Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 184

Chapter 184

Daphne’s POV

The dream was the same old glitch.

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I was running, or trying to. I don’t remember where I was headed-dreams are rarely generous with the destination-but I remember the ground refusing to cooperate.

My legs were churning, moving and moving without covering any real distance, that building panic when physics stops making sense and escape feels like a mathematical impossibility

And I remember his face. Kyle.

He was closer than he should have been, regardless of how much effort I put in, as if the space between us was shrinking of its own accord.

I woke up with a gasp that snagged in my throat.

I sat up fast, my heart slamming against my ribs.

One hand gripped the sheets until my knuckles turned white, the other pressed flat against my sternum as if I could physically slow the engine down.

I stayed like that for a long minute, staring into the shadows, waiting for the dark corners of my room to stop morphing into things they weren’t.

The apartment was silent. From the other side of the wall, I could hear Lois’s breathing-slow, even, and blissfully undisturbed.

I just sat there for a moment, listening to it, letting the sound anchor me to the present.

My room. My bed. The dream wasn’t real. Kyle wasn’t here.

I exhaled, pressing my palm against my face. My skin felt damp and I dropped my hand, the adrenaline still buzzing through my system.

I was wide awake in the way that comes after a nightmare, the kind of awake where going back to sleep feels both impossible and absurd because your body is still running the adrenaline from something that never actually happened.

I reached for my phone on the nightstand. The screen blinded me for a second. 2:13 a.m.

I wasn’t going to call anyone. I didn’t even know why I’d picked up-force of habit, maybe, or just the primitive need to hold something solid and glowing.

I stared at the screen, my thumb scrolling toward my favorites list without my brain ever giving the order.

David’s name was at the top.

I looked at it, the letters crisp and clinical. It made sense, practically speaking. He was my employer; of course he’d be prioritized. That was the only reason his name was there.

I kept staring at it anyway. I told myself I was not going to call him. It was two in the morning, he was my boss, and there was absolutely no version of this reality where I pressed that button.

Well….I pressed the button.

It didn’t even finish the first ring before the line clicked open.

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15:55 Tue, Mar 10 MM.

Chapter 184

“Daphne?”

His voice rang through the line immediately, and I felt my breath hitch for an entirely different reason.

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It wasn’t the familiar clipped tone he used to bark orders; this was lower than his daytime voice, rougher at the edges, the voice of someone pulled from sleep, unhurried unhurried and strangely intimate.

He didn’t sound annoyed. He just sounded like David, only stripped off the packaging that came with the last name, and I was completely unprepared for how that landed in the silence of my room.

I opened my mouth, then closed it, the words dying behind my teeth.

“I-“I cut myself off, the silence of the apartment magnified by the heat blooming in my cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I was going to call someone else. My brain is just… I’m not fully awake. I must have misdialed.” I was rambling, the words spilling out in a clumsy heap. I pressed my lips together and tried to find a shred of my usual composure.

“I’m sorry for waking you, Mr. Tyrone. I’m hanging up now.”

“Daphne.”

“I’m really, really sorry-”

“What is wrong?”

It wasn’t a question this time. It was an executive order.

There was something in the way he said it, a frequency that sat somewhere between immovable and deeply patient—that made the wall of apologies I was building simply dissolve.

“Nothing,” I lied, my voice small. “Really. I just called the wrong person. My sleeping brain just-”

“Did he come back?”

“No.” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see the movement in the dark. “No, it’s nothing like that. It was just… a dream. I’m fine.”

The line went quiet. I could almost hear the gears turning, processing my tone, the hour, and the fact that I was still breathless.

“So you were going to call someone,” he said eventually, his voice dropping an octave, “at 2:13 in the morning.”

He asked, and I could almost see the skeptical lift of his brow. He didn’t believe me, that much was obvious, but I had to hold on to the lie.

I had no real reason for calling my boss at that hour.

“It was an important call,”

“An important call.” He repeated it, flat and unconvinced.

“Potentially,”

Another pause stretched between us. Then, with a finality that made my heart thud against my ribs: “Something is wrong. I’m coming over”

“Mr. Tyrone-no.” I sat up straighter, the sheet slipping down my chest. “Please, you don’t have to do that. I’m fine, I promise, I just-”

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15:56 Tue, Mar 10MM.

Chapter 184

The line went dead.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the dark seren.

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Hell hung up. Helt actually just ended the call mid-sentence buse he’d made a decision and considered the conversation closed

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