Ender was sprawled out on it with one arm slung over his eyes, chest bare, and jeans riding low on his hips.He’d taken the couch every night since I’d been here, never once acting like it was a sacrifice.Just… his place.
Knowing he was there did something to me.
It wasn’t dramatic.It wasn’t loud.It was subtle and steady, like my nervous system finally exhaled when my brain registered him in the room.Like my body had learned a new rule:Ender close equals safe.
I didn’t question it.It just made sense.
Before all of this, I’d always thought Ender was handsome.That was easy.Safe.He was tall and broad-shouldered, calm in a way that made people gravitate toward him without even realizing why.His presence filled a space without demanding it.
He was off-limits.
I’d told myself that so many times it had become fact.
Now?
Now there was no going back.
Something had changed the moment he wrapped his arms around me on the side of the road.When he whispered that I was safe and I believed him without question.When he stayed without being asked, without being told, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I didn’t just feel protected by Ender.
I feltchosen.
And that terrified me just as much as it thrilled me.
I wondered if he felt it too.
Or if this was all in my head.If he just saw me as Carnie and Freak’s daughter.Basil’s annoying sister.A girl he’d grown up around.Someone he felt responsible for because he’d been the one to find me.
The thought twisted in my chest.
“You’re thinking so loud you woke me up,” Ender groaned from the couch.
I startled, my heart jumping before I could stop it.
He hadn’t moved much.One arm still over his eyes and his voice rough with sleep.
“How can you hear me thinking?”I asked.
He cracked one eye open.“I just do.”
I frowned.“Then what am I thinking?”
He huffed out a quiet laugh.“Not a damn clue.But I can hear the wheels in your head turning.”
I smiled despite myself.“I’ll try to think quieter.”
“At least wait until after breakfast,” he said.
I laughed softly and lay my head back on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling.
Silence settled between us.Not awkward—comfortable.
“What day is it?”I asked after a moment.
“Hell if I know,” Ender chuckled.“Friday.Maybe Saturday.”
I hummed.“That sounds about right.”