KARIN
The silk sheets beneath me were cold.
Cold in a way that settled into the skin and stayed there. Cold like the man who had left them tangled and marked with another woman's scent.
It was still there. Heavy. Sharp. Not mine. The smell clung to the fabric, to the air, to my breath.
I pushed my face deeper into the pillow, pressing hard, as if I could erase it. As if I could disappear into the mattress and not hear what came from the bathroom.
Rowan's voice carried through the space. Low. Rough. Satisfied. Her sounds followed. Soft. Broken. Full.
They echoed in my chest.
Those sounds used to make me hope. Used to make me wait. Used to make me believe they belonged to me.
They never had. Fool.
The word formed slow and bitter, like something rotten I had swallowed long ago.
I f
