“For being honest,” he says. “Or for hurting her. One of the two.”
Alex pushes off the counter. “You don’t get to have it both ways, man. You don’t get to treat her like she’s different and then hide behind the rules.”
I don’t argue. Because they’re right.
I drain the rest of my drink. “Fuck.”
Alex gives a humorless smile. “Yeah.”
Mark claps a hand on my shoulder once. “Just don’t wait too long. She doesn’t strike me as someone who forgives being underestimated.”
They leave a few minutes later. The house feels quieter than it should.
I stand there longer than necessary, replaying her voice. Her trust.
Knowing exactly how badly this is going to go if I don’t handle it right.
And knowing I already might not have.
Chapter Twenty-Two
AUDRA
I wake before my alarm.
Not abruptly. Not with panic.
Just… aware.
I don’t move right away. The sheets are warm, the room quiet in that early-hour way that makes everything feel slightly unreal. My body registers first—weight, heat, the faint echo of sensation that hasn’t decided yet whether it belongs to memory or to now.
My stomach tightens.
Not nerves.
Not hunger.
Recognition.
Last night surfaces without effort.
Not the obvious parts. Not heat or release or the mechanics of it. What stays with me is the moment before—the almost.
Standing beside the car, keys cool in my palm, the streetlight catching on the windshield just enough to make everything feel suspended. The way Derek watched me. Not touching. Not rushing.
Waiting.
For me.
I remember the precise instant I realized I could stop thinking. Could lean. Could let him hold the line for once without losing myself in it.
The realization was… startling.
I’ve spent my life measuring distance. Calculating exits. Keeping myself just this side of contained. Surrender has never been part of the equation—not because I don’t want it, but because wanting it has always felt unsafe.
Last night, it hadn’t.
That’s what unsettles me.
