Chapter 30: Zefiro

She extricates herself from my touch, turning around to grab her things angrily. "Yes, I'm on the fucking pill. The last thing I want, though it does seem everyone else is open to the idea, is a messy scandal with you or anything that'd bring me back to you after I leave."

Agitation tightens my shoulders. She doesn't want to stay. She speaks of forgetting me. She doesn't want more from this. Me. It's just sex. I knew the lines would blur when it came to her. It is why it pissed me the fuck of that the hunger I felt only burned hotter for her. "You're unexpectedly good at this, Mrs. Hawke. The affair. The detachment. Staying your line. Clearly, this isn't new for you. How many other 'scandals' have there been? Two? Three? More?" The words are out before I can think of stop them. Venomous, spiteful and angry. And I hate them immediately, regret them.

When Susanna turns to look at me, the light in her eyes are gone, replaced by a darkness I've seen haunt her in the privacy