Innocent cravings

Chapter Nine : Restless Nights

The sharp click of poker chips being shuffled should have grounded Brian. The laughter, the smoke, the clinking of glasses, he should have felt at ease here, surrounded by familiar faces.

But tonight, nothing settled.

"Your turn, Carter," one of his friends nudged, pointing at the cards in his hand.

Brian glanced down at them, realizing he hadn't even looked. He threw a chip into the pile, not caring whether he won or lost. His friends didn't notice. They were too wrapped up in their own competition, voices rising as the game heated.

He leaned back in his chair, loosening his tie, his glass untouched on the table. The whiskey in it looked golden, glowing under the light, tempting him to drink until his head was blank. But even that wouldn't help.

Not when every time he closed his eyes, he saw her.

Alice.

He didn't know how or when she had slipped into his thoughts, but now she was everywhere. The stubborn spark in her eyes, the way her voice trembled yet held steady against him. The way she looked when she thought no one was watching, like she was carrying the weight of the world and refused to let it crush her.

Brian rubbed his temple, exhaling slowly. He should have been focused on his fiancée. Clarissa had been in his life for years, tied to him not by choice but by the binding pressure of family expectations. Her parents, his parents, every move between them calculated like a business transaction.

She was beautiful, polished, exactly what everyone thought he should want. And yet...

His chest tightened.

The truth was simple. Clarissa didn't move him. Not the way Alice did. Not with the same raw, unsettling force.

"Fold," he muttered, tossing his cards onto the table without a glance.

"Fold again?" His friend Marcus raised a brow. "What's going on with you? You've been out of it all night."

Brian forced a smile. "Long day at the office."

It was an easy excuse, believable enough. He had been working himself thin lately contracts, investors, meetings that stretched past midnight. But work wasn't what kept him awake when the city finally went quiet.

It was her.

He reached for his drink, swirling it slowly before setting it down untouched again.

Marcus wasn't fooled. He leaned in slightly. "This about Clarissa? Did you two fight?"

"No," Brian said quickly, sharper than intended.

A beat of silence followed. Then laughter erupted from the other side of the table, breaking the tension. The game moved on, but Marcus still watched him with curiosity.

Brian didn't bother explaining. What could he even say? That every time Clarissa smiled at him, he caught himself comparing it to the way Alice's lips curved? That Clarissa's voice, smooth and practiced, could never echo in his mind the way Alice's raw, unguarded words did?

He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He unlocked it, scrolling through messages without seeing them. For a moment, he hovered over Clarissa's name. A picture of her smiling at a gala stared back at him, perfect and cold.

He slid the screen away.

Then, against his better judgment, his mind conjured up the image of Alice again. The way her eyes had met his across campus, wide and startled, as if she hadn't expected him there. The way she had held his gaze, even when Clarissa slipped her hand into his arm.

Something had shifted in that glance. Something he couldn't name.

"Your turn, Carter," another friend barked.

Brian looked at his cards again, not seeing them. He tossed them down anyway, standing. "I'm done for the night."

There were groans, protests, laughter, but he ignored them. He needed air. Space. Something to break this restless storm clawing inside him.

Out in the cool night, the city stretched around him loud, alive, but empty all the same. He tugged his coat tighter, walking slowly toward his car.

This was dangerous.

He knew it. He wasn't blind to the mess waiting at the edge of this road. Clarissa was already suspicious,he'd seen the way her eyes hardened when Alice was near. And if his family caught wind of his distraction, there would be hell to pay.

Alice didn't belong in his world. She deserved freedom, not the crushing weight of expectations and deals. He should stay away.

But when he closed his eyes again, all he saw was her.

The girl who wasn't his. The girl he couldn't stop craving.