Ella
It was Epoch.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Through the haze of exhaustion, the heat of the drug, and the shame that weighed me down like chains, there he was. His presence alone sent my heart hammering in my chest, my pulse racing faster than my thoughts could follow.
Shame rushed over me in a tidal wave. I jerked my hand back instinctively, mortified at my own body, at the state I was in. I wanted to disappear into the earth, vanish completely. I couldn’t let him see me like this. Not like this—disheveled, exposed, helpless.
But my body refused to respond.
I tried to move, to pull myself away, but the moment I made any effort, it only made everything worse. The jacket I had clung to so desperately slipped entirely from my shoulders, sliding down to my waist and clinging loosely,
