“Space.”
The word fell from my lips before I could stop it.
For a moment, I thought I had imagined it. That maybe I had only whispered it in my mind, not dared to let it out into the air where Erick could catch it with those sharp ears of his. But no—he heard it. His body froze, his eyes darkened, and the silence that followed was heavier than any silence I had ever known.
I had hurt him. I could see it in his face, though he tried to hide it. Erick was not a man easily wounded, but my words had cut him.
Still, I couldn’t take them back.
I needed it. Needed air. Needed distance. Needed time to piece together the fragments of the truth that were stabbing me from the inside out.
If I stayed close to him—if I let him hold me, kiss me, drown me in the warmth of his arms—I would never hav
