POV: CHASE
She proves it by showing up at the penthouse at eleven at night without calling, which is its own kind of proof, the specific kind that bypasses argument and goes directly to evidence, and I let her in because not letting her in has never once been a real option, which is the truest thing I know about myself and the one I've spent the most energy pretending isn't true.
She comes in with the energy of the gala still on her, the full version still deployed, and the combination of that version and the two words I said to her across two inches of air four hours ago and whatever has been building in both of us since the champagne photographs ran and she walked into my office and said let's see how wide we can tear each other, all of it collects into the room around her arrival and the room is not large enough for it.
It starts fast.
