Viola McCoyI blink once. Then again. My feet stop moving, but my heart won’t. No. No, this can’t be happening. That’s not… My lips part but no words come out. Logan? He’s just standing there under the warm morning light. The hood still covers over half his face, but I don’t need the light to confirm it. I know those eyes. I’ve spent enough time trying to look away from them.“Viola,” he says. It’s just my name. Two syllables. But it hits me like a confession. I feel like I’m trapped in a slow-motion dream. The kind that should end with me waking up in a cold sweat and realizing everything is fine. But everything is not fine. The wind is cool, but I feel heat spreading across my chest, crawling up my neck. My pulse is erratic, thumping. The bouquet. The notes. All of it... him. “You’re Romeo112?” I manage to say.He doesn’t answer immediately. His silence is loud. “I was going to tell you,” he finally says. I want to laugh, but my chest tightens instead. I cross my a
Logan Reynolds She walks away, and I let her.I stand there like some kind of statue, cemented to the spot. I didn’t expect her to smile. I didn’t expect her to fall into my arms or whisper thank you in that low voice that’s haunted me every night since Paris.But I didn’t expect this... finality either.That look in her eyes, it gutted me. Disappointment and betrayal wrapped in that sharp, beautiful sadness only Viola McCoy knows how to wear so gracefully.God, I’m such a fool.I shove my hands in my pockets and start walking, not even sure where I’m headed. Just need to move. Everything she said is playing in my head on a loop.“I made room for you in places I didn’t know were empty.”And I filled them with lies. Cowardice dressed up as kindness. I thought I was helping. That’s the part that really kills me. I told myself I was doing a good thing. I watched her quietly spiral in that marriage, watched her hide behind polite smiles. And I thought, what if I gave her something goo
Viola McCoy I’ve been avoiding Logan like he’s the plague and I’m patient zero trying not to relapse.At work, I pretend like he doesn’t exist. I don’t look in his direction during meetings. I take the stairs just to avoid running into him in the elevator. I even wear sunglasses at lunch so I can keep my eyes on my plate and not the damn glass wall separating his office from mine.But none of it helps. Because Logan Reynolds is still there—in the corner of my mind, in the tightness of my chest, in the stupid flutter I get every time I think about those notes.God, those notes.They were sweet and haunting and felt like safety. And, I had let myself believe in them. I let myself need them. I let them fill the quiet spaces my marriage left hollow.But it wasn’t Romeo112 I fell for, it was Logan. And that’s the problem. Because Logan is wrong for me. He makes me feel. Too deeply, too quickly, too much. And I can’t afford to feel too much.Not when my life is already barely ho
Logan Reynolds She drove off the second she saw me. Didn’t even hesitate. Just got in her car and peeled out like I was something she needed to escape from.It’s been like that for days now. Viola's been avoiding me so hard, I’m starting to hate myself for even trying. No eye contact. No small talk. And the thing that stings the most? I deserve it. I held my tongue. I played it safe when I should’ve been honest. I watched her unravel and didn’t step in. I just let it happen.I've been pouring everything into work, burying myself in reports, calls, late nights at the office like productivity can drown out the ache. It doesn’t help. None of it does.She’s in my head. All the time. And when she’s not, the silence she leaves behind is louder than any noise.I pull into my driveway, grab my coat off the passenger seat and slam the door shut. The porch light’s off. Huh. That’s odd. Bonnie’s usually here, raiding my fridge and yelling at me about my lack of social life.I punch
Logan Reynolds“Hey, Logan,” she says, smiling at me like I didn’t ruin everything.It’s... weird. Sweet, but weird. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are glassy.“You alright?” I step closer, placing a steady hand on her bare shoulder. Her skin is warm and so soft.She wobbles slightly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”“You’re drunk.”“I’m no. You are.”I can’t help it, I laugh. “Still cute when you’re drunk.”A memory hits me out of nowhere. Viola drunk, barefoot on my bed, singing five different love songs off-key for hours. Just standing on the mattress, doing little twirls and holding an invisible mic. The next morning she couldn’t talk. Said her throat felt like sandpaper.My lips twitch at the memory.She starts to walk away and I follow her, because what the hell else am I supposed to do?“Vi, do you even know where you’re going?”“Obviously not,” she says with a giggle, nearly walking into a plant.We end up on a balcony. The night is quiet here, away from the hum of clinking glasse
Logan Reynolds I almost laugh at the absurdity of it. “No, silly,” I say. “You.”She looks at me. “Oh wow. The great Logan Reynolds is in love with me.”She says it like it’s a joke. Like the idea of me loving her is some hilarious concept. And I can only smile, not because it’s funny—but because she wouldn’t believe me sober. She walks back to the seat, humming some random tune, with her steps light and a little wobbly. I follow her, taking a seat beside her again. “No, for real,” I say quietly. “I love you.”“Yes, yes,” she replies with a flutter of her hand like she’s swatting away my confession. I smile again, but it’s a sad one. Because I know she wouldn’t remember. Or worse, she’d remember and convince herself she misheard. That I didn’t mean it.The wind picks up, carrying the smell of rain. It might rain tonight because it’s starting to get chilly. I shrug off my coat and drape it around her shoulders.“I’m fine,” she says, pulling it tighter anyway.“It’s chilly,” I
Viola McCoy My head is pounding. I can’t think straight as I glance between Logan and the man. I immediately rush to the bathroom and lock the door behind me. There’s a raging ache inside my skull. My head throbs relentlessly, and the spinning inside my mind is too much to handle. I feel like I’m drowning in the noise of my own thoughts. I lean over the sink, splashing cold water on my face, hoping it’ll snap me out of the haze. I stare at my reflection, wiping my face with the towel. But the moment my eyes close, I see it—“would you want to have your hands all over me?” My heart stops in my chest. I snap my eyes open, forcing myself to breathe. What the hell was that? Who did I say that to? Why can’t I remember? I hold my head in my hands, but the pain only intensifies. Minutes pass. Hours? I don’t know. Time feels irrelevant right now, just like my thoughts. I sit down on the bathroom floor, hugging my knees to my chest, trying to make sense of everything, but nothing seems to
Viola McCoy Logan starts the car, the sound of the rain intensifying as it pelts the roof. I can’t look at him. My heart is still racing, and I’m not sure if I can handle whatever it is I’m feeling right now. Why is he still here? Why did he stay when everyone else left? “You stayed behind?” My voice is shaky, and I hate it. I hate that I can’t even ask without sounding like I don’t understand why. Logan glances at me. “I saw when Julian’s car drove off, I didn’t see you next to him. Plus, you ran down the hallway and never came out, so I thought you passed out somewhere.” He was looking for me? My heart flips in my chest. I bite my lip to keep it together, but my hands still tremble in my lap. “Do you still feel cold?” he asks after a moment, glancing over at me. I shake my head, trying to act like I’m fine, but I’m not. I’m anything but fine. The rain is still hammering the car. Logan passes his coat to me, and I take it, wrapping it around my shoulders. But even the wa
Viola McCoy The spoon slips from my fingers the moment I see him.Julian.Standing at the door. The warm laughter that had just filled the room with Bonnie and Logan dies. A coldness slips into the space between us. I can feel Logan’s body shift beside me, subtle but tense.“Vi?” Julian says softly. He takes a step forward.I don’t say a word.Because I’m not sure what version of him I’m getting today. The one who kisses me on the forehead and calls me darling? Or the one who locks doors and drags me by the wrist until my ankles feel like it’d crack?My body instinctively leans closer to Logan. I don’t mean to—it’s not intentional, not performative—but it’s like my ribs remember who was there when I passed out cold in the street. My skin still burns from where the masked man grabbed me, and all I can think is Julian didn’t save me. Logan did.“I didn’t know you were here,” Julian says, eyes scanning the room now. The flowers on the nightstand. The extra chair pulled beside
Logan Reynolds I watch the nurses wheel Viola away, her body limp against the hospital stretcher. Her hair matted, her skin is pale. There’s a smear of blood on her chin, a bruise above her collarbone, and my throat feels like it’s closing up. My heart slams against my ribs, wild, like it’s trying to tear through my chest to get to her.I keep hearing that sound—her body hitting the pavement right before I caught her. One second she was knocking on my door, the next she was collapsing into my arms. I remember the way she whispered my name right before she lost consciousness. The terror in her eyes. The tremble in her voice. I’d shouted her name, trying to wake her up, to keep her with me.God.I should’ve protected her.I carry that weight now, pacing the sterile white hallway of the ER like a madman. Everything feels wrong. Off. I run a hand through my hair and look down at the faint traces of blood still on my shirt. Hers.I should’ve taken it seriously when she told me ab
Viola McCoy I’ve been extra careful since the creeper incident a few days ago, locking every door twice, double-checking the windows, sleeping with the hallway light on even though I hate the glow it casts across the wall like shadows trying to crawl in. And hopefully—God, hopefully—Julian is finally coming back from his triptonight. I told myself I’d tell him about the man lurking outside the last time. Even though deep down, I suspected... no, I feared he had something to do with it. But I couldn’t doubt him. He’s my husband. Still is. And maybe that’s the problem. Maybe that’s why the thought ever entered my head at all—that he could be behind something like that. What kind of marriage do you have when you’re afraid of your own partner?A honk blares outside, sharp and sudden, and my spine stiffens.I glance at the clock. 8:02 PM. Of course. Julian. It’s got to be him. I rise from the couch, feeling the soreness still lingering in my back from being locked in that dam
Viola McCoy The house is quiet again. Too quiet.Amirah left a few minutes ago—after tea, a lot of pacing, and promises to talk to Kendrick face-to-face. I stood by the front door, watching her drive away, arms wrapped around my waist like that might stop the tremble I didn’t want her to see. As soon as her taillights faded down the street, I closed the door and leaned my back against it, my head tipping back until it hit the wood.Silence stretches through the house.Julian’s gone. Business trip, he said, though he never told me where. No proper goodbye. No apology. Just a warning disguised as a farewell—“Try not to make things worse while I’m gone.”Worse. As if I’m the one lighting matches.I move slowly through the living room, dragging my fingers along the edge of the couch as I pass. My legs are still sore from yesterday, from being yanked up the stairs like I was nothing but weight to be hauled around. I didn’t let Amirah see the bruise on my wrist when she came by. Th
Viola McCoy The door’s open now. I heard the click around 4 a.m.—not because I was waiting for it, but because I hadn’t slept. Couldn’t. My eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling while my thoughts clawed at the inside of my skull. I must’ve blinked a thousand times, hoping one of them would carry me into sleep, into some kind of dream where things didn’t feel this fractured. But it never came.And now, the door is just... open. Like last night never happened. Like the anger, the dragging, the yelling, the fear—I’m supposed to just erase it. Just walk out and go back to normal.I finally shift. My legs are stiff, my back sore. I’ve been curled up in the same position for hours. The wooden floor beneath me has left a dull ache in my hips, but it’s the numbness that gets me—the way I don’t even flinch at it. Today’s Sunday. No office. Not that it would’ve mattered. I don’t have the strength to sit behind a desk, smile at coworkers, pretend everything’s fine. I barely have the strength
Viola McCoy Logan and I continue to sit on his car as we stare at the horizon. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have let him sneak me out.But if I had stayed in that house one moment longer, I would’ve lost it completely. I would’ve screamed. Thrown something. Maybe told Julian’s mother exactly what I thought of her sad, tight little smiles and fake compliments. I would’ve told his cousin to keep her uterus-obsessed mouth shut and that the reason we don’t have kids isn’t her damn business. I would’ve said a lot of things I shouldn’t.So maybe sneaking out with Logan wasn’t the worst mistake I could’ve made today.The wind is gentle, cool against my cheeks. The view from here stretches endlessly and the sun has almost dipped past the horizon. I hug myself tighter.I wonder what Julian is thinking right now. Wonder if he’s pacing. Fuming. Wondering where the hell I am. I told myself I’d only be gone for a few minutes, just a breather, but it’s been over an hour. Maybe two. I
Logan ReynoldsI should’ve known something was up when Julian invited me over. Never thought he’d reach out to me. If anything, he should be wary of me, not shooting out casual texts saying we’re old friends. And yet, I showed up. Like an idiot. Thinking maybe—just maybe—I’d get to see Viola. Talk to her. See through the cracks in whatever illusion they’re trying to sell as a happy marriage.Now I’m sitting at this long-ass mahogany table, surrounded by a sea of fake smiles and passive-aggressive comments. I regret it already. The air is thick with roasted meat and tension. There’s a massive centerpiece of red roses and golden eucalyptus that looks expensive but smells faintly like mildew. Across from me, Julian’s cousin is twirling her hair around a manicured finger, eyes locked on me like I’m a steak she wants to sink her teeth into.“So… what do you do?” she asks, voice sugar-sweet and clearly rehearsed.I clear my throat, pushing the mashed potatoes around my plate with the
Viola McCoy For the rest of the day, my mind is a chaotic mess. I’m unable to think of anything besides the scene in the elevator. I tell myself it didn’t mean anything. That it was just tension—claustrophobia, proximity, fatigue. Anything but real. But it’s a lie, and I know it.Still, I manage to get through the rest of my workday without any more intrusive thoughts clawing at me. I focus on spreadsheets, keep my head down, smile at the interns like everything’s normal. Like I’m not completely unraveling on the inside.Julian hasn’t texted all day. Not a single word. But I’m sure he saw the missed calls, saw the timestamp when I got home, saw Logan’s car dropping me off. I wonder what’s running through his mind right now. I want to believe he’ll understand, but who am I kidding? Even I wouldn’t believe me.Even if I keep reassuring him that nothing happened, that it’s not what it looks like... deep down, I know it is what it looks like. Maybe worse.I drive home in silence, hand
Logan Reynolds She said it.She said not feeling seen isn’t enough reason to tear down a marriage. And maybe she’s right. Maybe that alone doesn’t justify lighting a match to vows and rings and promises made in front of people who believed them. But I know it’s not just about being seen. There’s more. So much more.Like the way her voice changes when she says his name. Hollow. Or how her hands shake when she thinks no one’s watching. Or the way she looks at me like I’m oxygen in a room that keeps running out of air.And now, we’re stuck. In a goddamn elevator.I lean back against the cold metal wall, arms crossed, trying to breathe past the heat pooling low in my chest. I can still feel the soft imprint of her waist under my hands. The tension in her spine when I touched her. The way her body moved without thinking, grabbing onto me when the elevator shuddered.She’s curled up on the floor now, knees pulled tight to her chest, like she’s trying to make herself disappear. Her he