He wanted to touch her. Just for a second. A hand at her elbow, her shoulder. Proof she was real. That she was still?—
“Grace,” he said, softer than he meant to.
She looked at him like she was bracing herself. “Officer Bennett.”
The title felt wrong. The distance she’d put between them felt wrong. He pushed past it. “I heard about your place.”
Her eyes flicked, quick and assessing. “Of course you did.”
“Are you okay?” he asked. The question came out rougher than intended.
“I’m fine,” she said. Calm. Controlled. Closed. “Everything’s handled.”
She didn’t uncross her arms. She didn’t step closer. She didn’t give him anything to work with.
Luke shifted his weight, irritation stirring under the relief. He didn’t like the way she was looking at him—like this was an inconvenience. Like he didn’t belong here.
“I came to check on you,” he said.
“I already spoke with the police,” Grace told him.
He searched her face for something—fear, maybe. Gratitude. Any sign that she needed him.
He found none.
“I was worried,” he said, and immediately hated how close it sounded to an admission.
She studied him for a long moment. A bell rang inside the building, shrill and insistent.
Grace took a step back. “I need to get back to my class.”
“I care what happens to you,” he said, frustration bleeding through. “You don’t just turn that off because things got… awkward.”
Her mouth curved, humorless. “Awkward.”
She was close enough that he could reach out and touch her. His hand twitched at his side, wanting to reach for her, to pull her close, to hold her and make the world feel ordered again.
At the door, Grace paused and looked back at him. “Whatever you think this is,” she said evenly, “it doesn’t give you access to me anymore.”
Then she turned and went inside, the door closing softly but decisively behind her.
Luke stood there on the steps, the noise of the school rushing back in around him.
The relief he’d felt at seeing her evaporated, leaving something raw and unsettled in its place.
She was safe.
And somehow, that wasn’t enough.
CHAPTER 14
Luke
He wasn’t waitingfor anything. The bell rang when it rang. Kids poured out when they poured out. It wasn’t like he was driving around counting minutes.
Still—
There she was.
