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    Summary

    Garrick Tavis thought he could handle it—watching Imogen Cardulo smile at someone else, sit beside someone else, call someone else her boyfriend. He thought he could pretend it didn’t hurt. But then she brings her new boyfriend on Friday night. And everything changes.
    One game is all it takes to shatter the silence around their past—a love that never quite died and the kind of heartbreak that doesn’t go away just because you stopped talking about it.
    And while Garrick is trying to hold it together, Imogen’s trying not to fall apart. Because the boy she chose instead? He isn’t safe. What starts as charm turns into control. And when he pushes too far—tries to take what she isn’t ready to give—Imogen has to reckon with the truth: what happened with Garrick was real. What’s happening now could destroy her.

    This work is a prequel novella to The Empyrean.

    Content Warnings (please read):
    - Attempted sexual assault (non-graphic but intense, handled seriously)
    - Emotional manipulation & possessiveness
    - Underage drinking
    - Past underage sex (consensual, non-explicit, 15/14)
    - Crying, anger, grief, emotional vulnerability
    - Physical reaction to trauma

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    19,093
    Chapters:
    7/25
    Comments:
    1
    Kudos:
    36
    Bookmarks:
    9
    Hits:
    763