But my thoughts are somewhere else entirely.
Finn.
I slip out of the nest with the same guilt as if I were cheating. Quiet, slow, careful not to wake any of them.
Padding across the room in my sleep shorts, I settle at the window. The street is quieter now. A few cars pass. And there, in the window across from mine, lit only by the soft glow of his desk lamp—he’s still watching.
My stomach flips, and I hate how it doesn’t scare me. How the attention settles around me, soft and comforting.
Finn doesn’t move. But the way his head tilts? The subtle lean forward? I know he’s watching me.
He sees me.
I press my palm to the glass.
And then?—
A hand touches my waist. I gasp, half-spinning.
Graham.
He says nothing at first. Just steps in behind me, his chest to my back, one hand steady on my hip.
“You can’t sleep?” he murmurs, voice thick with sleep.
I shake my head. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t.” His other hand lifts, brushing a strand of hair from my shoulder. “You were thinking about him.”
It’s not a question. I nod anyway, guilt blooming in my throat. He doesn’t growl. Doesn’t scold. His hands stay gentle.
“If you want him,” he says slowly, “we’ll figure it out.”
My heart lurches.
“Really?”
He exhales, low and shaky. “If it’s what you need. But not if it hurts you. If he’s too much.”
The words crack something open in me.
“I don’t know what I need,” I whisper.
His arms wrap around me fully then, his chin settling on my head. “That’s okay. We’ll figure that out too.”
Across the street, Finn hasn’t moved. But when Graham shifts behind me, I see it. A nod. A subtle dip of his head—not to me.
To Graham.
The smellof coffee and something sweet—caramel, maybe—pulls me out of sleep. I stretch slowly, my limbs pleasantly sore, and slide Carson’s soft T-shirt down over my thighs. It's warm beyond the covers, and the apartment is quiet in that soft, early-morning way that feels sacred.
I pad toward the kitchen, drawn by the scent—still hazy, still barefoot—until I hear it.
My name.
I freeze just outside the kitchen in the hallway, breath catching, and press my back against the wall, heart suddenly thudding. I inch closer, trying to eavesdrop.
“She was watching him again last night,” Graham says. He sounds tired. “I didn’t stop her.”
