Luna’s POV
I wake slowly, sunlight slipping through the curtains, my body still curled against the warmth Ashton left behind, the sheets tangled from a night that feels, somehow, both exhausting and lighter than any I can properly remember. I lie there a moment longer, replaying pieces of last night, the words I finally let out, the way he simply held me through all of it, never once flinching, never once looking at me like I was something broken or too much to handle.
I've never told anyone that story before. Not Mr Farris, not any of the staff at the home, not even to my new friends who have more than earned my trust. It was fear, mostly, I think . . . fear that saying it aloud would make it more real, or worse, that whoever heard it might look at me the way everyone always seemed to,
