The memory would not leave me alone. Even hours later, I could still feel it pressing against the inside of my skull with suffocating clarity, replaying itself every time my thoughts slowed enough to let it through.
Me kissing him.
Kessler’s hands against my face.
The sound of alarms screaming behind us.
And those final words… They found us.
I sat at the edge of the bed in complete silence, staring at the floor while dim light spilled beneath the door, but no amount of darkness could quiet what had started happening inside me. Because the worst part was no longer the memories themselves.
It was the emotions attached to them.
I remembered how he looked at me.
How he touched me.
How safe I felt near him.
And every recovered feeling made the hatred harder to hold onto. The realizati
