No explanation.
No buildup.
Sam leans forward first, brow furrowing.
Logan steps closer, already impatient.
Mac jumps in, pushing them both aside.
There’s a second of silence.
“Holy shit.” Mac beams.
Logan’s voice cuts through it, loud and raw, disbelief cracking straight into something like awe. “No fucking way—”
Sam exhales under his breath, a softer reaction, but no less heavy. His eyes flick up to mine, something grounded there. “This changes everything.”
Logan lets out a sharp laugh, dragging a hand through his hair. “Jesus Christ, man—you’re—” He points between us like he can’t even finish the sentence. “You’re really doing this?”
Seraphina shifts closer into me.
I feel it.
I wrap an arm around her waist without thinking, pulling her into my side.
“Yeah,” I say.
There’s something in my voice now.
Something that wasn’t there before.
Something final.
“Yeah, we are.”
The energy shifts.
Warms.
Relief bleeding into it. Excitement. Something dangerously close to happiness.
“Trey.”
Chace’s voice cuts clean through everything.
I look up.
He’s standing a few feet back, arms crossed.
He’s not smiling.
“I need a minute.”
Way to be a Debbie Downer, bro.
The warmth bleeds out of the moment fast enough to feel like a drop in temperature.
I nod once.
