologne mixed with the electric charge of the room. “But now that I have…”

His words hung between them, heavy with implication. She should have pushed him away, should have remembered the years of anger and silence. But instead, she tilted her head, daring him to close the gap.

“Now that you have what?” she asked, her voice a little breathless.

A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

He was closer now, the heat of him brushing against her skin. The club seemed to shrink around them, the music fading into a distant hum.

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” she said, though she didn’t step back.

“Probably,” he murmured, his fingers brushing lightly against her arm, leaving a trail of sparks in their wake.

And then his lips were on hers, sudden and searing. It wasn’t gentle—this was years of tension and unresolved feelings, anger and longing all colliding in one electric moment. She kissed him back just as fiercely, her fingers tangling in his shirt, pulling him closer.

When they finally broke apart, she looked up at him, breathless, her heart pounding. “Lucas…”

“Come with me,” he said, his voice low, rough, and filled with something she couldn’t quite name.

She hesitated, searching his eyes for answers. “Where?”

“Anywhere but here,” he said, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. “Just for tonight.”

Her head spun with the possibilities, the risk, the weight of everything they’d been and everything they could never be. But his hand was warm against hers, grounding her in the moment.

“Okay,” she said, her voice barely audible over the music.

She didn’t know where they were going or what would come next. For once, she didn’t care.