Closer Than Skin
233 Words
CHAPTER 24: Closer Than Skin
The power flickered out just after midnight.
Lena sat bolt upright in bed, her pulse hammering. The silence was too heavy, too thick. She stumbled out of her room, reaching for her phone, but it was dead—completely drained.
Jay’s footsteps found her in the hallway. “Stay behind me.”
He moved like a shadow—silent, precise, one hand brushing the wall for balance, the other holding the cold weight of a gun.
They reached the living room, only to find the door slightly ajar.
Jay’s mouth tightened. “Someone was here.”
Lena’s throat tightened. “What do they want?”
“You,” he said bluntly. “To control me.”
She wanted to deny it, but the truth sat too loud between them. She was no longer a bystander in Jay’s broken world.
Later, after the police left and the door was reinforced, Lena stood in the doorway of his room, unsure of where to go.
Jay looked at her. “You can sleep here. If you want.”
Her bare feet padded across the floor like a quiet surrender. She slid into his bed, stiff at first, unsure.
He lay beside her—close but not touching.
Minutes passed.
Then, slowly, his hand brushed hers under the covers.
It wasn’t about lust.
It was about needing someone there in the dark.
- Writer
