“I didn’t ask if you were capable. I said don’t if you’re distracted.”
The authority in that should have annoyed me. It did, technically. Underneath it, my body tightened with an answer I didn’t want anyone to hear.
I shifted my bag on my shoulder. “You always this bossy with everyone?”
“No.”
The honesty hit the floor between us.
Declan looked away first this time.
There it was. A crack. A real one. Not dramatic, not enough to make him careless. Just a fracture in the armor, showing the man underneath was not standing as steady as he looked.
He cleared his throat. “Go.”
One word.
A dismissal.
A mercy.
I went.
I grabbed the first meal container from the staff fridge without looking at the label. In the parking lot, I sat in my car with the engine off and ate cold chicken and rice with a plastic fork because heating it up would require walking back inside and I did not trust myself to be in the same building as him again today.
My phone buzzed twice while I ate.
Vanessa, asking if I had an ETA.
Harper, sending a picture of a dented microwave with the caption: Your expensive housewarming gift just made a noise like a dying goose. If I perish, tell Dad I was his favorite.
I answered Harper first because it was easier to be someone’s brother than someone’s boyfriend.
Me: Unplug it, idiot. I’ll buy you a new one.
Harper: Stop buying things. I can afford a microwave.
Me: On a student budget?
Harper: I said afford, not emotionally recover from.
I smiled for half a second.
Then Vanessa’s message sat there waiting, and the smile died.
Me: I’m sorry. I’m not going to make dinner tonight. I’m wiped.
The dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again.
Vanessa: Okay.
Then,
Vanessa: I wish you’d told me earlier.
I closed my eyes.
Me: I know. I’m sorry.
