Nothing.
Just white.
The building across the street is gone, swallowed completely. No shapes. No edges. Just a wall of snow moving sideways in the wind, thick enough to erase everything behind it.
“Yeah… that’s not good,” I mutter.
A gust slams into the side of the building, the glass rattling faintly under the pressure.
I drag a hand through my hair and turn away, pulling on a pair of pants before heading out of the bedroom.
The apartment is warmer than my room, the low hum of the heater steady in the background, fighting against the cold pressing in from outside.
Then I smell it.
Coffee.
I step into the kitchen doorway and stop.
Lexy’s at the stove with her back to me, wearing headphones, completely lost in whatever she’s listening to, her voice soft as she sings under her breath, something about lightning and skies, quiet and unguarded in a way I haven’t heard from her before.
It does something to the space, easing the tension just enough that the storm feels farther away than it should.
I lean my shoulder against the doorframe, watching her longer than I should, longer than makes sense for something this simple.
She’s in those pink Hello Kitty shorts again and a loose white tee, hair still damp from the shower, the ends darker where they haven’t dried yet, a few strands clinging to the back of her neck.
Bare legs. Bare feet. Nothing careful or guarded about her right now. She moves easily, like she belongs here, like this is her space as much as mine, like she forgot for a second that it isn’t.
She stirs the eggs, swaying slightly with the music, completely absorbed in it, and for a moment it feels like the world outside those walls doesn’t exist for her at all.
I shouldn’t like that.
I shouldn’t like how it feels to watch her like this, relaxed, unguarded, like she’s not carrying everything I know she is.
But I do.
“Mornin’, Tinker,” I say.
Nothing.
She keeps singing.
I push off the doorframe and walk toward her, the floor creaking faintly under my steps, but she doesn’t hear it, doesn’t feel me there until I step fully into her space.
When I enter her line of sight, she jumps, the headphones slipping off and clattering to the floor.
My mouth twitches before I can stop it.
Yeah.
I definitely like that more than I should.
“Dex! You scared the shit out of me!”
She frowns, hands going to her hips, eyes flashing, and there it is again, that spark, that fight that sits just under everything else.
“Mornin’, Tinker,” I repeat. “Tried that already, but you were too busy singing along to…?” I lift a brow.
