Avery:
The alarm went off too early. Too sharp. Too normal.
I blinked against the weak light pouring in from the curtains, my body slow to respond, my heart already aching from the knowledge that I’d have to leave him for the day.
Cruz was still asleep, his face turned toward me on the pillow. Peaceful for once. The tightness around his jaw loosened. Lips parted slightly, a shadow of scruff along his chin. One arm stretched across the bed, reaching for me.
I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to break whatever spell held us in that quiet, suspended warmth. But time didn’t care.
I got up gently, padded across the floor to the bathroom, the cold tiles grounding me in reality. Today was the beginning of the end. My last week at the hospital. After that—something new. Something dangerous an
