GRAYSON

I stormed out of the room, my steps heavy with anger, frustration, and something else I couldn’t quite name. How the hell did everything slip so far out of control? One minute, I was trying to patch things up with Ariana, and the next, I was choking her. My own hands—my own damn hands—had nearly killed her.

The echo of her gasps, the terror in her eyes—it cut through me like a knife. I wanted to go back, to make it right, but a part of me knew it wasn’t that simple. I wasn’t that simple.

I couldn’t just let her walk away from everything I was. She wanted...