He crouched, meeting her eyes.
“You destroyed everything I had left with her. And now, you expect me to save you?”
She tried to grab the injector, but he jerked it back, then stood–and threw it across the room.
It clattered to the floor, far out of reach!
11:24 AM
it clattered to the floor, far out of reach.
Candice collapsed onto her side, wheezing, choking on air!!
River stared down at her.
“If I can’t get her back…” he said slowly, each word sharp as steel, “if she never forgives me, never returns to me…”
His voice dropped to a whisper.!!
“This will all be your fault.”
Candice’s vision was blurring now. Her hands scrabbled at the ground, crawling toward the far wall where the injector had landed. But River walked away.
“I should’ve known you were poison from the start, he muttered.
She could barely hear him.
“Goodbye, Candice.”
And with that, he left the room, footsteps echoing through the cold silence.
“You’re cheating.
I grinned over my shoulder, smudges of charcoal on my cheek. Joseph stood behind me, arms crossed, brow raised as he surveyed my half–finished sketch of him.
“Excuse me?” I laughed, flicking my pencil toward him. “You said to draw you how I see you.”
“I didn’t know that meant adding muscles I don’t have,” he teased, walking over. “I look like a Marvel superhero in this.”
“Maybe I see you that way,” I murmured, nudging his arm. “You did carry me out of a burning apartment like one.”
He rolled his eyes and leaned in to kiss the top of my head. “Flattery will not distract me from the truth.”
“Oh, it already did.
We both laughed
That was what our days had become–light, playful, ordinary in the most extraordinary ways. I spent momings in my studio while he worked his hospital shifts. Aftemoons were often ours–coffee runs, quiet walks, stolen kisses when no one was watching
That day, we decided to cook together”
Tm waming you now,” I said, chopping vegetables. “I burn water”
“I’m a doctor” he replied, tying an apron around his waist. “If anything goes wrong, I’m legally obligated to save you.”
We danced around each other in the kitchen, joking, bumping shoulders. When I accidentally dropped the salt, Joseph dipped his finger in it and tapped the tip of my nose.!!
“Salty” he declared.
I retaliated with flour on his cheek.
Twenty minutes later, dinner was a mess, the counter looked like a battlefield, but we were laughing too hard to care. We ate by the window, legs tangled under the table, the city lights flickering beyond the glass.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
“For what?”
“For this. For giving me something I didn’t think I’d have again.”
He reached out, took my hand. “Allison, you gave it to yourself. I just showed up for the best part.“8
Later that night, I sat on the edge of the bed, watching him unbutton his shirt.
“Joseph?”
He looked up
“Do you ever think we rushed into this?”
He smiled, sitting beside me. “All the time.”
My eyes widened. “Wait, seriously?“}]
“Yes,” he chuckled, brushing my hair behind my ear. “But not because it feels wrong. Because it feels so right, it scares me.”
I touched his face gently, feeling the stubble beneath my fingertips. “You always know the right thing to say,”
Tm just saying the truth.”
lips found mine–slow, certain. The kiss deepened, pulling us into the sheets, into the soft rhythm of two people who weren’t afraid to love anymore.
There were no ghosts in that room. No pain.
Only skin and whispers, only laughter muffled by kisses.
Only us.
The next morning. I was painting in the studio, dressed in one of Joseph’s oversized shirts and humming to myself when he walked in with coffee.
“Freshly brewed,” he announced. “Two sugars, splash of milk.”
“You are dangerously good at this.”
“I aim to impress.”
He kissed my temple and watched as I worked.
“What are you painting?”
“I don’t know yet,” I said, looking at the canvas. “But it feels… peaceful.
“Then you’re painting us.”
I looked at him, smiling. “Maybe I am.”
We spent the afternoon lying on the couch, me reading, him napping with his head in my lap. I traced the shape of his face with my fingers as he slept, marveling at how calm he looked–how much safer I felt
It was almost sunset when my phone buzzed I
I reached for it lazily, expecting a text from my professor or a gallery update.
But it wasn’t either
12
“What are you painting
don’t know
Then you’re planting us
sad locking of the camps. But it feels peacefu
afternoon
ooked him, smiling Maybe lam
We spent the fingers
moon lying on the couch, me reading him nacping with his head in my lap. I traced the shape of his face with my
he set maneling at how calm he looked–how much safer I felt.
sunset when my phone bussed. I
for it lolly expecting a text from my professor or a gallery Lodecal
But it wasn’t either!
Unknown: Number: “You’re going to pay for everything You ruined my life. I will not let you have River again.“7
My blood can cold. I
I ser oright so suddenly the Joseph sired. “Allison? What’s wrong?
I don’t answer
jste message, heart pounding in my chest. I read it once. Then again
I knew that tone. That venom!
It could only be hel
Who is Joseph se un now, voice laced with concer
Tumed the screen toward him
His expression darkened
“Candice” I said query, my voice barely a breast
She knows your number?
1-1 don’t know how she got it. I changed everything” My hands were shaking. “What does she mean? Why now?”
“I
Josephs jew tightened don’t like this. She sounds unhinged.”
1 bit my lip, trying to stay calm. But the words echoed in my head.
Why now?s
Had something happened?
Had River done something?
And why did it feel like they’re going to ruin my peace again?
The white walls of the hospital room were suffocating
