“Why? Afraid it’ll turn you on?”
He steps in—close enough to cage me with heat.
“You think I want her?” he growls. “You think she’s the reason I came here tonight?”
“You said you came to forget me.”
“I lied.”
My breath breaks.
“I came to see if I could handle it,” he says. “If I could stomach watching you move on. If I could pretend you didn’t taste like my next mistake.”
“And?” I breathe.
He leans in.
“I can’t.”
The world tilts.
He lifts a hand—hesitant, like he doesn’t know if he deserves the right. His fingers brush my cheek, slow and reverent.
“I didn’t leave because I didn’t want you,” he whispers. “I left because I wanted you too fucking much.”
He leans closer—so close his mouth nearly meets mine.
But he stops.
He always stops.
“Go back to her,” I whisper.
He flinches.
“She’s not you.”
“Exactly,” I say. “She’s safer.”
He nods.
Steps back.
Steps into the dark.
And leaves me standing there under the moonlight, wrapped in ash, smoke, and a heartbreak I never asked for.
Chapter
Nine
Cassandra
I’m sitting in the kitchen when Lola finally resurfaces from her cave, nursing a cup of coffee that has long since gone cold, but still I wrap my hands around it like the faint warmth can ground me, like the heat seeping through ceramic might hold the pieces of me together for just one more morning before I fracture again.
“Hey, Cass.” Her warm smile greets me, soft and sleepy, the kind of smile she’s only capable of before life claws at her.
“She’s finally alive.” I smile back, or something close to it.
