nk in

like a velvet curtain and makes everything else fade. Below us, the city moved on. Cars blinked i

like we weren't p

s pocket, staring out over the skyline like he owned it. He probably did. Or at least part of it. H

ur Tuesday girls

gging at the corner of his mouth. "On

ly. "You notic

," he said, tilting his head. "It was either All Too Well or a

. "You pay too

say when they're a

press. Just sipped his drink

uietly. "The kind who leaves with a str

nk in

like a velvet curtain and makes everything else fade. Below us, the city moved on. Cars blinked i

like we weren't p

s pocket, staring out over the skyline like he owned it. He probably did. Or at least part of it. H

ur Tuesday girls

gging at the corner of his mouth. "On

ly. "You notic

," he said, tilting his head. "It was either All Too Well or a

. "You pay too

say when they're a

press. Just sipped his drink

ly. "The kind who leaves with a stranger. W

, but fully, like my words had pulled him b

re," he replied, voi

rising to my cheeks. "I just...

d, stepping a little closer. "Maybe that this night doesn't mean

front of me now, his glas

e said, softer. "A

d up slightly, brushing my hair into my face, and he reached ou

lingered

't pul

u care?" I

into that club looking like you wanted to set the world on f

n, grazing my jaw, then

u're the aftermath. The smoke in the lungs. The ash

ng shuddered out of me. I hated how muc

idn't s

stop

ed in, I met

the kind of kiss you give someone when words won't reach the place that

ke he didn't know where to hold me first. I curled my fingers into his shi

ard, breathless,

door behind us an

. The city, the skyline

the pull of clothes being undone, the electric

and reverent now, like he was

p," he murmured

idn

oul

wasn't thinking about Caleb. Or Ella. O

as

o

idn't know but so

wn like I was something breakable, something holy. Then stripped away the rest of my pain with ev

just

I wa

er version of ourselves untouched by betrayal and scars. He learned my bo

shed. It was

every

we didn

shadows, the city still glowing beyond th

p. My cheek rested against his chest

I let myself believe that maybe-

t

was the b