Five minutes. That’s all it was after Mason said it. The longest five minutes of my life. My body was a wreck, aching and humming, and I just stumbled back to Lily’s room in a daze. I heard the front door slam, Lily leaving for good this time. The sound. It should've been a relief. But it wasn't. It was just a prelude. The house was quiet again, but this silence wasn't empty. It was filled with him. With us.

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I woke up tangled in sheets that smelled of him, my body marked in ways that made my skin flush just thinking about it. The morning was a new...