There were toys.
I’d packed them.
Had a whole bag with neatly folded towels and supplies and items I’d researched as I prepared everything for this break. Basic heat wasn’t fun without a partner, but survivable. Lube, heat aids, even scent-masking candles could all help.
But they were in the other room. In a drawer.
And that wastoo far.
Too much.
I didn’t want to go get them. Not when reality sank into my bones that I’d planned for everything—everything—except one key issue. Battery-operated toys, no matter how nice or cleverly designed, weren’tthem.
Nothing I brought would work. Nothing I touched would scratch the itch. Not when every cell in my body had apparently decidednowwas the moment it wanted… them.
I curled tighter into the blanket, furious at myself.
This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I was in control. Ihadbeen in control. I hadplannedfor this.
I had done everything right.
Still, this aching, hollow, trembling need had bloomed like fire in my lungs and in my bones. I couldn’t focus. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t even get myself off.
I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to ground myself, but it barely worked.
My phone buzzed again from the other room.
Then again.
I didn’t move.
Didn’t look.
Didn’twantto know.
Because if one more headline had my name in it—if one more notification lit up with their faces or some new speculation—I was going to lose the thread entirely.
Another breeze scraped against the cabin’s window, a low moan through the wood.
Outside, the snow was falling faster.
Inside, I was coming apart by degrees.
And no one even knew.
Or… maybe they did.
Maybe that’s what scared me most.
Sleep came in shards. Broken things. Sharp things. Beautiful,cruelthings.
Every time I drifted off, I dreamed of them.
Roan’s hands — steady, sure, bracketed on either side of me, holding me still while he looked down like I was something dangerous he couldn’t quite put away.
Rhett’s laugh, low and hot against my skin, all mischief turned molten.
Jay’s voice, that cool precision melting into something that sounded like a command:look at me, Wren.
