The cold night air did nothing to clear my head. It just sharpened the ache, crystallizing my panic into a hard, cold knot in my stomach. I walked without direction, my heels clicking a frantic, irregular rhythm on the sidewalk. My eyelids burned with the image of Derek's back turned to me at the window.
I had fled from the one location I desired.
The excuse I gave about the office party was a lie, driven by a desperate need to escape. But as I walked, the idea of my empty, dark office—a space of order and control—became a siren’s call. It was neutral ground. A place with no emotional history, no expectations, and no devastatingly beautiful man looking at me with heartbreak in his eyes. A place where I could be alone and try to stitch the fragments of myself back together.
Sterling Even
