Here's Chapter 13 of Beneath the Same Roof — where the outside world finally starts to close in. The morning after is barely over before reality knocks hard. Ava's mom is suspicious. Too suspicious. The pressure is rising, and Julian and Ava are no longer safe in their bubble.
This chapter blends tension, paranoia, and the first serious threat of discovery — with a little heat lingering in the background.
Chapter 13 – The Cracks Begin
POV: Julian
I watched her read the text.
Her breath caught. Her fingers tightened around the phone.
"She knows," Ava whispered.
I sat up, sheet around my waist, pulse hammering in my neck.
"Are you sure?"
She looked at me — wide-eyed, pale, trembling in a way that had nothing to do with what we'd done in bed and everything to do with what came next.
"She's never texted like that," she said again. "Not vague. Not urgent. Just… now."
I stood and pulled on my jeans, grabbing my shirt from the floor.
Ava was already slipping into leggings, one of my hoodies—too big on her, too intimate, too obvious—and she didn't seem to realize it.
Or maybe she didn't care.
"Stay calm," I said. "Just go downstairs like nothing happened. You slept in. I'll come down in a bit. Separate."
Ava nodded like she'd stopped breathing.
We were past the point of pretending this didn't matter.
Now we had to protect it.
Even if it meant lying.
---
The house was quiet when she left.
Too quiet.
My heartbeat didn't slow until I heard her voice downstairs — casual, steady, perfectly controlled.
She was good at this.
But her mom had instincts. And I'd seen her mother's eyes shift the night of the party. Seen the pause when I handed Ava a drink, the frown when we stood too close by the fire.
She knew something then. And now, she wanted answers.
---
I waited ten minutes before going downstairs.
When I entered the kitchen, her mom was at the island. Coffee mug in hand. Eyes sharp.
Ava sat on the edge of a stool, pretending to scroll through her phone.
"Morning," I said, trying to sound groggy.
"Morning," her mom replied — clipped.
She didn't look at me. She looked through me.
"Sleep okay?" she asked Ava.
A beat. "Yeah. Headache. Stayed in."
Another beat.
"You weren't in your room when I knocked."
Ava didn't miss a beat. "I was showering."
"Mm." Sip of coffee. "And Julian?"
I met her gaze. Held it. "Went for a run. Just got back."
It was a terrible lie.
I was barefoot. My hair still wet from Ava's fingers.
But she didn't call me on it.
She just nodded, too slowly.
"Right."
The word cut like a warning.
---
We all stood in that kitchen pretending we weren't lying.
Pretending we hadn't burned the world down upstairs last night.
Pretending Ava wasn't still wearing my sweatshirt.
Her mother's eyes dropped to it once. Just once.
A flicker.
Enough to chill my blood.
---
Later, when we were alone, I found Ava in the hallway.
"She doesn't have proof," I said quietly.
"No," Ava whispered. "But she knows."
"She won't say anything until she's sure."
Ava nodded. "Which means she's watching us now. Every move. Every look."
I stepped closer, brushing my fingers down her wrist where no one could see.
"We'll be careful."
Her eyes met mine, and for the first time since last night, I saw fear in them. Not of me. Not of us. But of what came next.
"Julian, if she tells my dad…"
I pressed my forehead to hers.
"She won't."
"And if she does?"
"Then I'll stand beside you anyway."
🔥 End of Chapter Hook:
That night, Ava gets another message — this time from a blocked number:
"I know what you're doing."
No name. No clue.
Just six words.
Just enough to set everything on fire again.