It had been a month. A long, exhausting, soul-sucking month.
Sasha hadn't spoken to Stella since that night, not a call, not a text, not even a glance at her contact. She missed her best friend, yes. But she also remembered that haunting moment, the disgust in her stomach, the betrayal thick in her throat when she slapped her across the face and told her they were done.
Everything had changed since then.
No more working late nights, no more dim bar lights and rude customers shoving bills into her hand while their eyes lingered where they shouldn't. Her mother had threatened to die-literally, she had said those exact words: "I would rather die than watch you waste yourself in a bar."
Sasha remembered her mother's trembling voice, the tear-lined eyes, the shaking hands that cupped her fa
