I was half asleep when Declan’s phone buzzed on the nightstand.
His arm tightened around me before he reached for it. The screen lit his face in the dark.
I didn’t have to ask.
I knew before he said anything.
Declan stared at the message for a long moment, then set the phone down carefully.
“Olivia?” I asked, voice low.
“Yes.”
My body went alert in spite of the exhaustion.
He pulled me closer, but his breathing had changed. Not panicked. Braced.
“She confirmed her arrival time,” he said. “Tomorrow night. Seven-forty.”
Tiny snored at our feet. The room stayed warm. Declan’s hand rested over my heart like he could feel how hard it had started beating.
Tomorrow had a time now.
And neither of us could pretend it wasn’t coming.
Chapter 27
Chapter 27
DECLAN
Jace left before sunrise.
Not because either of us wanted him to. Because the world still existed outside my bedroom, and the world had cameras, neighbors, delivery drivers, bored fans, and enough timing to ruin lives.
My alarm went off at five-ten. I stopped it before the second vibration. Jace didn’t move right away. He lay on his side facing me, one hand shoved under the pillow, hair wrecked from sleep and my hands. In the thin gray before morning, he looked both younger and steadier than he had the night before.
Tiny was sprawled across the bottom third of the bed, all four paws in separate directions, the destroyed duck tucked under his chin like evidence from a crime scene.
Jace opened one eye. “If I pretend I don’t hear that, do I still have to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Bad system.”
“Necessary system.”
He made a low, unhappy sound and rolled onto his back. The movement pulled a wince from him before he could hide it.
I was sitting up before he finished inhaling. “Sore?”
He covered his face with one arm. “Do not sound that concerned. I’m fine.”
“Jace.”
He lowered his arm enough to look at me. “I’m sore. Not hurt. Green. Just, you know, aware of yesterday’s choices.”
The words landed hot in my body and hard in my chest at the same time.
