The echo of Tristan's words refused to leave me.
"She's already the only thing I can't let go of."
The weight of them pressed against my chest until I felt that breathing was difficult. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept hearing his low voice repeatedly, steady, almost unshakable. Yet he hadn't said those words to me; he had said them in defiance, only to his father, as though I were a secret that he could no longer keep hidden.
And I didn't know how to feel about this situation.
I should've been happy, relieved at least. Instead, I stood there, in the Donovan guestroom, staring at the same four walls, caught between the warmth of his confession and the cold reminder that it had been pulled from him like a reluctant truth.
The house was quiet, too quiet. Sophia had just returned to her room, and the distance from my own home suddenly stretched wider than it ever had before.
I sat on the edge of the guest bed, twisting my fingers together. His protectiveness earlier, the way he'd placed himself between me and danger without hesitation, kept replaying in my mind.
I'd never seen that side of him so raw, so unguarded, and it had terrified me, yet it made me feel something dangerous but safe.
Safe, with Tristan Donovan.
It sounded impossible, even to me.
My reflection in the mirror across the room caught my eye. My face was pale, with my hair a little messy from the chaos earlier, and my eyes rimmed red. Did I really belong here? The same questions keep popping out in my head. In this house, in this family's complicated world? Or am I just fooling myself by holding on to the closeness that grew every time Tristan looked at me like I was something more than Sophia's best friend?
A knock startled me, soft but firm. My heart leapt before I even moved.
"Ellie?" I heard Tristan's voice low, threaded through the door.
I froze, feeling torn between answering and keeping silent.
He knocked again, more gently this time. "Can we talk, Ellie?"
The words rattled through me, stirring up everything I had tried to bury since arriving here.
I stood, my feet were unsteady, and my pulse was racing. My hand hovered over the doorknob, caught in hesitation.
Because if I opened that door, I knew everything between us would shift into something I wasn't sure if I was ready to face.
Ellie's hand lingers on the knob, uncertain, as Tristan waits outside in silence until the door creaks open, just enough to change everything