I study him.
The tension in his shoulders.
The exhaustion in his eyes.
The way he’s still sitting too alert—
Like the danger isn’t over.
Maybe for him, it never is.
“You should,” I say softly.
He shakes his head.
“I’m good right here.”
That does something to me.
Something quiet.
Something deep.
I swallow past it.
“You stayed,” I say again, softer this time.
He exhales slowly.
“Yeah.”
“Even when they said I’d be okay?”
His jaw tightens slightly.
“That’s not the same as knowing.”
I hold his gaze.
“And now?”
A beat.
Then—
“Now I know.”
The way he says it—
Certain.
Grounded.
Unshakable.
It settles something inside me I didn’t realize was still trembling.
My fingers tighten around his.
