Page 90 of Freestyle
I pause, trying to form the rightwords.
“We were waiting for a reason to burn anyone who already did.”
She lets out a shaky breath. “I didn’t want to be a burden.”
“You’re not,” I murmur. “You’re a fuse, and we’ve been lit since the first night we had you. There’s nothing calm about what you woke in us.”
She’s quiet again, but this time when she looks at me, it’s with something else beneath the surface. Trust, or something dangerous close to it. Something even deeper perhaps.
I’d walk through hell if it meant she looked at me like this again
I’m still looking at her, watching the way her breath catches like the words struck something she didn’t expect.
The wind threads through her hair again, but she doesn’t look away.
I take a step closer, my voice rough with truth. “You think we’re steady, but we’ve been standing in gasoline since the night you came through that door. You didn’t just light a match, Rowyn... you rewrote gravity.”
She swallows hard, eyes flicking between mine, searching for the part where I might be kidding.
I’m not.
“You’re not a burden. You’re not broken, and you’re sure as hell not something we’re just surviving. You’re the reason we don’t sleep, the reason weburn.”
She doesn’t say anything but her hand finds mine again, slowly, deliberate.
There’s no warning, not a glance, not a breath drawn in hesitation. Just her, warm and sudden, pressing up on her toes, fingers catching lightly at the front of my shirt like she needs to anchor herself.
And then her mouth is on mine.
Soft.
Intentional.
Like maybe she’s been holding it in too long, and finally got tired of pretending.
I freeze, just for a second, because everything inside me shifts. The world tilts. My hands find her waist, then her back, and I pull her closer like instinct’s the only language I speak.
She kisses like she’s scared she’ll regret it, but more scared shewon’t.
My heart’s a wrecking drum in my chest, and when she finally leans back, barely, our foreheads brush. Her breath fans across my skin.
She doesn’t speak.
Neither do I, because words aren’t made for moments like this.
Not when everything is already burning.
Twenty Two
Rowyn
It’sthemiddleofthe night and I’m curled between Gray and Nix, their body heat enveloping me, making me feelsafe?Or is it more than that?
I think I was having a nightmare, but something woke me up. Listening to the soft snores around me, comforts me until I’m almost back asleep. Then I hear what woke me. My phone is vibrating on the bed side table.Who would be texting at this time?
The sheets whisper as I shift, sliding carefully out from under their warmth. Gray’s arm twitches once like he doesn’t want to let me go, but his breathing stays deep, steady.Phoenix doesn’t move at all, but even in sleep, he feels like something sharp coiled beneath the surface.
My phone buzzes again.
