I made it outside, the cool morning air hitting my flushed skin like a slap. My stomach churned as I stumbled onto the sidewalk, heart pounding like I had just escaped a crime scene. Maybe I had. Maybe last night had been a crime against my own sanity.
The city was still half-asleep, the streets bathed in that eerie, early-morning quiet. I pulled my jacket tighter around me, though the chill in my bones had nothing to do with the weather. My mind replayed everything on a torturous loop—the flashing lights, Asher’s hands on me, the way he whispered my name like a promise, like a claim.
I needed to get away. Far, far away. Preferably to another planet where I wouldn’t have to face the consequences of my own recklessness.
I barely made it half a block before my phone buzzed in my purse.
I
