Chapter Six – Blood in the Quiet
Hazel didn't sleep.
Not well.
Her eyes opened every hour as if her body was on watch, guarding something sacred and shameful. The sun found her wrapped in the same blanket from the rooftop, curled like a secret in the corner of her bed.
Samuel's side was already cold.
She got up slowly. Moved like a woman trying not to wake the guilt beneath her skin.
At Snowdrift, she burned the coffee. Twice. Mara noticed.
"You good?" she asked, hands on her hips.
Hazel nodded, forced a smile. "Just tired."
But her hands shook when she opened the register. Her throat tightened every time the door chimed. She waited for him. But he didn't come.
Not that morning.
Not by noon.
Not even after the rain returned—light and soft, like apology.
It was nearly closing when she found him.
Outside. Across the street. Leaning against a rain-darkened car, coat soaked, eyes unreadable.
Henry.
He said nothing when she approached. Just opened the passenger door.
She didn't ask where they were going.
Didn't care.
They drove in silence. City lights stuttered across the windshield like dying stars. The air between them pulsed with something unspeakable.
He pulled into a garage beneath a tall glass tower. One of his. Of course.
The elevator ride was slow. Heavy. Hazel didn't look at him.
The suite was cathedral-quiet. Warm wood floors, black marble counters, a piano untouched by dust. But she only noticed the way he stood behind her once the door clicked shut.
Like he was afraid she'd vanish if he blinked.
"I shouldn't be here," she said softly.
"I know."
"Then why—"
"Because you came," he whispered, voice barely above breath.
The kiss this time wasn't soft.
It was real.
Her back hit the wall. His hands found her hips like they'd always belonged there. And she kissed him like she wanted to erase every line between right and ruin.
But when it broke, when their lips parted, when silence filled the room—
She didn't smile.
And neither did he.
Later, as she stepped into her apartment, her phone buzzed with a message from Samuel.
"I miss you lately. Everything okay?"
She stared at the screen.
Then, without replying, she dropped the phone face-down on the counter.
Her lips still ached.
Not from the kiss.
From the truth it forced her to feel.