Dominic
My head throbbed in that dull, familiar way that told me I’d pushed myself too hard again. Madelyn would have noticed immediately if she were around. She always did. She would have pressed her fingers against my temples without asking, complained that I never listened when she told me to slow down, and somehow still made me feel better while pretending she was annoyed. The thought came uninvited, settled deep, and refused to leave.
It had been a whole week.
A whole f*****g week of coming home to a house that felt too large and too quiet, of waking up without her voice beside me, of reaching across the bed out of habit and finding nothing but cold sheets. I didn’t like how quickly my body had noticed her absence. It irritated me, that dependence, even as it gnawed at me.
The con
