57

57

Riley

I should leave.

That thought pounded through my skull, loud and insistent, but my body refused to move. Instead, I stayed where I was, my arms wrapped around Ethan like I could shield him from everything—his past, his pain, his self-doubt. As if holding him tight enough could erase the way Liam had made him feel.

But I wasn’t stupid. I knew it didn’t work like that.

My fingers traced slow circles against his back, feeling the way his breathing evened out, the steady rise and fall of his chest as he drifted toward sleep. He was still clinging to me, his body relaxed but his grip firm, like he was afraid I’d disappear if he let go.

That was what got me. That quiet desperation, buried under all his stubbornness and sharp words. He didn’t trust easily, but when he did, it was complete. He had given me that trust tonight, let me see him vulnerable, let me touch him in ways no one else had. And fuck—he’d said it out loud.

“I trust you, Riley.”

Those words had damn near undone me.

A