“Yes.”
“How?”
He took a deep breath. “I looked into it.”
My heart fluttered. “You didn’t have to do that.”
He disappeared for a moment, coming back with crackers and more water.
Sitting down next to me, he handed it to me. “Try this.”
“You’re very prepared.” Picking up one of the crackers, I nibbled at it slowly, trying not to upset my stomach. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know.”
“But you’re still going to babysit me anyway?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He grinned. “Because I love you, and that’s what you do for people you love.”
“So you think that gives you the right?”
“No.”
That surprised me. “No?”
“No,” he repeated. “It just means I’m going to do it anyway.”
I huffed out a small breath. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
I faintly shook my head. I didn’t ask him to leave, and that…
Worried me more than anything.
Kraven
Her guard was up. I saw it in everything she did that week. All her distance, all her silence, all of it was wrapped in a big fuck-you bow. It was why she moved around me as if proximity itself were something she needed to control.
I let her.
If I'd forced it, it would’ve done exactly what she expected and made it easier to push me away.
“You should eat something light tonight. Keep it simple.”
She glanced at me. “You’re very involved.”
“I’ve always been involved.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is. You just haven’t seen it until now.”
She held my gaze for a second, then looked away. Some part of her knew it was true.
