The door clicked behind me.
The air was warm, thick—alive. I stood still in Nina’s hallway. She asked if I wanted something to drink. I didn’t answer. I watched her walk away, hips swaying like a metronome counting down to sin.
I was past wanting.
The Beast stirred. He hadn’t fed properly in days. He’d been leashed. Denied. I’d done my best to soothe him with memories, with thoughts, with restraint. But now… now I was here. And so was she.
She called from the kitchen, teasing. “Still brooding?”
Still deciding, I thought.
My fingers curled. The hallway grew longer. Every step I took toward her was one I’d already taken in my mind a hundred times. And every time, it ended the same way. With silence. With relief. With punishment.
She turned. Smiled. Her skin glowed from the overhead light. She tilted her head. “Are you okay?”
I wasn’t.
But I smiled back anyway. “Never better.”
There’d be no storm outside tonight. No flash. No thunder. No weather warning to cloak the chaos I would bring.
Just me. Just her. Just us. Again.
Only this time… I’d make sure it meant something.
[from SEETHINGS, downloadable and free for a limited time].
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