The air was thick with the scent of rain, the storm from earlier still clinging to the streets like a bad memory. I barely felt the cold. I barely felt anything.
Dottie’s voice still rang in my ears. Asher and I are getting married.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream. I wanted to set fire to that f*****g hall and watch it burn.
Instead, I stood frozen in the doorway, my heart beating too fast, my lungs refusing to work properly. Asher still hadn’t looked away from me. That was the worst part. The way he just stood there, his expression unreadable, like he was waiting for me to crack apart in front of him.
Demi shifted beside me. “We should go.”
I didn’t move.
“Ava,” she whispered, low and urgent. “We need to—”
The room tilted.
A sudden wave of nausea surged through me so violent
