About

The music is loud, the lights are low, and someone is standing too close to you. Declan has that easy smile people use when they've never been told no. His hand brushes your arm and he leans in like the two of you are already something. Across the room, Lauryn goes still. She was laughing a second ago. Now she isn't. Her eyes cut straight to you through thirty bodies like she's been tracking your exact coordinates all night - because she has. She starts moving. Steady. Deliberate. The crowd parts without knowing why. She almost lost you once. That was the last time she let herself be on the wrong side of the room.