Love with a twist

most laughable-she'd worked late again, driven by a last-minute client crisis, but she still stopped to pick up Marcus's favorite pad thai from the

quietly, thinking sh

he lights were dim, but she could see a trail of a jacket,

mach ti

t, voice stea

lade. She walked past the kitchen and int

n she s

ce college, in lingerie that Raina had helped

stutt

wardly tugging on his pants. Glory didn't even flinch-ju

tarted, "this isn

ds shook. She dropped the takeout on th

ver come home before nine. Y

?" Raina spat, voice r

ou weren't really present anymore, Raina. Mayb

efused to let them fall-not i

, voice low and dea

gret flickering in his eye

t o

em. Silence rushed in like

chill of the marble tile grounding her as her

ought she knew ha

re was onl

-

till frozen on the floor. The smell of spilled noodles and soy sauce mixed

the glass of the microwave startled her-eyes wide and red-rimmed, lips trembling, her hai

chest remained-a raw ache, sharp and unrelenting. She had fought so hard to build this life. The long ni

r Sharon's number, then Linda's. But she didn't want comfort.

g moment before tugging it off and placing it on the sink. It clinked gently aga

d out of her.

oat. She couldn't stay here. Not in the space that s

-

at Night

attoo parlor. She'd passed it a hundred times but never gone in. Tonight, she

f the bar, shrugged off her coat

sip burn

d dulled

en she no

t, dark eyes, unshaven jaw, a quiet kind of gravi

ed his glass slightly i

ooked

n't ap

n the end of it. B

don't do anyt

ersonally insulted her. Reckless? He'd

the man at the bar befor

d some c

moment, then motioned t

op

led the barten

"You always drink lik

n I catch my fiancé and my

didn't react with shock o

he said. "Th

. "You going to give me some gen

here and drink wit

as a lo

ur name?"

tated.

m a tight n

inked g

t, the world blur

-