Lila’s POV“IT’S NOT over,” Jacob said against my hair.The words reached me before the rest of the moment did. Before I fully registered that the door hadn’t opened, that the handle had stopped turning, and the footsteps outside had shifted again, moving away instead of pushing forward.My body was still locked in place, every muscle tight, every breath caught halfway in my chest as if it hadn’t gotten the signal that we were still safe. Or safe enough.Jacob’s hand tightened around my arm, not pulling, just grounding. His other arm moved around me, firm, steady, anchoring me in a way that made it impossible to ignore him.“They’re gone,” he murmured.I didn’t answer. Not because I didn’t hear him. Because I couldn’t. The tension hadn’t left my body yet. It was still there, coiled under my skin, waiting for something else to go wrong.“Lila,” he said, quieter now. “Look at me.”I shook my head slightly. “I can’t.”“You can.”“I can’t yet.”He didn’t push or force me to move. But his
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