Chapter 19: Birds of a Feather
Her state was bad. Like, real bad. That kind of bad where even strangers stop pretending not to see.
Jayden turned his head slightly, not dramatic or anything—just enough to look her way.
"You good?" he asked, voice low but clear enough to cut through the silence.
No answer. She looked up, just barely, and that's when he saw it—messy blonde hair clinging to her face like a curtain, trying to hide everything... but not quite doing the job. Her eyes? Swollen. Red. Makeup smeared like someone took a paintbrush to heartbreak.
He tilted his head. "Miss?" he asked again, gently, more out of habit than real softness. "Something wrong?"
Still no answer.
But when she turned her face away, trying to avoid him like he was one more pair of eyes she couldn't handle, that's when he saw it—
the bruise. Right on her neck.
Faint, but ugly. The kind that tells a story no one wants to hear.