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Chapter One

SYDNEY

I had been sitting in the same spot for an hour

Well, at least it felt like an hour I honestly had no idea what ti I’d been i inIt shook violently, no h

My skin all over was claid at the same time Sweat tickled my palms, pooled at the base of my neck and in the hollow dip ofa fever

I should feel sick This was sickening

The house felt eerily quiet, desolate, though I knew Marcus was in the other room I hadn’t heard the evidence of his departure--the front door closing or the low ru up

He hadn’t left And ould he? Why would he be the one leaving in this scenario?

You should be leaving, Sydney Get up Run Grab your stuff and get the hell out of here

I exhaled a tre I could barely reen intake was in theseconds stretched out before I would inhale in a panic, allow s to taste the air in the roo in, then expel that breath all too quickly

I needed to go I needed to react somehow, because I hadn’t thus far

I felt nu drea fro on the floor somewhere, but it sounded miles away I couldn’t lift my head to the noise I couldn’t even remember where I had tossed it after I endured the one-sided conversation with Marcus

Endured Not participated in

Hi, and none of it sounding the least bit apologetic, his voice cold and distant, detached, final … having made the decision, his decision, while I stood there frozen

Frozen

Marcus turned on his heel and swiftly left the room I collapsed into a pile of heavy limbs on the floor, where I’d re

That was my reaction It was the only reaction I was capable of

Until the phone rang …again

So felt off It was aainst my ear

My spine stiffened in an instant I turnedhat felt like new eyes

Fresh and alert

I was up to count six of Taylor Swift singing about being young and reckless I kneas calling, and I contehting myself to my previous position, until I realized …

Shit

Shit