[Ava's POV]
The silence after Rhett’s words felt heavier than any hangover. Last night wasn’t a mistake. At least not to me.
It spun around my mind like smoke, coiling, wrapping, sinking. The more I tried to shake it off, the deeper it clung, until my chest ached with something sharp, something I couldn’t name. I pressed the cold glass of lemon juice against my lips, desperate for something bitter, something that might burn away the heat still crawling across my skin.
But it didn’t work. I could still feel Rhett’s mouth on my throat, still remember the weight of his body pressing mine into the mattress, the way my walls—both inside me and around me—fell apart piece by piece until there was nothing left but need. I hated myself for it. I hated that my body remembered more than my mind wa
