He zipped his pants closed.
The sound was sharp in the quiet room.
I was still on my knees when he reached for me. His fingers slid under my chin, firm but not rough, guiding my face up as I started to stand. My legs felt unsteady for half a second, like my body hadn’t caught up with what just happened.
We were eye level now.
An inch apart.
His eyes didn’t leave mine. Not even for a blink. There was something in them I couldn’t name, something restless. Not hunger. Not control. Something tighter than that.
I lifted my hand without thinking and touched the cut above his eyebrow. The skin around it was already swelling, red, and raw beneath my fingers.
“What happened?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
Instead, his hand slid to the back of my neck and he pulled me closer, closing the spac
