The silence wasn't uncomfortable.
It hadn't been for a very long time.
Most people thought intimacy came from conversations.
They were wrong.
Real intimacy was standing beside someone and feeling no need to fill the quiet.
Eventually I guided her back inside, closing the balcony door behind us and tiptoeing down the hallway so we wouldn't wake our little gremlins. The packhouse had grown quieter over the last hour and I wasn't particularly interested in explaining to Owen why he should be asleep instead of plotting his next sugar-related crime.
By the time we reached our room, Aria was already half asleep.
She changed into her pajamas while I locked the main door and checked the windows one last time before turning off the lights.
Habit.
She teased me about it.
And honestly? I ho
