All Chapters of Love Me Now or Lose Me Forever: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

That fever felt like a long, drawn-out drowning.Zeke's temperature had come down the day after the IV, but his body felt hollowed out, drained of every last bit of strength. Zeke took two sick days, spending most of them on the fold-out couch in the study, drifting in and out of sleep as if trying to make up for every hour of rest he'd missed.His sleep wasn't restful, though. He kept sliding into chaotic dreams: plunging down a roller coaster, sitting alone in a hospital infusion room, digging through something he could never quite find. He'd wake up drenched in sweat, his throat parched and burning.Nikki was reasonably attentive during those two days. She texted to check on him daily and brought home simple meals in the evenings, mostly takeout, but meals all the same. She stopped mentioning the "all-nighter," but she still came home late most nights, usually past ten.The two of them still barely spoke. Zeke grew even quieter after his illness, and Nikki seemed to have settled

"Fine," he said, then pulled the blanket over himself. "I'm going to sleep."Nikki sat in the chair, watching him turn his back to her. Her lips parted like she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. She got up, walked to the door, paused there for a moment, then pulled it shut gently behind her.The lock clicked softly into place, but in the quiet of the night, the sound carried clearly.The next day was Saturday. Zeke had planned to stay home and rest, but a little past ten that morning, Nikki mentioned on her way out that she'd left a document at home and asked him to bring it by the store."It's in my desk drawer, a blue folder," Nikki said, pulling on her shoes. "If you head out around lunchtime, just swing it by for me. I'm on shift at the store today, I can't get away.""Kay," Zeke replied.After she left, he went to her desk and found the folder. It had a hard blue cover, and inside were some of the store's operating reports and training materials. He

Monday morning, Zeke came into work with deep, dark circles under his eyes.He'd barely slept all weekend. Days spent reading in the study, nights lying awake staring at the ceiling, his mind replaying the same images over and over: Nikki rattling off her password without a second thought, Tyler unlocking her phone with practiced ease, the easy, natural intimacy between the two of them eating lunch in the store's break room.Trust was the kind of thing that, once it started to crack, went the way of a row of dominoes. Knock over the first one, and the rest kept falling, unstoppable.At the office, everything looked the same as always. The lab equipment hummed, coworkers discussed the project's progress, and Tammy hurried past in the hallway with an armful of files, giving Zeke a nod as she passed.He finished processing a batch of new test data that morning, and lunchtime came around. He had no appetite, but he followed his coworkers to the cafeteria anyway. He got a simple set m

The fourth photo, at a snack stall. The two of them shared a single drink, two straws poked into the cup. Nikki bit down on one, her eyes crinkled with laughter, Tyler watching her with an expression that carried something hard to name.The fifth, in line for the roller coaster. Tyler was pointing at something, saying something, Nikki tilting her head up to listen, her profile softened by the sunlight.The sixth was the same roller coaster shot Scarlett had caught, but this version, the one Tyler had sent, was much clearer. Nikki's eyes were squeezed shut, screaming, Tyler's arm wrapped tight around her waist, her head resting on his shoulder. Both their hair whipped wild in the wind, the background a blur of sky and twisting track.The seventh, the eighth, the ninth.Dozens of photos, one after another, like a silent film recording every happy moment of that afternoon.The last one was the nighttime fireworks show.In front of the amusement park's castle, brilliant fireworks bur

At four-thirty in the morning, only the printer's faint hum broke the silence of the study.Zeke sat at his desk, watching page after page slide slowly out of the tray. First came the timeline document he'd put together the night before, then the printed amusement park photos. He'd chosen the most damning ones: the roller coaster embrace, the shared drink, the heart-shaped hands under the fireworks.Each photo came out still warm, the paper faintly heated. He spread them across the desk, arranging them one by one in chronological order.Next came the phone screenshots. The blurry but recognizable roller coaster photo from Scarlett's social media. The bank app's transfer record, the 400.00 dollars purchase, the merchant name printed clearly. And the photo of the scarf, the one he'd taken specifically two nights ago. Nikki had already been asleep then, and he'd photographed the gray-and-white checked scarf stuffed in her bag from several angles.The moment the flash had lit up, h