( Alina's POV )
The night bled into the car, a smothering darkness that wrapped itself around me like a suffocating embrace. The streetlights blurred past in slow, languid strokes, and Ethan’s face was cast in shadow as he gripped the steering wheel. The cocaine was kicking in. I could feel it, a slow, creeping buzz that made the world hum around me. My head fell against the cool glass of the window, the chill a startling contrast to the heat throbbing through my veins. Everything felt heavy but light at the same time, as though my body was floating and sinking all at once.
Silence sat thick between us. A heavy, loaded silence that said all the things we weren’t saying. My eyes traced the line of Ethan’s jaw, the way his hair fell in disheveled strands over his forehead. He was chewing h
