Chapter 1
The war started the next morning without either of us saying a single word.
I woke up, stared at my open drawer for a long minute, and then reached past my own clothes for one of Leo’s old band T-shirts. The fabric was soft and faded from years of washes. It hung almost to my knees and slipped off one shoulder no matter how I adjusted it. I didn’t put a bra on. I walked into the kitchen like this was completely normal, hair still messy from sleep, bare legs, and poured coffee while he stood at the stove scrambling eggs.
His eyes flicked down once. Just once. The look lasted maybe half a second, but I felt it land like a touch. Then he turned back to the pan like nothing had changed.
I felt a tiny, mean spark of victory.
That afternoon he came back from his run and decided to
