I ignored the texts all afternoon.
Every time the phone lit up on the bedside table I turned it face down without reading. I tried to nap. I tried to read a book. I tried to stare at the wall until the words on the screen stopped mattering. None of it worked. By late afternoon the ache between my legs had returned, low and steady, the same deep pull that had already gotten me into more trouble than I could handle.
I stayed in my room through dinner. When Ethan knocked and asked if I wanted to eat with him I told him I had a headache. He left food outside the door. I did not touch it.
Night came. The house grew quiet. I heard Ethan’s study door close. I heard Daniel’s footsteps faded as he enters his room. Still the ache stayed. It got worse the longer I lay there. My body remembered the
