-Vaughn Blackmore:
I stepped out of the taxi and closed the door behind me a little slower than I should have, like my body was trying to delay the moment without my permission.
The camp was right there in front of me.
Familiar. Real. The same place where everything had started to change between us in ways I still didn't fully know how to explain.
I reached for my wallet automatically, paid the driver, and barely registered the small exchange of words before he drove off. My attention wasn't on him anymore.
It was on Ryland.
Because I felt him before I even properly saw him.
That kind of presence you just recognize without needing confirmation.
And when I looked up—
He was already looking at me.
Completely still for a fraction of a second.
Like his brain had paused just to make sure I was actually there, standing in front of him, real and close enough to touch.
And then it broke.
He moved.
Fast.
