TW: This chapter contains mentions of assault, abuse and gore.
EDEN
The theatre is unnaturally quiet when I push through the heavy double doors. The entire place is empty.
Except for him.
Dylan is standing in the middle of the aisle, halfway down, his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans. He's wearing a black button-down rolled to the elbows, his hair pushed back, looking like he just stepped out of a cologne ad. In reality, he's in the middle of a blackmail scheme. When he sees me, he smiles. It's the same smile that used to make my stomach flip back in high school.
Now it makes bile rise in my throat.
He walks towards me with easy confidence, like we're meeting for a real date.
"You came," he says softly. "I wasn't sure you would."
I don't answer. I just stand there, clutching
