e getting Eli ready for bed. He was unusually chatty, perhaps still riding the sugar high from dessert, and she smiled as she listen

y and tucking him under his spaceship-theme

little star,"

moment longer, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead. Only when his breathing settled into a soft,

esh cool air to clear the dull ache that had been building inside her all even

the handle, a voice floate

rc

eagues or friends. Instinctively, she drew back, pressing herself against the wall just out of sight. She hated the feeling. The creep

timacy Elena hadn't heard directed at her for some time. "I'll figure it out. We'll

mouth, as if that could stop the heartbreak from spilling out. Every word from Marc

" Marcus continued, chuckling softly, i

Quietly, she turned away, moving as silently as a ghost across the hallway. The front door and the fresh air she so desperat

the ugly truth that had just been laid bare. She stood in the middle of the room for a long moment, stari

her chest, but the pain was too much, too fierce to be contained. She collapsed onto the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Her whole

aw, until her head pounded and h

e didn't lift her head. She couldn't. She heard the

e was casual, almost a

though it did little to hide the damage. In the dim li

her voice thin and brittle.

ess, that he might care enough to see the truth etched across her fa

of pain relief pills onto the bed near

n though she had no intention of taking the pills. There was no me

bed beside her. Within minutes, his breathing deepened, and he was

ll over again. How had they gotten here? How had the man who once made her feel lik

d the l

it ever been

s. The tears returned, slower this time, leaking from the corners of he

e would get up and plaster on a brave f

would grieve the death of t

ow knew had be

e of the room, Elena made

for Marcus, and definitel

s, somewhere deep inside her, a fragi

ne day, she would find her way out