All of that was already standing there with us.
He opened the door wider.
“Inside, Jace.”
My name in his voice nearly took my legs out.
Not Holloway. Not a color. Not an instruction for traffic or practice or keeping myself stitched together.
Jace.
I crossed the threshold.
Tiny immediately pressed his massive head into my thigh with a groan so happy it punched a cracked laugh out of me. He shoved his full weight against my leg, tail thudding into the wall, and I put a hand on his head because he didn’t leave me any choice.
“Hi, man,” I said, my voice rough. “Yeah. Okay. You’re a lot.”
Declan shut the door behind me.
The lock clicked.
Small sound. Huge consequence.
I looked up from Tiny and met Declan’s eyes.
The house was quiet except for the dog breathing against my leg like a bellows. I didn’t let myself look around. Not much. If I saw framed photos or a pair of women’s shoes by the door or any proof of the life I was stepping into, I wasn’t sure I’d stay upright. But I felt it anyway. The weight of where I was. The fact that he had given me the address. The fact that I had come.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing happened.
Declan released Tiny’s collar and came closer.
Not fast. Not dramatic. He didn’t ask me to explain. He didn’t tell me to calm down. He didn’t make me earn the comfort I had asked for with one word from a parking lot.
He lifted his hand and set it against the side of my neck.
His palm was warm. His thumb rested beneath my jaw, firm enough that my body finally had something simple to understand.
Pressure.
Stillness.
Him.
Everything I’d been holding together since Vanessa looked at me across that table broke open in my chest.
A sound came out of me, ugly and cracked.
Declan’s other arm went around my back before I could apologize.
I folded into him in the entryway of his house, cold still clinging to my jacket, Tiny pressed against my leg, and Declan held me like staying on my feet was not something I had to do alone.
Chapter 24
Chapter 24
DECLAN
