The campus library was a cavern of silence at two in the morning on a Monday. Most of the students were asleep, leaving only the most desperate caffeine-fueled scholars hunched over the glowing screens of the basement computer lab.
Mara sat at a corner terminal, her eyes burning as she scrolled through the hundredth photograph on the university’s social media tag for The District.
Ethan sat in the chair beside her, his posture relaxed, an open textbook resting forgotten on his lap. He had been with her for four hours, fetching her black coffee, offering soft words of encouragement, and playing the role of the devoted, harmless ally to absolute perfection.
Every time Mara looked at him with that desperate, grateful exhaustion, a warm, golden sense of triumph bloomed in Ethan’s chest. He
