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CHAPTER 60: Small Wins

Author: Donna Sheldon
last update Last Updated: 2025-05-29 22:42:50

I shuffled out of the bathroom and toward the tiny corner of my studio apartment that counted as my closet. Everything was technically in the same room—the bed, the kitchen, the desk—but I tried to pretend there were invisible walls separating my life into neat compartments. Bed for sleeping. Desk for work. Closet for pretending I had my shit together.

My lotion sat exactly where I always left it—on the narrow shelf by the dresser mirror, next to the deodorant and the cologne.

I grabbed it.

Thick, vanilla-scented body cream. I didn’t even care that it smelled like cookies. It was cheap, but it worked, and after last night, I needed something soft and grounding to remind me I was still here. Still human. Still trying.

I sat on the edge of the bed and started with my arms, rubbing the cream into my skin slowly, like I was trying to knead out the tension that had made itself a permanent tenant in my shoulders. The stuff was cold at first—always was—and it made me flinch when I hit my
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  • Breaking The Ice Between Us    CHAPTER 75: Don’t Stop

    Andrew finished up in the kitchen, turning back to me with a small, almost proud smile. He grabbed a couple of chipped plates from the drying rack and scooped generous helpings of pasta onto them. The sauce was thick and red, steam rising in fragrant curls. My stomach gave an appreciative little growl at the sight of it, even though I still felt jittery and out of place in this tiny apartment that smelled like garlic and warm bread.He walked over and handed me a plate, along with a fork. “Here. Eat up.”I took it, my fingers brushing against his, and tried to ignore the tiny shiver that shot up my spine. I balanced the plate on my lap as he sank down next to me, his leg brushing mine. The couch was small, old springs groaning under our combined weight.I twirled a forkful of pasta, hesitating just a second before taking a bite. The noodles were cooked just right, and the sauce looked rich and hearty. My mouth watered.But the second it hit my tongue, I knew I’d made a huge fucking mi

  • Breaking The Ice Between Us    CHAPTER 74: This Is It?

    I finally pulled up to the address Andrew had sent me. It wasn’t in the part of the city I usually haunted, that was for sure. The streets were narrow and lined with older brick buildings, a little grungy, a little charming in that rundown sort of way. It was the kind of neighborhood that smelled like old coffee shops and cigarette smoke, where graffiti was more art than vandalism.I parked the car and double-checked the address on my phone because, honestly, it didn’t look like much. A studio apartment? I blinked at the low-rise building, the chipped paint on the door frame, the flickering lightbulb over the entrance.“This is it?” I muttered, frowning.Not that I expected some fancy place—hell, I wasn’t one to judge. My own apartment was barely a step up from this, but still… I guess I’d thought Andrew would be in some sleek high-rise with a rooftop pool or something. The guy always had that vibe of having his shit together, even when he was being a cold asshole.I rapped my knuckle

  • Breaking The Ice Between Us    CHAPTER 73: I Was Handling It

    Surprisingly, there. was. no. traffic.None of that stop-and-go bullshit that usually turned the highway into a parking lot. No horns blaring from assholes cutting in last minute, no sudden swerves from drivers who didn’t know how to fucking use a turn signal.It was weird.Like, too weird.I’d left early—because duh, I wasn’t about to be late for this collab—but I still fully expected to have to sit in at least twenty minutes of bumper-to-bumper bullshit. And yet… nothing. Just smooth, open road stretching out in front of me, the city lights flickering past like some kind of neon light show.It should’ve felt like a relief, but instead it just set every nerve in my body on edge.Because when shit starts going too perfectly? That’s when the universe decides to fuck you over.I kept one hand on the wheel, the other drumming against my thigh to the beat of the music playing low on the speakers. My playlist was on shuffle—some random mix of dirty rap songs and heartbreak anthems—and I co

  • Breaking The Ice Between Us    CHAPTER 72: Grizzly Bear

    The day came quicker than I’d fucking expected. Normally, waiting for something like this—something I actually gave a shit about—would make time crawl, every minute stretching out like gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. But for some reason, this time it was like the universe decided to hit the fast-forward button, and before I knew it, it was already the afternoon of the collab.Fuck.I glanced at my phone for what had to be the hundredth time today, my heart pounding like a war drum in my chest. The numbers glowed back at me, the minutes ticking by way faster than they had any right to. My stomach was a tight knot of anticipation and nerves and that stupid, giddy thrill I kept trying to squash down.I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror, half-naked, running a cheap-ass disposable razor along the base of my dick like some kind of desperate porn star prepping for a shoot.Yeah, I was that shameless. Fuck it—I was prepping for every possibility. I didn’t want to look like some

  • Breaking The Ice Between Us    CHAPTER 71: And It Was Mine

    By the time Andrew finally decided to respond, it was almost nightfall. The last rays of the sun were slipping through my window blinds, turning the walls of my bedroom this warm, honey-colored glow that would’ve been kind of nice if I hadn’t been losing my fucking mind all day waiting for his message.I’d spent the afternoon doing everything except thinking about it—cleaning the kitchen, folding laundry, even organizing the random shit in the junk drawer by the door. But even while I was elbow-deep in that drawer, pulling out batteries and random cables I didn’t even remember owning, my phone kept buzzing in my pocket. Every time, my heart would lurch, like maybe this was it—maybe he’d finally said something.It was always James, or some stupid email. By the time the sun started to sink below the buildings outside my window, I was jittery as fuck, my leg bouncing nonstop as I sat on the edge of the bed, phone in my hand like a lifeline.And then—finally—his name lit up my screen.And

  • Breaking The Ice Between Us    CHAPTER 70: Out Of My Head

    Fucking asshole! I spat the words out loud as I collapsed onto my bed, the springs creaking under me like they were groaning in agreement. My whole body was tense—jaw locked, fists clenched, shoulders tight.I reached for my phone, half expecting it to spontaneously combust from how pissed off I was. My thumb hovered over the screen, and I checked to see if Andrew had replied yet.He hadn’t, So I started scrolling aimlessly. Messages. Notifications. Bullshit memes from James that I didn’t even bother opening. All the while, that white-hot anger was still there, simmering under my skin like a fucking rash I couldn’t scratch. My father. That motherfucker. Showing up in my apartment like it was the most normal thing in the world—like I hadn’t spent years trying to scrape his influence out of my life like gum off my shoe.I squeezed my phone so hard I was surprised it didn’t crack. How could he be so fucking shameless? Less than a goddamn week since I paid Regina’s hospital bill—out of my

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