Ava didn't sleep.
Not after what happened on the porch.
Not after what she said.
Not after the look on Noah's face.
She lay awake staring at the ceiling while the conversation replayed over and over in her head.
"I don't know how to stop."
"I don't want you to."
The words seemed impossible now.
Like something from a dream.
Something she should have imagined.
Except she hadn't.
They were real.
Every terrifying second of it.
For months, they had hidden behind half-truths and unfinished sentences.
For months, they had pretended.
Now the pretending felt broken.
Not completely.
But enough.
Enough to change everything.
The realization should have scared her.
Instead, it made her smile.
A small smile.
One she couldn't stop.
And somehow that frightened her even more.
The ne
