Caleb noticed.
I don't know exactly when – maybe it was the way I stopped flinching when Rhys touched me in public, or the way my laugh around him had shifted from performative to real, or maybe Caleb just had a predator's instinct for knowing when something he considered his was slipping further out of reach. But he noticed.
He found me between classes. Fell into step beside me like it was still something we did, like the last month hadn't happened, like we were still the version of us that walked together everywhere.
"Can I ask you something?" Casual. Light. The tone of a friend making conversation.
"Sure."
"You're not actually taking Maddox seriously, right?"
I kept walking. Didn't look at him.
"I mean – he's fine. Whatever. But you know what he is. He's a transfer with a violent
