ARIA'S POV

The car was quiet.

Like disturbingly quiet...the kind of quiet that sits beside you in the backseat and pokes you with a stick just to see if you’ll break.

I sat stiffly, my eyes were glued to the window, like the trees speeding by had answers I hadn’t thought to ask. My lips still felt... weird. Not sore, not exactly tingly, just weird. Like they knew they had been violated by something that didn’t taste like regret.

I hadn’t even processed the ...