(Noah)
I rode back to the compound at a speed that matched everything sitting in my chest. Fast enough to clear my head, not fast enough to outrun what I'd left behind.
Sleep had been short and my mind was still carrying the weight of it. The kind of tired that had nothing to do with the body and everything to do with what you couldn't stop thinking about. I'd lain there in the dark after she pushed me back and told myself I was fine with it. I was fine with it. What I wasn't fine with was the version of the night where she'd kissed me back before she was fine with it, and that version kept running whether I wanted it to or not.
I arrived, killed the engine and sat there for a second before getting off the bike. The yard was already moving. Ryder was near the far building talking to two
