Ian’s POVTwo months laterLayla Thompson — now Layla Lawson on paper — was one of the most completely unhinged women I had ever encountered in my life.I meant that as close to a compliment as I was currently capable of giving her.Two months. Two months of sharing a house, a bed separated by a pillow barricade, a kitchen, a dining table, a driveway. Two months of the particular experiment of existing in close proximity to someone you had decided you could not stand and discovering, gradually and against your will, that the situation was more complicated than that initial decision had accounted for.Layla was stubborn in a way that I had no framework for. I had grown up around strong personalities — my grandfather, my father, Gabriel, people who pushed back and held their ground. But Layla was something different. She did not push back the way people pushed back with me. She simply refused to be moved, and then she said something that landed somewhere specific, and then she walked awa
Last Updated : 2026-04-19 Read more