I wake to sunlight stabbing through my thin curtains. Vicious and uninvited. The kind that doesn't warm you so much as interrogate you.
My head throbs with a pulse of its own, beating behind my eyes while my throat feels scraped raw, and my mouth tastes like I spent the night chewing metal shavings instead of sleeping.
I blink against the glare, wanting to roll over and disappear, but the day has already started without me. Loud, intrusive, completely indifferent to the fact that I went through hell twelve hours ago.
I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling, trying to convince myself that last night was real. That Adrian's voice actually carved through me. That I actually walked out of his penthouse carrying checks that feel like handcuffs.
I shove the blanket off and sit up slowly
