Alex sent the message before he could talk himself out of it.
**Alex:**
Can we meet today.
Stolas replied while Alex was still sitting on the edge of the bed with the phone in his hand.
**Stolas:**
Same benches. One hour.
Only if you want to. Not because you feel cornered.
Alex stared at the second line longer than the first. Then he got up, dressed, and went downstairs. Troy was in the kitchen finishing coffee, jacket already on. He looked up when Alex entered.
“I’m going to campus,” Alex said.
Troy’s fingers tightened once around the mug, then loosened. “All right.”
No interrogation. No demand for a timeline. The restraint from the day before was still in place, thin but holding. Alex felt the weight of it as both relief and pressure. He nodded once and left before the qu
