Mandy shut her eyes tight, trying not to lash out.

But the scent of his cologne— something familiar now tainted by memory— enveloped her. His chest was warm against her back, his breath stirred her hair. It was an intimacy that belonged to a different lifetime, one that felt like a violation now.

"Let go of me," she said coldly.

"I just… I need you to hear me," Zayn murmured into her hair, his voice ragged with an emotion she refused to name. "I need you to understand how ...