Chapter 36. Stop Pretending You Care

Rae:

It’s been three months.

Three excruciatingly long, hollow months. And for the first time since the fight, since he bled all over a warehouse floor for me, S sits across from me at breakfast.

Like nothing ever happened.

Like he hasn’t been a ghost in the walls since we got back.

He smiles. Soft. Familiar. Like we didn’t go to war and come back strangers.

His voice is low, “You’re quiet this morning.”

I don’t answer. My eyes stay on the cup. The steam rising from the black surface of the coffee I don’t even want.

He pours more for me.

I reach out, hands shaking slightly. And that’s when it happens.

The ceramic slips.

Shatters against the edge of the table. Hot liquid splashes across my thighs. A sting shoots up my leg. Sharp. Angry. Two fingers bleed where the shards cut in.

S shoots up from his chair. “Rae—shit. Let me see—”

I jerk away.

“Don’t touch me!”

He stumbles backward, caught off gu