“I can’t love you.” She breaks away from me, getting up off the bed, leaving me a useless, stunned mess of a man. We just made love. It was beautiful, full of sentiment and tenderness. “I can’t save you,” she whispers, and I reach out for her, desperate to pull her back, desperate to get her in my arms again. But I’m grabbing at thin air. She’s fading.

Fading.

Fading.

Gone.

My eyes snap open.

My chest constricts.

My body feels heavy, like something unshakeable is holding me down. I can’t breathe. Fuck, I can’t breathe.

Air.

I need air.

I try to sit up, grappling at the back of the couch for something to hold on to. I can’t move. “Fuck.” My forehead’s damp, my whole body is clammy. Why the fuck can’t I move?

“Morning,” a groggy voice says, a face appearing above me, hovering. Smiling. I blink away the fog and Coral’s face comes into view. I look down my front. She’s straddling my waist, her body naked, her hands working the belt of my trousers.

“What the fuck, Coral?” I croak, the feeling of suffocating worsening. “Get the fuck off me.” I push her away, firmly but gently, scrambling to my feet. “What the hell are you playing at?”

She slumps back on the couch, half smirking, half indignant. “You were dreaming.”

I rake a hand through my hair, my body now drenched under my shirt and trousers. I wasn’t dreaming. It was a fucking nightmare, and reality is no better in this moment. “Get out,” I seethe, throwing my arm toward the door. “Now.”

She shrinks back, shocked, but slowly stands, grabbing her dress and holding it against her front. I turn away, my eyes bleeding, my hands ready to rip all the hair from my head. I feel dirty. Tarnished. I hear the door to my office open. “No, wait,” I shout, facing her. She’s halfway out the door, still naked, thoroughly wounded. I drop my eyes to the floor. “Get dressed,” I say more softly, my palm sliding onto my nape and massaging away some of the tension as I turn away from her. “We need to talk.”

The door closes, and I hear the sounds of her shuffling into her dress. I look to the ceiling, exhaling. This is not how I planned on spending my morning. “Coral, this needs to st—”

“I’ve told Mike I want a divorce.”

I swing around, stunned. “Not on my account, I hope.”

Her head cocks, her jaw tight. I can’t believe she has the nerve to look indignant. After everything she’s thrown at me? “You don’t realize yet, Jesse, but you will. You and I are meant to be together.”