Baylees POV
The second I stir awake, I know he’s not here.
My arms reach for him before my eyes even open—searching, grasping, desperate.
Cold sheets. Silence. Emptiness.
My heart slams into my ribs. I sit up so fast the room spins.
Where is he? Where the hell is he?
It feels like a piece of me has been torn out. Like someone reached into my chest and ripped out the warmest part of me—the part that hums and purrs and breathes with Caden’s energy.
My body aches. Not the way it did last night. No… this is different. This is wrong. My skin tingles with absence, like it’s been dipped in static but can’t find its source. The sparks still live under my flesh, but they’re frantic now, panicked, darting around with nowhere to land.
I press my palms to my chest. “Caden…”
I don’t cry. Not y
