The crowd was louder now. Phones out. Voices blending into chaos.
But none of it mattered.
Kael's knuckles were raw. Blood dripped from Rayzen's split lip. Both stood, barely steady, chests heaving, rage still simmering beneath bruised skin.
Until—
"Are you out of your minds?!"
Alea's voice cut through the noise like lightning.
She shoved through the crowd, soaked from the storm, hair clinging to her face, eyes wide with disbelief—and something deeper. Something close to breaking.
She looked at Kael first.
"You promised me…"
Her voice trembled. Then she turned to Rayzen.
"And you—you said you'd stay away from this kind of trouble."
Rayzen's jaw tightened. "He started it."
Kael scoffed. "I finished it."
"No!" Alea snapped. "You both lost."
Silence.
The kind that felt louder than the shouting had ever been.
"You don't get it, do you? This isn't about who hits harder. This isn't some twisted game where I fall for the guy who bleeds the most."
They stood there, stunned.
Alea's eyes shimmered. Rain, or maybe tears. No one could tell anymore.
"I'm not a prize. I'm not your battleground. And if this is who you both really are—then maybe I don't belong with either of you."
She turned around.
And walked away.
Leaving behind two boys, one shattered alley, and the echoes of a truth neither of them wanted to hear.
Not tonight.