I didn’t want to leave…but I had to.
If I stayed, I would never see Raven again. She would never forgive me for wanting to be with him. Our relationship would break apart, and we wouldn’t see each other anymore, even if we were free.
And she was the person I loved most in this world.
My cheeks mirrored the window in front of me, my tears drops of rain. My dress was soaked and my skin was cold, but once I took it off, it would really be over. I would be back to my normal clothes, my normal makeup, smelling like cheap perfume and crappy hairspray.
I wouldn’t smell like him anymore.
It would be like it never happened.
The apartment door opened and closed.
I inhaled a deep breath and quickly worked my fingers over my face, wiping away the tears, fixing the running makeup, doing my best to hide a heartbreak I shouldn’t feel.
Her footsteps sounded up the stairs. “Melanie?”
“In here.” I forced a smile that was so numb I couldn’t feel it.
But I didn’t have to because she looked as devastated as I did. She sat on the chair beside me and inhaled a deep breath, releasing it as a long sigh. She didn’t have tears the way I did, but the heartbreak glistened in her eyes. She cleared her throat and pushed it away like it’d never been there in the first place. Her hand reached for mine and she held it on my thigh, looking into my face as the rain poured down outside, as the sound became louder against the rooftop and the window.
“You okay?” I whispered.
After a long pause, she gave a nod. “Yeah. You?”
“Yeah…” It was the first time I’d breathed air as a free woman, but I felt like I would never be okay again.