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Her body reacts in response, and she fidgets as she sits.
“My breaking point was when a child from Lincoln City arrived at our military island. That’s when this all started.”
“Holy shit,” Ava whispers.
Connor.
“This could beyourson, or even your daughter. Is this the life you want for them? Could you sleep at night, knowing your child could be ripped away from you just because of their biology?”
Hazel’s mouth falls open in shock.
He did this because of Connor. All of this.
Why hadn’t he told her?
He thought you wouldn’t believe him, her inner voice whispers.You shot him down every time he tried to tell you.
“We believed he was dead,” Abel continues, and she hangs on to every word with horror. “And it was the final straw for us.Wecan’t live like this anymore. And we won’t. We refuse to.”
She’s going to vomit.
Connor, sweet Connor, dead.
A child.
She doesn’t even realize she’s sobbing until Ava comes to wrap a blanket around her. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “I’m so sorry, Hazel.”
It’s all too much.
“I’m going to grab you some more suppressants, okay?” Ava says. “When’s the last time you took some?”
Hazel shrugs. “I took the generic ones, not the ones with the emotional regulation. It’s the stuff the police gave me.”
Ava swears under her breath. “We’ll see if we can get you some more in the morning. Maybe Mom can go out.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Hazel ignores the gut feeling that her time with Ava is limited and that she will be arrested at any moment for her part in the destruction of Lincoln City.
* * *
Sleep comes easily,but her dreams are plagued withhim.
Abel inside her, his arms wrapped around her as she moans.
His stupid omelet that didn’t need to be so delicious.
His amused smile when she said something snarky.
The flutter in her stomach when he held her.
When she wakes up, the sunlight is barely creeping into the room and Ava is snoring softly on the other side of the bed.
Pepper. Earth. Pine.
The ghost of his scent lingers around her, and she could cry at how real it feels.
No matter how hard she scrubs her body, she can’t seem to rid herself of his essence.
