We watch the news on mute. I scan feeds on the burner. She reads, then paces, then reads again. Every movement tracks across my awareness like a threat vector. Not because she’s dangerous—but because I am.
Around noon, she stands by the window, arms crossed, staring out like she’s daring the world to make a move.
“You’re avoiding me.” She turns. Leans back against the wall.
I don’t answer.
She studies me like she did last night—quiet, assessing, too perceptive for my comfort.
“Do you regret it?” she asks.
The question lands hard. Direct. No cover. I could ask what she means, but there’s no reason. We both know what she’s asking. Even if I want to forget that massive slip ever happened.
“No,” I say, immediately. Too fast.
“Good.” She nods once. Files it away.
“That doesn’t mean?—”
“I know,” she cuts in. “It doesn’t mean anything changed.”
Except everything did.
“I’m taking a shower.”
“Of course you are.”
The shower is another disappointment. Another empty release. I want her.
Need her.
But she’s off the menu. Has to be,
The afternoon crawls. The heat between us doesn’t cool—it condenses. Thickens. Every near-miss charges it more. My knee inches from hers on the couch. The way we both freeze when our hands reach for the same thing.
I stand abruptly. “I’m taking a walk. Perimeter check.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “Perimeter check of the hallway?”
“I need air.”
“Right. Air.” She laughs, but it’s brittle. Her gaze flicks down my body, lingering where it shouldn’t, then snaps back to my face with something sharp in it. “Go. Check the locks. Pretend none of this matters.”
I stop at the door. Don’t turn around. Can’t.
“It matters,” I say. The words come out rough. “That’s why I have to go.”
I walk out before she can answer and head to the stairwell. Check the exits. Check the fire escape.
Routine. Protocol. The things that make sense.
But my mind is twenty feet back, in Suite 514.
I lean against the cold concrete wall of the stairwell. Close my eyes.
The mission has changed.
It used to be about survival. About getting her from Point A to Point B.
