Then back up.
He was still standing there.
Closer now than he had been at the window.
Not close enough to matter physically.
But close enough that I noticed.
“Tomorrow’s going to be worse,” I said.
“Yeah,” he replied.
That was it.
No argument.
No correction.
Just agreement.
And somehow that was the most honest thing all night.
I lay backslightly on the bed.
Not fully.
Just enough to reset the space I was sitting in.
Mason didn’t move.
But he also didn’t leave.
And that was the thing I couldn’t ignore anymore.
Not presence.
Consistency.
Twenty Five
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
MASON
Sleep didn’t come easily in a room like this.
Not because it was uncomfortable.
Because it was shared.
And because every small sound suddenly meant something.
The lamp was still on.
Dim enough to feel like it shouldn’t matter, bright enough that it did anyway.
Rowan had shifted back to her bed at some point, sitting cross-legged with her phone again.
