The hallway echoed with the rhythmic tap of my sneakers.
I didn’t know where I was going.
I just knew I needed to be anywhere but there—away from Damien, from Madison, from the cafeteria full of wide eyes and whispered rumors.
But as I rounded the corner near the library, I felt it again.
That presence.
It wasn’t heavy.
Not threatening.
Just… intense.
Like the air bent differently around it.
Around him.
I turned my head slowly, and there he was.
Killian Vance.
He stood partially in the shadows, leaning against the lockers like he’d been there for years, waiting.
My heart skipped.
“You’re not very good at hiding,” I said before I could stop myself.
His lips twitched. Just slightly.
“I wasn’t hiding,” he replied, voice low and smooth like midnight thunder.
My eyes narr
