The morning after was a haze. Claire’s head throbbed, not just from the alcohol, but from the weight of the decisions she had made. She lay in the tangled mess of sheets, the room still dim with the light barely creeping through the blinds. Her body ached in places she hadn’t known could hurt, but it wasn’t the physical pain that had her frozen. It was the silence between them.
Lucas was still there, his arm draped lazily over her waist, his breath steady and deep, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that everything had shifted. That night… had it been worth it? The question gnawed at her, clawing at her from the inside.
She slowly turned her head to look at him, his jaw sharp and his dark hair messy from sleep. For a moment, she wondered if he was still asleep. But then, his eyes opened,
