“You sure?” Her smile faltered. “They’re really good.”
I nodded too quickly. “I’m sure.”
She gave me a puzzled little frown before turning away.
I lifted my cup for the last sip of hot chocolate, but the moment the sweetness hit my tongue, it turned sour in my stomach, a knot tightening low and hard.
This night had been…wonderful. The kind of night I’d never expected to have. Even though I didn’t belong in a place like this, a small, reckless part of my heart wished that I did.
A heavy blanket of dread pressed down on me, squeezing the air out of my lungs. This family was too good. Too untouched by the kind of rot and ruin I came from.
I had never let myself imagine what it might feel like to have a real family again. Now that I had felt a glimpse of it—a few hours of warmth and noise and love—it was torture.
I couldn’t keep this.
I had no reason to stay in Ember Hollow now. I’d have to leave the Ramsey family behind and that’s how it should be.
None of this was mine.
Before I even fully realized it, I was standing. My legs felt stiff, my hands numb.
I felt Graham’s attention on me immediately—steady and sharp.
Raleigh noticed, too. “Quinn? You all right, honey?”
“I’m—I’m getting a little tired,” I heard myself say. My voice sounded wrong, distant, like it was echoing from somewhere far away. “Thank you so much for tonight.”
I turned toward Emersyn and August. They were glowing, wrapped around each other, smiling in a way that made my chest ache.
“Congratulations,” I whispered, breathless.
Before anyone could say anything back, I turned on my heel and headed toward the house—my pulse pounding in my ears.
I ran back toward the isolation where I belonged.
25
Quinn
Isoughtrefugeinsidemyroom, slamming the door behind me. I stumbled toward the bed, but didn’t get into it. Instead, I sank onto the floor, my back pressed against the side of it. My chest was tight. I pulled in a shaky breath, letting my head fall back against the mattress.
The room was too quiet. My head felt too full of everything I’d felt outside—everything I wanted and knew I couldn’t have.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there before footsteps thumped in the hallway.
A knock. I didn’t answer, but the door cracked open cautiously. “Quinn?”
It was Graham. He said my name a second time, a question that I didn’t answer or deny. When he had the door open wide enough to look inside, our gazes met. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but I wasn’t hiding mine.
Graham stepped inside.
He crossed the room slowly and lowered himself onto the floor beside me, shoulder to shoulder. His hand dropped on top of mine, the weight and comfort of it almost breaking me again.
I waited for him to say something, to ask how I was or to scold me for leaving such a sweet time with his family.
He didn’t, though. He simply sat in the silence with me, filling the empty space with his steady presence.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said. The words held all the hopelessness and shame and guilt that festered inside me.
