I took a slow breath and walked up to the door. I didn’t want to seem scared, even though I was shaking a little.
I raised my hand and knocked once. Soft. Gentle. But enough that he’d hear.
“Damon… is everything okay?” I asked, even though I already knew it wasn’t.
There was a pause.
A long one.
A silence that told me everything I needed to know.
He didn’t answer right away.
He didn’t open the door.
And that silence? That pause? It said more than any lie ever could.
I bit my lip and stood there, heart pounding, throat dry, eyes burning with something that wasn’t quite tears yet but was definitely on the way.
The door creaked open slowly.
He didn’t yank it. He didn’t swing it wide like someone caught in the middle of something bad. No. Damon opened it like nothing had happened, l
