Page 16

The two women are gone. The newlyweds too. Even the bartender’s AWOL.

It’s just us.

And the ocean.

And… crickets.

‘Axel?’ I whisper. ‘Say something… please.’

He turns. Face set in stone.

‘You have no idea what you’re asking for.’

His gravel-like voice scrapes along every exposed nerve I’ve got, but he’s wrong.

‘I do.’

Because now I’ve put Axel into the equation, I can’t imagine swapping him out.

‘No, Taylor.’ Hard eyes pierce mine. ‘You don’t.’

And then he walks.

Silent. Final.

And I stay frozen, watching him go, wondering how something that was never mine can hurt this much to lose.

4

AXEL

I don’t stop until I’m in my room. Door slammed. Locked tight. Only then do I let myself breathe.

Because the urge to give her what she wants, sayyes– roars through my veins.

I still can’t wrap my head around it. She askedme. Of all people.

No strings. No co-parenting. Just your DNA.

Like that makes it okay. Like she ain’t asking for the one thing I should never give.

My DNA is poison.

My father was a monster. My mother, just as bad. They’d sooner raise a fist than a kid. I never met my grandparents, but I doubt they broke the mould.

And now Taylor wants to passthaton?

But when she asked, the image slammed into me: Taylor. Pregnant. Round with my child. Primal. Bone-deep.

And saying no? I couldn’t.

So I walked.

Told myself space would clear my head.

Rid me of the urge.

Like hell it has…