“Right.” He smiles. “Stay warm.” Then he’s gone.
The door closes, and just like that, the bar is quiet.
Not empty quiet.
Different quiet.
The kind that settles when the whole town disappears indoors at once, when the outside world gets too loud and everything inside goes still in response.
The wind presses harder now, a low, constant sound against the building, the storm no longer something in the distance but something right on top of us.
I lift the last chair onto the table, my gaze drifting to the windows again, to the way the snow blurs everything beyond them, swallowing the road, the buildings, the familiar edges of town until it all looks the same.
My heart tightens at the thought of not being able to reach Mason if something happens.
And before I can stop myself, I pull out my phone and call my mom.
It rings.
And rings.
My chest tightens while I wait, listening to it like maybe this time she’ll pick up, like maybe she’ll just say my name and sound like herself again.
Voicemail.
Of course.
I don’t leave one.
I swallow hard, staring at the screen for a second longer before hanging up.
Part of me wants to call again.
The other part already knows how that ends.
I slip my phone back into my pocket, pushing the worry down where it won’t slow me down.
And the thought of being stuck in an apartment with Dex…
That’s different.
Scary. Not in a he’ll kill me kind of way.
In a I don’t trust my heart or my body around him kind of way.
Because of yesterday, the way he looked at me, the way he touched me, the way my body reacted like it didn’t get a say in the matter…
That hasn’t gone away.
If anything, being trapped here with him makes it louder.
Closer.
Harder to ignore.
I take out my phone and shoot Mason a text.
Me:you ok? get inside if you’re not already
