Kain Locke
The water ran hot.
Too hot, probably, but I didn't move. I just stood there under the shower, letting it beat down on my shoulders, soaking into my skin like it could wash away everything I was feeling. My eyes stayed shut, forehead resting lightly against the wall. The steam curled around me, thick and silent.
I was exhausted.
Not the kind that sleep could fix. The kind that came from feeling too much. All at once.
Kael's face kept replaying in my mind, those eyes, that anger. But more than that, they hurt.
God.
It wasn't just rage in his expression. He looked… wounded.
Like I had betrayed him somehow, and he didn't know how to deal with it except by lashing out.
That slap? That wasn't about Alec.
Not really.
That whole moment wasn't about who handed me chips, or who said what. It was about something deeper.
And I was the one who lit the match.
The water hit my back harder as I shifted, leaning into the tile.
