-Ryland Grayson:
I started driving.
The engine was steady under my hands, familiar in a way that felt almost unreal after everything that had happened over the past months. The road ahead stretched out clean and open, cutting through distance I didn't really feel in the same way anymore.
I glanced to my left.
And saw him.
Vaughn was asleep in the passenger seat.
Completely relaxed, head tilted slightly toward the window, his dark blond hair falling messily across his forehead in a way that made him look softer than he ever did when he was awake and thinking too much. His breathing was slow and even, and for a second, I just let myself look at him longer than I should have.
Peaceful.
That was the only word that really made sense.
The ring was still on his finger.
Still there.
Still catching faint light now and then when the angle shifted.
