Cruz:
I woke up with a knot in my stomach.
The kind that sits like a rock in your gut and doesn’t move, no matter how deep you breathe or how long you stare at the ceiling, willing the sun not to rise.
But it did.
And today wasn’t just any day.
Today was the day.
The day I dragged Avery—my light, my calm, my impossible f*****g exception—straight into the belly of the beast.
She was still sleeping next to me, curled under my arm, her breath soft against my ribs. One hand tucked under her cheek, the other resting on my chest.
That’s what scared me most.
Because I’d let her in. Piece by piece. Word by word. Touch by touch. Every time I should’ve walked away, I stepped closer instead. Until suddenly she wasn’t just part of my nights—she was in my mornings, in my routines, in my goddam
