“When?”
“When it catches up.”
I stare ahead at nothing for a second, jaw tight.
Then I look back at her.
“You want the clean version or the real one?”
A faint flicker touches her mouth. “The real one.”
Of course she does.
I nod once.
“Sometimes I can’t shut my head off. Sometimes I hear something out of place and I’m halfway to a weapon before I even think. Sometimes I go days feeling normal and then one little thing hits wrong and I’m right back there.” I pause. “Sometimes I don’t sleep much.”
Her expression changes.
Softens.
Not pity.
Thank God, not pity.
Just understanding.
“Is that why you’re always watching everything?”
“Part of it.”
“And the other part?”
I look at her.
No way around this one.
“The other part is you.”
Her breath catches.
I don’t take it back.
Don’t soften it.
Don’t look away.
Because it’s true.
Since the day she started walking past me like I wasn’t worth her attention, some part of me had been tracking her. Watching. Noticing. Wanting.
And now that she’s here, now that I know what it feels like to almost lose her—
Yeah.
There’s no pretending otherwise.
“Tessa,” I say, voice low. “You matter to me.”
