“I’d love it if you had never found out who he is.” He pauses and gulps, looking nervous. “But you have to meet him in a couple of days.”
My guts turn into a knot.
“What?” I whisper-yell.
“I’m gonna need you to cooperate and just trust me.”
I frown at him and swallow the bile in my throat.
I know they saved me. I trust them. Or maybe I just want to. Either way, I don’t have a choice. No one tells me what’s coming next. Every time I ask, the silence stretches, heavy and deliberate. Whatever they’re planning, it’s something I’m not meant to know.
Maybe it’s the confinement, or maybe I’ve finally lost my mind, but since the night he took me, I can’t imagine losing him again. For years I thought what I felt for Kasien was just an obsession. Nostalgia dressed as purpose. But seeing him now, hearing his voice again, I know it was something else entirely.
It’s not about the past. It’s about whatever still ties us together, even after everything.
He thinks I betrayed him. And maybe I did. Maybe I deserve his silence. But I need him to know I never stopped trying to find him. That I never stopped choosing him, even when he stopped choosing me. I need him to understand. I need him to hear me out.
Sunlight spills through the tall French windows, painting Adrien’s sleeping body in pale gold. His chest rises slowly, ink and scars catching the light. Only now I notice he’s covered in tattoos entirely, scribbles lacing together from his neck to the line of his pants.
For a moment, everything is quiet.
“Kasien, I—” my voice is shaking, nervousness spreading across my face. “I really—”
“Stop, Kiara.” His voice is back to cold and deep, the softness gone, his expression void again. As if the sunlight had sealed him shut again, ending the moment when the old Kasien almost surfaced. I don’t manage to say anything anymore.
?
We lie like this in silence, another hour passing. The morning sun gets covered by black clouds immediately after it comes out. The room is now in a dim grey cover, raindrops clapping against the windows.
The space is filled with the smell of our perfumes mixed with a hint of sweat and musk. It has to be really early in the morning.
Kasien’s hand is still on Adrien, next to mine. Not touching, just close enough that I feel little sparks crawling up my arm every time I breathe. He didn’t let me talk, didn’t let me ask anything more, and somehow that only ties the knot tighter in my throat. I keep swallowing down tears. But under all of it, I feel safe.
Ridiculously safe.
With both of them beside me.
It hits me—how long I’ve been lonely. How long everything felt empty and cold. And now there’s this moment—quiet, fragile, warm—sitting right in the middle of my chest. I don’t know what to do with it.
I’m so glad he found me. I just wish he would never let me go again. I’m almost jealous of Adrien. I want him to hold me like he held Adrien last night.
Like he doesn’t want to lose me again.
Adrien shifts, a low growl rumbling from his chest, snapping me out of my thoughts. Only then do I realize a tear has slipped down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away.
Without warning, Adrien yanks me closer, practically spooning me, and then he rolls to the other side, toward Kasien, dragging me with him and placing me right between them.
I gasp, my heart exploding into full panic-mode while I’m literally sandwiched between their bodies.
Did he do that on purpose? Is he awake?
Of course he is.
I can feel his smug little smile against my skin. His eyes stay shut like he’s fooling someone, but it’s definitely not me.
Kasien, on the other side, hasn’t moved at all. He’s still lying on his side, facing Adrien, facingus, while I stare straight up at the ceiling like a malfunctioning robot.
His skin is pressed against mine. He’s only in boxers. Adrien’s in black sweatpants. This is way too much.
