Page 3 of You Found Me in the Dark
But she wasn’t a kid anymore.
Somewhere along the line, she’d grown up, and I hadn’t seen it coming. It hit me in this quiet moment when the world stilled just enough to notice the weight she carried like armor, the way her silence spoke louder than words ever could. It wasn’t just that she looked different.Shewas different.
Wren was twenty-six now. She was no longer the girl who used to follow Cam, her brother, and me around barefoot in the summers, with wild braids and scraped knees. Her wavy auburn hair was longer now. The soft strands framed her heart-shaped face and spilled over her shoulders, well past her collarbones. Her eyes were hazel, but never just one color. They always shifted with her mood, catching gold in the sunlight and green in the shadows. Pale freckles dusted the bridge of her nose and cheeks. They were faint, but always there, like a soft reminder of all the summers that came before. Her lips were full and expressive. They had a way of curling just before she said something smart or pressing tight when she was trying to hold herself together.
She had that quiet kind of beauty. The kind that knocked theair out of your lungs when you didn’t look away. And God help me, I was always looking.
Shit.Stop it.
This wasn’t the time or the place, and thisdefinitelywasn’t the person. She wasn’t mine to look at like that.
I gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles blanching against it as I told myself this was nothing, just a moment. This was only me being tired or overthinking. My jaw was closed so tight that I thought I might crack a tooth. I stole one last glance at her anyway. Her profile was calm and unmoving, but I could see the tension in her jaw and the way her hands were clasped too tightly in her lap. She wasn’t fine. Not even close. The urge to reach over, or to sayanything, to justdosomething to make it better, was gnawing at me.
But what was I supposed to do? Let her lean on me, just until she doesn’t need to anymore? Pretend I wasn’t already halfway down a road I had no business even looking at?
I thought about her brother, Cameron, and how he’d look at me if he ever knew what was going through my head right now. He trusted me. I was the one who helped him keep the world off her back when they first moved in together. What would he do if he found out I wasn’t just protecting her anymore, that I wasnoticingher?
Hell, I didn’t even know what I wanted from this or her. It wasn’t like I had some plan, some hidden agenda. Although this feeling and these thoughts weren’t new. I let out a breath, quiet and slow, hoping it would settle something inside me. As usual, it didn’t. So I drove, and I didn’t speak, I just focused on the road.
3
WREN
The drive was quiet, not awkward-quiet, just really fucking quiet.
I cracked my window a bit, which honestly helped calm me down a bit. We still didn’t talk much. A couple of comments here and there, a small laugh when Reed got lost in a neighborhood he should’ve known. But mostly, it was silent. For once, the silence didn’t feel like loneliness. He didn’t ask questions, and I didn’t offer explanations. It was honestly kind of perfect.
When he pulled up in front of my house, the porch light was still on. My chest tightened. Not because I didn’t want to be home, but because being home meant stepping back into everything I was trying not to remember.
Reed didn’t turn off the engine. Just shifted the car into park and leaned back a little, his left hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on his thigh. He glanced at the dashboard clock reading twelve fifty-two a.m., then back at me.
“You want me to walk you up?” he asked, a sweet, soft smirk playing athis mouth.
I smiled, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
His eyes lingered on me a second too long, like he was still waiting to make sure I wasn’t going to unravel the second I stepped out of the car. I hated how he could see that so easily. But at the same time, I was grateful.Reallygrateful.
“Thanks for the drive,” I said, my fingers curling around the door handle.
“You sure you’re good?” he questioned, not pushing but just checking.
I shook my head. “No,” I smiled my biggest smile and said, “but I’ll fake it.”
That earned a low exhale from him, almost a laugh.
His gaze flicked to the house, then back to me. “If you ever need to take a drive,” he said with a smile, “you know where to find me and how to reach me.’”
I looked at him, and for once, I didn’t make a joke. I didn’t deflect. I just whispered, “Okay.”
I opened the door, hopping out of his truck into the chill of the night. The outdoor garage light buzzed above me like it was annoyed I was back so late. Before I closed the door, I paused, just for a second.
“Hey, Reed?” I said softly.
He looked over to where I stood, hand still on the wheel. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for not asking.”
He shrugged. “Anytime.”
