Page 114 of Hidden Echoes

But she doesn’t seem afraid. She never does. And right now, I’m not sure I want to be either.

“How’s your head, sweet chaos?” I ask, my voice rough, as I take advantage of Mia’s cheeky moment to slide my hands onto her cheeks. The touch is soft, but it holds weight—an unspoken question in the way my fingers linger on her skin, warm and smooth beneath my touch. If I’m going to kiss her, if I’m going to cross that line again, I need to know she’s here with me, that she’s not running from this, from us.

Her eyes meet mine, and I see that spark in her, the one that always makes my pulse quicken. “Always in you,” she whispers, and her words hit me like a punch to the gut.Always in you—it’s the way she says it, like she’s both certain and lost at the same time.

Her breath mingles with mine, and I feel the tension between us coil tighter, until it’s almost suffocating.

Every inch of me wants to pull her closer, press my lips to hers and let everything else fall away.

But then she finds something in my eyes, something she can’t look at anymore.

A sigh escapes her lips, soft and full of something unreadable, and before I can make sense of it, she pulls away, leaving a cold emptiness where her warmth used to be.

“I have to go,” she says, her voice quieter now, less certain. “I promised I’d meet Lara.”

The words hit harder than I expect, like a wall crashing down between us. “Okay,” I murmur, but it feels like a lie—like the one thing I don’t want is for her to walk away.

I want to hold her, keep her here, let the rest of the world fade into nothing for just a little while. I want to feel the pressure of her body against mine, the taste of her on my lips, the rush of her all around me.

But I let her go. And the reason? The reason is lost on me too. Maybe it’s because I don’t know what happens after.

Maybe it’s the fear that if I pull her into this, into me, I’ll break something that can’t be fixed.

Maybe it's because I feel like trash, or because I’m not as confident as I’d like to be, or maybe it's because I'm scared I'm going to ruin this. The miracle of someone actually liking me for who I am—enough to kill for me, enough to protect me.

“I’ll be back,” she says, but it doesn’t sound like a promise.

It sounds like a question.

And with that, she’s gone.

Lara has a way of pulling Miain from the moment they meet, and it’s like she’s been doing it effortlessly ever since. It’s not that she’s literally stealing Mia from me, but it feels like that sometimes.

They’ve been spending a lot of time together, and Mia’s energy, her attention—it’s all wrapped up in Lara now.

It’s something I can’t quite explain, but I see it in the way Mia lights up when Lara’s around.

I don’t like it when Mia gets stolen. But seeing her laugh with Lara, how she lets her shoulders drop and teases back, makes me realize that this is different.

Mia has never had anyone like this—someone who wasn’t just a name among her survival options. Lara doesn’t feel like a forced bond or a heavy burden.

She just… happens.

I see it in her gestures, in the averted glances that give away that she really enjoys this friendship.

Carter never got that from her.

I know there’s a story there, one Mia hasn’t fully told me yet. But whatever it was, I know it ended with screaming and a knife in her hand.

And Carter has never been one to make anyone feel light.

He’s heavy.

Lara is different.

And maybe that’s why I don’t say anything.

Even though a part of me feels this heavy, tightness whenever she’s with someone else—like something inside me tugs, pulling at me, wanting her all to myself.

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