He stared at me. The air around me thickened with tension. His hands clenched, like he wanted to reach for me. But then something crossed his face, a type of resolve that confused me.
“Maybe one day.” he said quietly, stepping back.
“Then maybe I will. One day.” I said, my voice quiet. I felt warm in a way I didn’t understand. I rubbed my gloved hand across my face and looked around the room, trying to distract myself.
For a moment, we were silent.
“With Ash…” I swallowed finally. “I don’t know. Ifeelhim. He needs touch. It grounds him. So I’m… trying. I want him to feel safe with me.”
“Safe?” Dev scoffed. “Watching the way he was with you in here — there’s nothingsafeabout the way Ash feels for you. Or K.”
“Dev.”
“Hear me out, Seph.” He stepped into my space, eyes sharp. “K cares about you. He really does. And he knows he’s fucked up along the way.”
“Why do you keep defending him?” I snapped. “Why isn’t he here, defending himself?”
Dev went still — really still.
“Maybe,” he said, voice low, “because you keep shutting him down.”
I lifted my chin. “Whatever K has done, those werehischoices. I shouldn’t have to chase him for answers when, for three years, he never once gave me the same courtesy.”
“You’re right.”
I blinked. “I am?”
Dev nodded once.
“K should have talked to you. He shouldn’t have cut you out. That part’s on him.”
A tightness pulled at my chest, unwanted and familiar.
“But,” Dev added quietly, “he wouldn’t have done it for no reason.”
I crossed my arms. “There’s always a reason. Doesn’t make it good.”
“Didn’t say it did.”
He didn’t move any closer, but somehow the space between us had changed — charged, tense, like he was holding something he refused to drop.
“You two have things you need to talk about,” Dev said. “And you’re both avoiding it.”
“I’m not avoiding anything,” I lied.
Dev’s mouth twitched — not a smile, just… knowing.
“Sure,” he murmured. “If you say so.”
I looked away.
“Look, tonight there’s a bonfire. Out by the woods. The guards let us relax a bit on the weekends. K will be there. You should come.”
“Maybe I’m busy,” I said, raising my chin. “I was going to go see Jess.”
Dev actually laughed. “They will never let you in.”
“Why not?”
