She doesn’t talk about the day the world ended. Or the people she lost. Or the things she did to survive. Mia Hawthorne has learned how to keep her walls high and her conscience quiet. In a world cracked open by violence and fear, survival is simple: don’t feel, don’t trust, don’t break. Especially not for someone like Atlas James—quiet, ex-military, and way too good at seeing past her armor. When a supply run turns deadly, Mia and Atlas are forced into a partnership neither of them wants. But survival isn’t the only thing stalking them in the woods. Something darker is rising inside Mia—memories she didn’t make, blackouts she can’t explain, and a growing hunger to hurt. Maybe the end of the world wasn’t the worst thing to happen to her. Maybe it was what came after. Enemies to lovers. Post-apocalyptic dread. Trauma that bites back. Beneath the Bruises is a psychological slow-burn romance about grief, found family, and what it costs to feel something again.