I sat at the small table with my forearms braced against my thighs, phone face-down in front of me like I was daring it to ring.
“You want coffee?”Star asked, glancing over her shoulder.
“Yeah,” I said automatically.“Thanks.”
She smiled at me.Easy.Unforced.Like she wasn’t carrying anything heavier than deciding between cream or no cream.
I watched her make the coffee, set the mug in front of me, and nudged it closer.“Careful.It’s hot.”
“Thank you, babe.”
She looked at me closely.“You’re in a mood.”
“I’m fine.”
She raised an eyebrow and took her mug to the couch, curling up with her legs tucked beneath her.I followed a minute later, sitting beside her, close enough that our shoulders brushed.She leaned into me like it was instinct, like she didn’t even think about it.
That did something to my chest.
She sipped her coffee with her eyes on the TV screen, as if she weren’t actually watching it.“Tomorrow’s Friday,” she said casually.
My jaw tightened before I could stop it.“Yeah,” I said.“It is.”
She glanced at me sideways.“It’s kind of… ominous.”
“It’s just a day,” I said, keeping my voice even.“You don’t need to worry about it.”
She didn’t answer right away.I could feel her thinking.
“You’re tense,” she said finally.“Like, teeth-grinding tense, Cole.”
“I’m always tense.”I had to be to make sure Star was safe.I tried my best to make sure she didn’t know it, and obviously, I had been doing a good job at it.
“Not like this.I know you are worried about this guy, but worrying isn’t going to change anything.”
I huffed out a breath.“We’ve got it handled.”
She nodded slowly.“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“And you believe it,” she said carefully.“Mostly.”
I looked at her then, really looked.Her face was calm, but her eyes were sharp.Attuned.She wasn’t anxious.She was watching me.
I didn’t want to lie to her.
I also didn’t want to hand her the spiral sitting just under my ribs.
What if the guy didn’t show?
What if he’d already figured out he’d been noticed?
What if tomorrow came and went and all we had were more questions and another night of waiting?
Uncertainty was the worst.
I swallowed it down.
