Boomerang shrieks behind me, hot on my heels like he’s chasing down guilt itself. Like he knows what I did.
“Stop it,” I choke out, swiping at tears and quickening my pace before I trip over him. I barely make it two steps before I slam into something solid.
Not something.Someone.
Cameron.
Still dressed in his operative gear—black vest, chest rig, face shadowed with the balaclava and concern. He arches a brow, and even though I can only see his eyes I know he’s not impressed, like I’ve just walked into a fight I wasn’t invited to.
Exactly what I need right now.
“Excuse me,” I mutter, venom laced with shame. I push past him, trying to pretend I’m not seconds from falling apart.
His voice cuts through me. “What happened?”
He’s already scanning the hallway behind me, alert, one hand twitching like muscle memory’s preparing for violence.
“Nothing… I just…” My voice breaks before the sentence even finds its shape. “Ugh. Never mind.”
My thoughts are a blur, spinning too fast to hold. Regret gnaws at my insides like I deserve this unravelling. Because maybe I do.
I went looking for answers, and now I’m the one who feels haunted.
“Why are you crying, Nell?”
His voice is rough with concern. A gloved hand lifts to my face, thumb brushing away a tear that betrays more than I’m ready to give.
But he can’t wipe this away—not really.
Because we both know the truth.
I’m not the girl he wants. Just the shadow filling space until she returns.
A placeholder. Always have been and always will be.
“Don’t touch me.” The words rip from my throat before I can stop them, brittle and panicked.
And then I’m spiralling.
My chest tightens, the air thick like it’s turned on me. His touch lingers like heat branded into my skin, and his scent—leather, steel, memory—is everywhere.
It wraps around me like a noose.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think.
And still, he’s watching me like he doesn’t understand what he’s done—how easy it is for someone like him to drown someone like me without even trying.
Before I even register what’s happening, he’sthere—arms braced on either side of me, body caging mine in, his face so close I could breathe him in if I wasn’t already suffocating.
My heart jackhammers in my chest, every thud louder than the last. I can’t catch my breath. Can’t slow the freefall.
“Breathe, Nell.” His voice is low, almost brushing skin—calm where mine is chaos. The heat of him crowds my senses, it’s too much, too close.
He needs to back off. Needs to stop making mefeellike this.
“I said leave me alone!” I snap, the words shaking with something unhinged. I shove him—hard, again and again—my fists slamming into his chest in a frenzy that feels more like survival than rage.
It’s not that he doesn’t fight back—it’s that he doesn’t move.
