Bailey’s POV
“Thank you,” I said quietly after a while, my voice hoarse and uneven, because no matter how confused I felt, what Raven had done still mattered to me, and I couldn’t pretend it didn’t.
He nodded once, like it was nothing, like he hadn’t just held me together while I fell apart. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“But I want to,” I replied, rubbing my arms, suddenly aware of how exposed I felt now that the anger had drained out of me. “You didn’t have to do that. You could have stopped me or told me to pull myself together.”
“I wouldn’t,” he said simply.
That answer should have comforted me. It should have made me feel safe. Instead, it made something tighten inside my chest, because lately everything they did felt like it came with a reason, a purpose I didn’t fully understan
