COLIN’S POV
I don’t move, I can’t, my body just stops because I’m looking at him, not casually, not the way you look at a kid in the room, no, I’m really looking, and something about that hits wrong or maybe it hits too right, and the longer I stand here the harder it gets to tell the difference, especially with the way I can feel her watching me, like she’s waiting for something.
My chest tightens slowly, not sharp, not sudden, just this deep pressure that settles in and doesn’t leave, like my body is reacting before my mind catches up, like it already knows something I haven’t figured out yet and it’s pulling me toward it whether I want it or not.
I swallow hard, my gaze still locked on him, my thoughts starting to shift, to connect things I didn’t want to connect before, pieces I ign
