Alone

Raised voices drifted through the open window. Lukas looked up slowly. The coffee had gone cold a long time ago.

He recognized the voice immediately.

Hannah.

Sending her away had been easy enough. Remove the complication. Restore order. Solve the equation before it turned into an irresolvable problem.

The future was manageable again.

Predictable.

At least inside these four walls.

Alone.

Lukas exhaled slowly and pushed the untouched coffee farther across the table.

He had erased her memories of what happened in this house. Cleanly. Thoroughly. Apparently, that still wasn’t enough to erase Hannah from his life.

Or from his head.

She stood barefoot on the back patio of the neighboring house, her dress hanging loosely around her body like she’d thrown it on without thinking. One hand rested sharply against her hip while the other carved angry gestures through the air toward the open glass door.

She was talking.

No—yelling.

Lukas couldn’t make out every word from this distance, but he caught enough to understand the shape of the argument.

A large shadow moved behind the glass. Her husband. Even from here the man looked built like somebody who solved problems by denting drywall.

Hannah’s movements grew sharper. Faster. She threw both hands upward in frustration, then stepped toward the dark figure inside the house.

Lukas frowned.

That didn’t fit.

Not with the woman he met yesterday. And definitely not with the woman he had sent back home.

He dragged a hand down his face and let out a low sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl.

The fight wasn’t random. Something had shifted.

And he knew exactly where it started.

Now he needed to understand how to stop it before it got worse.

The thought arrived effortlessly.

Simple. Natural. As automatic for him as breathing.

"Come here."

Lukas narrowed his eyes.

Even across the yard he saw Hannah pause abruptly. Her head tilted slightly, like she’d heard somebody call her name from very far away. Then she turned. And started walking.

Toward the hedge.

Toward him.

Lukas held the door open for her. That was it. No smile. No invitation. No charming little neighbor routine pretending this was normal.

Hannah walked past him anyway, close enough that the fabric of her dress brushed lightly against his leg.

Tiny contact.

Accidental.

His body noticed immediately.

Her presence had physically changed the house somehow. The rooms suddenly felt smaller. Warmer too. Her perfume drifted through the air unmistakably, stirring up desires that would have been better left buried.

Hannah wandered farther inside, looking around with faint uncertainty, like she’d forgotten she had already been here once before. Or maybe forgotten why she came.

Or maybe some deeper part of her remembered everything and simply didn’t know what to do with it.

Lukas watched her silently. Gritted his teeth.

He never should’ve called her over.

The smart decision would’ve been staying out of it completely. Let the neighbors destroy their marriage in peace like emotionally stable adults.

Instead, she was here again.

Alone.

That realization woke something darker inside him almost immediately. He stepped closer. The distance between them disappeared. His breathing slowed, deepened. One hand lifted instinctively, almost grabbing her before he stopped himself.

Hannah noticed the movement.

She didn’t step away. But her breathing changed. A little uneven now. Her chest rising slightly faster.

Lukas knew exactly what was happening.

And the worst part?

He had stopped wanting to do the right thing.

He wanted her.

Not temporarily.

Not just physically.

Completely.

He was still struggling, but he already knew how it would end. It was funny to see how quickly reason gave way once basic instincts kicked in.

Unaware of the fight raging inside him, Hannah raised her hand. Her fingertips rested against his chest, like she needed proof he was real.

Lukas closed his eyes.

The touch itself was harmless.

He wasn’t.