The door creaked open another inch.
Then another.
I squeezed my eyes shut so tight that little stars burst behind my eyelids. My whole body felt like it had turned to stone.
Please don’t be him. Please don’t be him. The words looped in my head like a song I couldn’t stop humming.
My arms hugged my knees harder, and my fingers digging into my skin, I waited for Ryder’s deep voice, cold one to cut through the quiet.
But the footsteps were soft and careful.
I cracked one eye open.
It wasn’t Ryder.
Blade stood in the doorway. His dark hair looked messier than usual, like he’d run his hands through it a hundred times. In his hand he held my pen, the blue one I always carried in my pocket. He looked down at me where I sat curled against the door, knees up to my chin.
“You dropped this
