Brandon's POV
I lay awake long after the house had gone quiet, staring at the ceiling while shadows stretched and shifted above me. Chloe slept beside me, her breathing shallow at first, then slowly evening out as exhaustion finally claimed her. She was curled slightly toward me, one hand tucked beneath her cheek, the other resting dangerously close to my chest—as if even in sleep, she needed to know I was still there.
I replayed everything in my head. Every pause. Every look she avoided. Every word she almost said but swallowed instead.
Something was going on inside her. I could feel it the way you feel a storm before it breaks—thick in the air, heavy in your lungs.
The more she hesitated, the more my curiosity sharpened into something restless and uncomfortable. Chloe had never been good at lying. She was good at silence, though at retreating into herself when the truth felt too sharp to hold.
