Page 22

Good. At least they won’t stop me now.

Adeline is already waiting when I step into the café we usually visit. Her blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun, and a scarf is wound loosely around her neck. She’s scrolling through her phone, her lips twitching with some silent amusement. Probably some ridiculous meme. The sight brings a pang of nostalgia I can’t afford to entertain right now.

“Hey, Dani!” Adeline’s face lights up when she spots me. She waves, drawing a few glances from nearby tables. Subtlety has never been her strong suit.

She’s always had this infectious energy that makes everything feel just a little less heavy.

She lives in Bay Ridge, a neighborhood in Brooklyn with a cozy, small-town vibe that’s a far cry from the chaotic, darker parts of New York I’m stuck in. She teaches kindergarten, and as far as I can tell, she’s genuinely happy doing it.

I can’t remember exactly how we met. It was probably something dumb like I was sitting by myself at some coffee shop,sketching, lost in my usual miserable thoughts, and she just walked up and started talking.

She wasn’t bothered by my grumpy silence. I can’t even say how it happened, but somehow, she became this constant in my life. Even when everything around me seemed to crumble, Adeline didn’t change. She’d laugh at my sarcasm, crack jokes about my tendency to brood, and when I was at my worst, she’d drag me out of my cave just to remind me that life wasn’t all black-and-white.

I never really understood her optimism. Maybe because it was so…foreign. In a life where every smile felt like it was hiding something, hers always seemed real, even when it shouldn’t have been. Maybe that’s why we worked, why we became friends. She didn’t try to fix me, didn’t try to pull me out of my darkness.

She just let me be, and that was enough.

Even though we couldn’t be more opposite. She finds joy in the little things. Things like kids’ drawings on the fridge, coffee breaks with coworkers, and buying plants that never seem to die in her apartment. Whereas I’m this walking disaster, constantly dragging myself through a mess of my own making. I can’t even imagine a life where I didn’t meet her, where she wasn’t there to balance me out, no matter how different we were.

I force a smile and slide into the chair across from her. “Hey.”

Her eyes narrow the way they always do when she’s studying me. “You look…off.”

“Off?” I grab the menu and flip it open like I care about the options.

“Yeah, off. Like you’ve been holding in a sneeze for ten minutes. What’s going on?”

I huff a laugh, more out of habit than humor. “Nothing’s going on. I’m just tired.”

She raises a brow. “Tired doesn’t usually come with a side of brooding intensity, Dani. Spill.”

I hesitate. Lying to Adeline feels like carving pieces out of myself, but what choice do I have? “I’ve just got a lot on my plate. Work stuff, life stuff. You know how it is.”

Her lips press into a line, but she doesn’t push. “Alright. But you’re telling me the truth eventually. I’ll drag it out of you if I have to.”

“I’m sure you will.” I crack a grin, the most real one I can muster.

When the waitress comes by, we order. Adeline chatters about her week while I nod along, my responses automatic. I should be paying more attention, but my mind keeps drifting back to Remo—his warning, his infuriating calm, and the way he always seems to know everything before I do.

I can’t shake the memory of his fingers inside me, moving with a knowing touch, and the taste of his lips when he kissed me, as if he was savoring every moment before he unleashed his fullest desire. The words he spoke linger in my mind, igniting a warm ache deep within me.

I’m going to fuck you until you can’t walk straight. Until all you can think about is my cock. And when you can’t take any more, I’m going to come inside you and fill you up with my cum. Mark you as mine. Would you like that, princess?

“You’re not listening,” Adeline says suddenly, cutting through my fog.

“I am!” I reply a little too quickly, but I know my voice lacks conviction.

“Okay, then what did I just say?”

I blink, scrambling. “Uh, something about your boss being an idiot?”

Her eyes narrow again. “Lucky guess. Dani, seriously, what’s going on? You’ve been weird for weeks.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m fine, Addie. I promise.”

She leans back, crossing her arms. “You’re the worst liar, you know that?”

I don’t respond. I can’t.