“I’m alive.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
The corner of his mouth shifts faintly.
“Sounds familiar.”
Despite everything, a small smile tugs briefly at my lips.
It disappears almost immediately when memory crashes back in.
Gunfire.
Blood.
Falling.
His voice yelling my name.
I tense without meaning to.
Russ notices instantly.
His thumb brushes once against my side in a slow grounding motion.
“You’re thinking too hard again.”
My eyes lift back to his.
“You’re one to talk.”
That earns the smallest reaction.
Barely there.
Still enough to make something dangerous twist low in my chest.
The silence stretches.
Not awkward.
Worse.
Honest.
I swallow hard. “Russ…”
“Don’t.”
Gentle voice.
Firm answer.
That should annoy me.
Instead it makes my pulse kick harder.
“Don’t what?”
