She goes pink. I tighten my arm around her. “She didn’t flinch. She re-calibrated.”
“Sure. Let’s go with that.”
“You’re impossible as a twin sometimes.”
“Unapologetically.”
Haven reaches for the chips and chucks the unopened bag at his chest. “You’re lucky I’m too tired to fight you.”
Tate catches the bag effortlessly. “That’s what you said last night too.”
Haven’s laughing now. The flush in her cheeks is fading, and the tightness in her posture is starting to relax again. Tate catches my eye, just briefly. Not mocking this time, not even gloating. Just… present, with us. As chaotic as it is, as twisted as all of this sometimes feels, I feel like we’re finding our rhythm. One shared moment at a time.
Eventually, the room falls quiet.
The soda’s half gone, the bag of hot fries is open between us, and Haven’s head is back on my chest, her hand lazily tracing circles over my stomach like she’s too tired to sleep but too content to move. Tate’s still on the edge of the bed, slouched down with his feet propped on the nightstand.
“You staying here?” I ask him quietly.
He doesn’t answer right away, just glances toward Haven, watches the way she’s starting to drift. I almost think he’s going to say yes but he swings his legs off the bed and stands. “Nah,” he mutters. “Too warm in here.”
I snort softly. “Right. Definitely just the heat.”
Tate shoots me a glare, but it doesn’t have any bite. “Don’t start.”
I raise a brow. “You’ll cave eventually.”
He shrugs, grabs his hoodie from the back of her chair. “We’ll see.”
I watch him cross the room, pause at the door. He looks back for half a second just long enough to take us both in, curled under the covers, Haven half asleep between my arms. Then he slips out, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
I adjust the blanket over her. She sighs without opening her eyes, shifting so her leg tangles with mine. Her fingers find my wrist and just… stay there.
It’s the little things. The way her body trusts me even when her words haven’t caught up yet. I press a soft kiss to her forehead. “You can rest now. You earned it.” I exhale, brushing my fingers gently through Haven’s hair. She shifts a little closer in her sleep, a soft sound catching in her throat, and I kiss the top of her head. “Night sweetheart.” I whisper.
15
Haven
The second I woke up this morning, the dread was there—settled low in my chest. I stared at the ceiling for a while, debating if I even had the energy to move, then reached for my phone and sent a quick, rambling text to Cassie.
Nothing deep, just a “hey, I feel weird today” kind of thing with a half-joke slapped on the end so she wouldn’t worry too much. I didn’t wait for her to answer before slipping out of bed and tiptoeing down the hall, careful not to wake Carter or Tate. Outside, the air was cool enough to sting my lungs a little, and I clutched my cup of coffee, sitting on the porch steps for a few stolen minutes of silence while the house slept.
When I step back inside, the smell of coffee hits first, and I spot Carter at the counter fiddling with the machine. His shoulders perk the second he notices me, that brightness lighting up his whole face.
“Hey, good morning,” he says, reaching for a cup like he’s about to offer me some even though I’ve got my own.
“Morning,” I manage to yawn out. I glance toward the hall. “Is Tate up yet?”
Carter shakes his head, hair falling into his eyes before he pushes it back with the heel of his hand. “Not that I saw. He’s dead to the world in there, you know how he is.”
There’s that warmth he carries, that almost makes me forget the weight in my chest, almost.
I nod, giving him a faint smile before slipping back toward my desk, where the monitor is waiting, pulsing like a warning light the quiet had already drained away, replaced with the suffocating buzz of screens and voices.
My fingers tense around the mouse, my breath’s coming a little faster than it should. The headset feels too warm, too loud, even though I’ve barely said a word myself.
His name just flashed across the match list. D7LAN of course he made it through the bracket, because why wouldn’t he?
