“I’m annoyed.”
“You’re scared.”
“I’m irritated.”
“You’re scared,” I said again, quieter but harder. “And if you say one more clever thing instead of admitting it, I’m going to start guessing, and you’re going to hate how close I get.”
The room went still.
Aura’s throat moved as I watched her fight herself. She wanted to snap, to call me a caveman, an overgrown hockey cliché, or a walking shoulder check with commitment issues. Anything would have worked. I would have taken all of it because anger meant she was still in the room with me.
She didn’t say anything.
I rested my forearms against my knees, keeping my hands to myself even though every inch of me wanted to touch her. “Is it Bliss?”
Her jaw tightened.
“Is it Cade?”
Her eyes flicked away.
“Is it the blood?”
“Stop.”
“No.”
Her gaze returned to mine, hot and furious. “I said stop.”
“And I said no.” My voice remained low. “You came into my room, Aura. You put yourself in my bed. You sat here in my sweatshirt with the lamp on and the door closed because whatever is happening inside your head is louder than your pride tonight. I’m not going to sit five feet away and let you pretend you came up here because my pillows are better.”
Her breath shook once before she caught it.
I softened nothing in my face because soft made Aura run. It gave her room to become mean and make me the problem, so I stayed solid and steady, the kind of pressure she could push against without wondering whether I would move.
“What are you scared of?” I asked.
She looked down at her hands. “I’m not.”
“Try again.”
“I hate when you do this.”
“Good.”
Her eyes cut toward mine. “Good?”
“Yeah. Good. Hate me. Call me names. Threaten my life. Do whatever you need to do, but don’t sit there acting like this isn’t tearing you apart.”
Her mouth twisted, but her eyes shone too brightly. “You think you know everything.”
“I know you. I know you’ve barely slept. I know you haven’t eaten enough because Bliss has been too out of it to notice and Charm is too busy trying not to crack. I know you keep sitting where you can see every window and door.I know you watched Cade carry Bliss upstairs last night and looked like someone had peeled your skin back, and I know when Briggs joked about installing better locks downstairs, you almost lost your shit before you swallowed it.”
The silence afterward was packed with everything she wouldn’t say.
Aura looked away first. “She’s so small.”
The words were barely there, and I didn’t move.
