The silence hit different.
Rowan grunted softly, like the lack of response had weight to it, like it had actually landed on him somewhere. He pressed his lips together and turned to face his monitor.
Work. There was work to do. Plenty of it.
He pulled up his emails and stared at them.
He read the first one three times and retained nothing.
The headache pulsed. The painkillers were doing absolutely nothing, which was becoming a personal insult at this point. He shifted in his chair and tried the emails again and got through two sentences before his eyes drifted to the window.
He thought about Lucian's face, how it used to lit up when...
He stopped that thought immediately and tried a third email.
His phone buzzed. And when he realized it was Melissa again, he simply turned the phone face down on the desk.
Five minutes passed then he stood up.
