Day twenty-six arrived under a steady, gray drizzle that matched the new weight in the house. Amina’s text from the night before still sat on Elias’s phone: “Next week, same time. We keep talking like this — even when it’s hard.” No emoji. No “looking forward to it.” Just the quiet promise to keep showing up.
Elias had been restless all night. I woke to find him already watching me, his arm locked tightly around my waist, his body curled possessively against mine. His hazel eyes carried the shadow of last night’s conversation, but the moment I stirred, his hand slid between my thighs, fingers stroking through the slick remnants he had left inside me.
“I need you,” he murmured, voice low and rough. “Before tonight. Before she comes back and we have to keep walking that line between honest
