~RYDER~
We sat down like we hadn’t just lit a social grenade in the center of the restaurant.
Tessa was still breathing fast...
Her fingers clutched the edge of the cloth napkin like she was trying not to tremble.
I reached across the table and gently took her hand in mine.
“You okay?” I asked, voice low.
She nodded, but her eyes were still fixed on the path Clara had been dragged through just minutes ago. “Yeah. Just… surprised I didn’t throw the whole table at her.”
A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “You did good.”
“I slapped someone in public.”
“And she earned every millimeter of that slap.”
Tessa looked at me then... really looked... and I saw it hit her.
The shift.
That she didn’t have to shrink anymore. That she wasn’t the girl who used to survive bullies in sil
