TESSA
I wiped my eyes with the heel of my hand. The room felt too full of his scent, so I slipped out quietly.
The hallway was still, painted in soft gray dawn light leaking through the tall windows. My footsteps echoed faintly as I walked, each one feeling like I was moving farther from myself.
I just wanted to go home. Home—though even that word didn’t mean much anymore. But anywhere else was better than here.
I was almost at the main door when his voice broke through the quiet.
“There you are.”
I froze.
Rowan was standing there, a little bit breathless, eyes fixed on me. The silence that stretched between us was deafening.
I wanted so badly to close the distance. To touch him. I wanted to feel his arms around me again, even if it meant pretending for just a moment that everythi
