EMBER’S POV

Knox stiffens.

His hand lifts from my thigh and he shifts on the stool and I can see him reaching for the deflection before it’s even fully formed.

“You just woke up. We can talk about this another time, there’s no rush—”

“No.” I turn to face him. “I’m finally brave enough and I can’t bear one more second sitting next to you pretending everything is fine if we don’t go back to that day. I need us to go back to that day, Knox.” My eyes find his and I let him see everything — the fear, the shame, the desperate need to clean this wound before...