I've always known how attractive she is. Now they know too.
It started with a question.
"You wanna come out tonight?" Alex asked, casually sipping coffee in the kitchen.
Liana blinked. "Out?"
"Yeah. The team's going to Gray's. You know, the bar we always end up at after ops? Everyone's gonna be there."
Liana hesitated, hands wrapped around her mug.
"I don't know…"
Alex tilted her head. "You have your own life now, remember? You can try new things. And hey—Elias is going."
That made her pause.
"…Okay."
Alex insisted on helping her find something to wear.
Then promptly gasped when she opened Liana's closet.
"Girl. Hoodie. Pants. Hoodie. Pants. A full-length turtleneck dress? Are you Amish?"
"I—I don't usually go out," Liana said weakly.
"No shit," Alex muttered. "We're going shopping. Now."
They found a dress.
Simple. Black. Sleeveless. Flowy skirt that ended just above the knees.
Nothing scandalous.
Unless you knew Liana.
Unless you'd seen her in nothing but long sleeves and quiet colors for five years.
"Isn't this… too much?" she asked, holding the hanger like it might burn her.
Alex snorted. "You're a grown woman. Showing your collarbones won't kill anyone. And if it does, that's their problem."
Later that evening, Alex helped her with light makeup.
Nothing flashy. Just a soft shimmer on her eyelids, a hint of blush, a nude gloss.
Liana stared at herself in the mirror.
"This doesn't look like me."
Alex stood behind her. "It looks like the you you're becoming."
When they walked into the bar, the lighting was low.
Music hummed, not too loud. Laughter buzzed across the booths.
Elias was at the corner table with Luca and a few others.
Laughing. Relaxed.
Until he looked up.
The moment froze.
He saw her.
Saw the bare shoulders.
The curve of her collarbone.
The way her hair fell differently around her face.
She wasn't smiling.
But she looked…
Different.
Luca choked on his drink. "Holy shit. That's Liana?"
Elias stood up.
Didn't realize he was doing it.
Alex led her to the bar.
"What do you want?"
"I don't know," Liana whispered. "Something… small?"
Alex grinned. "You'll love a lemon drop."
As the bartender turned to make it, Elias appeared beside them like a thundercloud.
He grabbed Alex's elbow and pulled her to the side.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Alex blinked. "What?"
"You brought her here dressed like that?"
She crossed her arms. "Like what, Elias?"
"This is a bar. There are people—guys—watching her."
Alex rolled her eyes. "It's not a dive bar. It's a team hangout. We're all here. What exactly are you afraid of?"
"She doesn't belong in this kind of place."
"She's not a damn child."
"She's not ready—"
Alex snapped, "She's more ready than you are. Look at her."
He did.
And that was the problem.
She was standing at the bar, looking uncertain, but not scared. Like she was trying.
She was trying.
And he hated it.
Not because she was doing anything wrong.
But because he wasn't part of it.
And then he saw it.
A guy had approached her.
Some clean-cut twenty-something in a button-down shirt.
Elias saw him lean in. Say something.
Liana didn't move away.
She didn't smile, either.
Just stood there, stiff, holding her glass with both hands.
The guy leaned closer.
Too close.
Elias moved.
He reached the bar in four strides.
"Get lost," he said.
The guy blinked. "Dude, what are you—"
"I said get lost. Or I'll break your fucking nose."
That got the message across.
The guy muttered something and disappeared fast.
Liana looked up at him, wide-eyed.
"I was fine," she said, voice soft.
"You didn't look fine."
"I wasn't scared."
"I was."
She blinked. That silenced her.
He took a breath. Realized he was standing too close.
Realized her perfume was light, clean, completely not her—and yet, somehow, it was.
He stepped back.
"Go sit with Alex," he said.
She nodded. Didn't argue.
But as she turned away, he saw the flicker of something on her face.
Confusion. Disappointment.
Something he didn't want to name.
He turned back to the bar.
Gripped the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white.
Goddamn it.
She's not yours.
She never was.
So why does it feel like you're losing something that belonged to you?
Forever.