Except I wasn’t.
Ariel slid out the door beside me. She didn’t say anything at first, just leaned against the railing, her arms crossed and her eyes distant.
“You good?” I asked quietly.
Her mouth tilted. “Always.”
I snorted. “Liar.”
She shrugged. “You caught me on a soft day.”
I glanced back at the door. No Wrecker in sight, for once.
Ariel looked at me again. “Do you feel like you’re healing?”
The question hit me harder than I expected.
I didn’t answer right away.
Eventually, I said, “No.”
Then I paused.
“But I feel… safer. Like I’m not alone in it.”
Ariel nodded, her voice low. “That’s what these men do. They don’t replace your strength. They help you find it again.”
She didn’t wait for a response. Just bumped her shoulder gently into mine and disappeared back inside.
I sat there a little longer. Let the quiet settle in my bones.
And when the air turned cool and the sky started to darken, I followed the heat.
Back inside.
Back to him.
The second I stepped into the hallway, he was there.
Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes locked on me like he already knew where I’d been.
Where I’d end up.
I didn’t say anything.
Neither did he.
He just held out his hand.
Big. Rough. Solid.
And I took it.
We didn’t speak as he led me to his room.
Didn’t need to.
Everything that needed to be said was in the press of our palms.
