Colton
The house was too quiet.
Too still.
Too heavy with everything left unsaid.
Colton sat at the edge of the couch, elbows braced against his knees, staring at the floorboards as if the right words might appear between the grain. Upstairs, he could hear Zara moving around, slow and careful, probably getting ready for bed. He’d been so close to telling her. He could still feel the words burning on his tongue, his chest still tight from the way her blue eyes had widened when he started to explain. He’d had the moment in his hands—only for it to shatter when Ria and Tessa had walked in.
The interruption had saved him and damned him all at once.
He dragged his hands down his face and groaned.
“Coward,” he muttered to himself, the word echoing in the silence. “Just a damn coward.”
Co
