ARIA
I didn't look back.
Not even once.
Because if I did, I was afraid I'd break.
Not from his refusal to let me go, I sort of expected that. Of course Kael Roman doesn't let go. He hoards, he holds, he tightens until whatever he has left in his grip can't breathe.
But what I didn't expect… was the sick, fractured relief curling inside me like a parasite.
He didn't let me go.
He didn't want to.
And that stupid part of me—the desperate, aching, pathetic part—clung to it like it meant something. Like it meant he cared.
God. What the hell was wrong with me?
I gripped the railing of the stairs and stared up ahead at the long sprawling blocks and closed doors, refusing to let the sting in my eyes fall. I should be furious. He dismissed my feelings like they were nothing. He used my own words to cut me. And still,
Still I was wondering what I even wanted from him.
Do I want him to love me? Do I want him to beg?
Do I just want to feel like I matter?
