“It started with messages. Then threats. Then she found my address and broke into my place.”
I hear her soft gasp.
“I moved. Hid. Didn’t go out unless I had to. Slept with the lights on. Jumped at every sound. That restraining order? Useless.”
Her fingers lace into mine.
“I wasn’t only scared for myself. It was everyone else. My family. Friends. Anyone near me became a target.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“Yeah.” My jaw aches from how hard I’m clenching it. “And it never really left. I still listen for footsteps that aren’t there.”
Her thumb strokes my knuckles.
“She—” My mouth goes dry. “She hurt my dog.”
The sentence punches the air out of me.
“Broke into my place while I was gone. By the time I got home—” My vision blurs. I blink hard. “There was nothing to save.”
She turns now and steps into me, wraps her arms around my middle. “Cash, I’m so sorry.”
“I stayed inside for months. Pretended online that everything was fine. Smiled for the camera.” My laugh comes out rough and wrong. “Meanwhile, she killed my dog.”
“I can’t imagine.” Her hands slide around my neck. “I’m so sorry.”
“That’s why I acted weird when you showed up in my room.”
“Understandably.”
“I was trying not to spook you. Trying not to panic. Trying not to think it was happening again.”
“I understand.”
I blow out a deep breath that shakes in the way out. “I’ve never told anyone. Not like this.”
“It stays with me.”
“Thank you.” I kiss her softly. “I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
Her fingers thread into the hair at the back of my neck. “I’m glad you told me.”
I draw her closer. “Thanks. Really. Just, thanks for letting me say it.”
“You don’t have to be strong with me.”
And I can’t.
I wrap my arms around her and hold on. My face presses into her hair. Vanilla. Warm skin.
I breathe until my lungs stop burning.
No cameras. No audience. No whispers.
Little by little, my shoulders drop, and my heartbeat slows.
She leans back, smiling. “So... what now? Sneak back upstairs? To our room? Or rooms?”
