Stay calm, Evie. Stay calm.
But I was shaking with anger.
Not the loud kind. Not the kind that screamed or threw things.
This was the kind that lived deep in your bones. That crawled under your skin and clenched your throat and made everything feel too quiet.
We were eating takeout on his couch.
Ryder was talking about football now.
Something about new drills and how Coach Graham was riding him hard about missing a pass last week. His voice was low, familiar.
Safe.
But I barely heard a word.
My fingers were curled around the chopsticks, noodles untouched in the container.
He glanced at me mid-sentence, brow creasing. "You okay? You've barely said a word."
I didn't look at him.
Not yet.
if I didn't say it, I would die from within. Even though I wante
