My throat tightens. “You were really angry.”
“I was.”
I swallow before admitting something I can barely admit to myself. “You scared me there for a second.”
He finally meets my eyes. “I scare myself sometimes,” he admits after a long pause.
The honesty in it stuns me. Neither of us moves.
“I should go,” I say for the second time tonight, but it sounds different now.
His jaw ticks. “I’ll walk you.”
We walk in silence, side by side across the short stretch of land between our houses. No fences at the front. No space between us. Just that invisible wall we keep dancing around.
He waits until I’m at the door before speaking.
“I meant what I said to him,” he murmurs. “Even if I shouldn’t have.”
I look back at him, finding his eyes darker in the night. “I know.”
He watches me for a moment longer, then turns and walks back to his house, shoulders still tense.
I step inside mine and softly close the door before leaning my back against it, trying to calm the rhythm of my heart.
Whatever this thing is between us—it’s not safe. Not quiet. Not gentle. It’s almost scary.
And I don’t do scary.
But it’s real.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s worth the risk.
33
Nora
I wake up early, head buzzing, body heavy like I have the mother of all hangovers.
For a few seconds, I just lie there, staring at the ceiling, blanket pulled up to my ears like it can block out the echo of last night.
Jericho’s voice is still in my ears.
I’ll keep her mine.
The way he said it—low, fierce, like it cost him something to admit—has been haunting me ever since I closed the door behind me like a barrier between me and the intensity of it all.
I throw on a hoodie and pad out into the kitchen, where Grandma’s already at the table, buttering a piece of toast with the same determination she hunts caffeine. She’s in her robe and fluffy slippers and has her signatureDon’t Talk to Me Before Coffeemug.
She doesn’t look up as I walk in. “Yousleep?”
“Barely.”
“Mm. No wonder, from all that noise.” She takes a bite of toast, chews thoughtfully.
Shit. I didn’t even check on her when I dropped myself, exhausted out of my mind, in bed.
“You heard the noise?”
