Page 116 of The Casting Couch

We waited just outside the exit.Me pacing, Jack tapping his foot, and Liam scrolling TikTok with an intensity usually reserved for defusing a bomb.I was practically vibrating out of my sneakers.Any second now.

And then, there he was.

Bradley stepped out, flanked by two guards.No cuffs.No orange jumpsuit, thank God.Just his old jeans, a gray hoodie, and that cautious little squint he got when he stepped into sunlight — like he didn’t quite trust the world not to slap him again.His hair was a mess.His face was tired.He looked perfect.

I moved without thinking.Just went.

His eyes locked on mine, and he broke into the smallest smile, the kind that cracked something open in my chest and let every bit of light pour in.

I didn’t tackle-hug him, which felt like personal growth.But I did wrap my arms around him, tight, not even caring how clingy it looked.I felt him exhale into my shoulder, like he’d been holding his breath for weeks.

“Hi,” he whispered, voice scratchy.

“Hey,” I said.“You’re out.”

He pulled back just enough to look at me.“You really came.”

“I said I would.”

Jack honked the horn.“Alright, Riker’s Romeo, bring your man to the car before we all start crying out here.”

Bradley laughed.It was quiet, hoarse, but real.That sound was worth everything.

Liam popped the back door open, and Bradley climbed in.I slid in next to him, our knees touching.Jack pulled out of the lot and hit the road like we were making a prison break.

“So,” Liam said, glancing back with a grin, “do we call you Jailbird now or wait for the tattoos?”

“Already planning your teardrop tattoo?”Jack added.“Maybe one for every time you punched that dude’s ass.”

Bradley snorted.“You two are idiots.”

“Free idiots,” Liam said cheerfully.

“I liked you better when I was behind bars,” Bradley muttered, but he was smiling.Really smiling.His fingers brushed mine on the seat, and I didn’t move away.

The city rolled past the windows, summer sunlight casting everything in that golden-movie-trailer glow.Traffic was light.The world felt different.Brighter.Or maybe that was just me, high on the fact that he was next to me, breathing the same air, and not locked away.

We were quiet for a while, the good kind.Comfortable.Like the hum of something you don’t want to name just yet.

Then Bradley spoke, softly but clearly.“Hey.Are we heading back to the hostel?”

I looked at him, heart flipping.

“No,” I said.

He blinked, turning his head just enough to catch my expression.“Then… where are we going?”

Jack slowed the car and turned onto my street.“Home, obviously,” he said casually.

Liam chimed in from the back.“Unless you’d prefer a bunk bed and a communal bathroom with a mysterious black mold colony.”

Bradley frowned.“Wait.Whose home?”

I didn’t answer.

Didn’t need to.

Because right then Jack pulled up in front of my building.Bradley didn’t move.He looked at me again, slower this time, eyes full of something warm and complicated and cautious.

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