I gave her the address, then the line went dead.
I lowered the phone slowly.
Cassian was watching me.
“She’s coming,” I said.
“I figured.”
“You don’t have to stay,” I added. “She’s going to have opinions.”
His brow lifted slightly. “I’m aware.”
“She might be … intense.”
“I’m aware,” he repeated, drier this time.
I hesitated. “I don’t want you to feel like?—”
“Lia.”
The way he said my name cut clean through the rest of it.
“I’m not leaving,” he said. “Unless you ask me to.”
I held his gaze for a long moment.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I said quietly.
“Then I won’t.”
Simple.
Always that.
Harper didn’t knock.
The door opened like she owned it, her energy hitting the room before she even spoke.
“Okay, where is she?” she demanded, already scanning.
“Kitchen,” I called.
She rounded the corner, took one look at me, and pulled me into a hug so tight it knocked the breath out of me.
“You’re insane,” she said into my hair.
“I’ve been told.”
She pulled back, hands on my shoulders, eyes scanning my face like she was checking for damage.
“You don’t look devastated,” she said.
“I’m not.”
“You don’t look smug.”
“I’m not that, either.”
