Something is changing.
Jonathan wasn’t expecting him.
Niko.
Even thinking his name feels wrong.
And Artemis…
My chest tightens.
Was that recognition?
I don’t know.
But deep down, I feel it.
Whatever is coming… it’s going to demand more from me than I have left.
Mind. Body. Soul.
I sink onto the edge of the bed, shoulders slumping, breath uneven.
Two weeks.
Two weeks since I last heard Trey’s voice.
Since his laughter filled a room.
Since his arms wrapped around me every night, pulling me close like nothing in the world could touch us there.
The only place I can see him clearly now is in my dreams.
Where he isn’t bleeding.
Where he isn’t fading.
Where he’s warm. Alive.
Holding me the way he always did.
My face buried in the hollow of his throat, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear.
That’s where I want to be.
There’s nothing else I crave.
I peel off my clothes slowly, exhaustion dragging at every movement, and reach for the oversized black t-shirt draped over the chair. It falls to my thighs as I pull it on.
It isn’t him.
But it will have to do.
A temporary shield against the emptiness.
I crawl beneath the covers, curling onto my side, pulling a pillow tightly to my chest.
I close my eyes.
