Cigarettes Before Sex

Alex thought she’d buried the past — the boy who once held her heart, the fire that burned everything down between them, and the secrets that could still ruin her. Now, in October 2026, she’s building a fragile future with Cole: steady, warm, safe. But a dare on Halloween night pulls her back to Reed Hospital — an abandoned asylum with its own haunted history — and into the shadows of a man she thought she’d left behind. In the past, there was Justin — first love, best friend, and the beginning of everything. Sweet summer nights. Rooftop confessions. Promises they were too young to keep. But behind Justin’s smile lived something fractured… something Alex didn’t see until it was too late. As the night at Reed spirals into violence, the truth hidden in the past collides with the danger in the present. And Alex will have to decide: which is more terrifying — the man who wants her, or the part of her that still wants him back? Two timelines. One dangerous love. And a question that could shatter them all: Can you ever really escape someone who refuses to let you go?