Mia
When I open my eyes, everything is hazy for a moment. My mind is clouded, and my body is still heavy with sleep. Then the world sharpens: the room, the bed, and the lingering scent of him in the air.
And my heart sinks.
Reality crashes over me in one swift, merciless wave—a cold tide tightening around my chest until it hurts. I’m here. In this house. In his house. It wasn’t a dream. I can’t wake up and run away.
I push myself up, my hands gripping the sheets as if they could ground me. I bite my lip hard, a desperate attempt to swallow down the knot rising in my throat, to hold back the damn burning in my eyes.
I’m alone.
Jaxon’s side of the bed is empty. Cold. I reach out, fingertips brushing the space where he had been, as if I could still find some trace of his warmth, some pr
