We just exist in this moment, this small pocket of time where nothing else matters.
Eventually, he shifts again. “I should let you sleep.”
Translation:I should go.
“You could stay.” The words slip out before I can stop them.
He’s quiet for a beat too long. “I can’t. I’m... sorry.”
Right. Of course he can’t. He has a kid at home. Responsibilities. A whole life that doesn’t include random hookups with his best friend’s unemployed sister.
“Okay.” I sit up, clutching the blanket. “Yeah, no, that’s fine. Totally fine.”
He stands, starts getting dressed. I watch him button his jeans, pull on his Henley. Watch him transform back into Marco Fiore, billionaire restaurateur, instead of just Marco, the hot guy with the carved body who fucked me senseless only minutes ago.
“Jess.” He pauses at the door, hand on the deadbolt. “Tonight was—”
“One night,” I interrupt, because I need to say it before he does. “I know. It’s fine.”
Something flickers across his face. Regret maybe. Or relief. Or even guilt. I can’t really tell in the dim light.
“See you around,” he says finally.
“Yeah. See you.”
He unlocks the door. Steps into the hallway. Pauses once more, like he’s going to say something else.
But he doesn’t.
The door closes.
I sit there on my couch, wrapped in my blanket, listening to his footsteps fade down the stairs. I hear the main door open and close. Through the window, I watch him get into the Range Rover. Watch the security vehicle pull away from the curb behind him.
Watch him leave.
My bracelet is still sitting on the counter where I left it. The silver catches the streetlight coming through the window.
I should put it back on. Back to regular programming.
Instead, I pull the blanket tighter and let myself feel everything I’ve been holdingback.
The want.
The disappointment.
The stupid, stupid hope that maybe this could’ve been more than one night. That his pillow talk wasmorethan pillow talk.
But of course it wasn’t.
I laugh wistfully, imagining the content I could create from this.
“When you sleep with your brother’s best friend and he ghosts before sunrise.”
A million views, no doubt. Back in my heyday.
But I’m not an influencer anymore, I remind myself.
I’m a no one.
