Until The Last Day (Claire and Lorenzo) novel Chapter 17

Lorenzo’s POV

Since that day, I shut myself inside the house.

I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t respond to messages. The curtains stayed closed. The rooms stayed dark. I didn’t even turn on lights unless I had to walk to the sink. Empty bottles gathered around the couch and bed like ruins. Every night I drank until thoughts blurred into static. Every morning I woke up with a pounding skull and a hollow chest.

Only my mother, Lola, came by sometimes…but even then, I barely spoke. Sometimes she left soup outside the door. Sometimes she begged me to open. Sometimes she just cried quietly on the other side of the wood.

But I couldn’t move. I felt like time had stopped and I was stuck in January, in theow, holding nothing, waiting for absolutely nothing.

One morning, half hungover, I stared at the wall while the sunlight shifted slowly across the wallpaper. The dust in the air looked like ash. I didn’t know how long I stared before I slowly registered that someone was knocking.

I ignored it.

The knocking continued. Harder. Faster.

By the afternoon, the pounding became louder and louder to the point I couldn’t pretend I didn’t hear it. With a weak groan, I pulled myself up and dragged my exhausted body toward the entrance. I opened the door with almost no strength left.

The person on the other side lost balance and stumbled right into me.

It was Aria.

She froze when she realized she had fallen into me. I immediately caught her shoulders just enough to keep her from collapsing–and then just as quickly removed my hands like they wereburned.

“What are you doing here?” I asked flatly.

Aria looked offended for a split second, but quickly replaced it with false concern.

“You haven’t answered any of my calls,” she said. “I’ve been worried. I haven’t heard from you in days. I thought something happened.”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, without looking her directly in the eye. “Go home, Aria. Don’t come here again.”

She grabbed my wrist immediately. “Lorenzo, don’t push me away like this. I know you’re hurting. I came here to be with you.”

I recoiled instantly, ripping my hand out of her grip like I touched electricity.

“I don’t need you here,” I said sharply.

Aria’s face darkened. “What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like a stranger? You’re acting like everything between us meant nothing.”

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