Page 126 of Ghosted

This one feels worse than the hungry ones.

Those I know what to do with.

This one gets under my ribs.

When she pulls back, her forehead rests against mine for a second.

“I chose you,” she whispers.

Everything in me stops.

I don’t think she means to say it.

At least not outloud, but she does, and for one second, the whole world narrows down to blue light, chlorine, and Alice’s breath against my mouth.

She kisses me again, softer this time, and when she pulls away, I let her go even though every fucked-up part of me wants to pull her right back.

For a second, neither of us moves.

The pool is quiet around us, water shifting in lazy ripples against the tile, chlorine drying tight on my skin while Alice looks at me with something tired and unreadable on her face.

Then my eyes flick to the clock on the wall.

Fuck.

The warehouse.

Alice sees it before I say anything, and her mouth tightens, but she doesn’t look surprised.

“You have to go,” she says.

I look back at her. “Alice⁠—”

“Don’t.” She lifts a hand, cutting me off before I can turn this into another argument. “Just go.”

“I don’t want to leave you here.”

Her laugh is quiet and sharp, but there’s no real bite left in it. “Yeah, well, I don’t want to need you to stay.”

Fuck that hurts.

She pushes wet hair back from her face and steps toward the shallow end, arms wrapping around herself as she glances toward the locker rooms.

“I’m going to shower, get dressed, and walk home.”

“No.”

Her eyes cut to mine. “Jagger.”

“It’s late.”

“I know what time it is.” She steps closer, close enough that I can see the water still clinging to her lashes, the exhaustion under her eyes, the way she’s holding herself together by force. “Go deal with whatever this is, Jagger. Just don’t pretend you’re staying because of me, and don’t pretend you’re leaving because of me either.”

“I fucking hate this.” For a second, all I can do is stare at her.

Then she reaches up and touches my jaw, quick and careful, like she doesn’t want to give herself too much time to think about it.

“Go,” she says. “I can get home on my own.”