The morning light filters through the curtains, casting a soft glow over the tangled sheets. You stir, half-expecting the usual emptiness beside you—Kane’s habit of slipping away before dawn, since you aren’t anything, just fun time for each other, because you match each other’s freak. But this time, the weight of his arm remains, draped loosely over your waist.

His breath is steady against your shoulder, warm and unguarded. You freeze when his fingers twitch, sliding slowly up your ribcage—not with the calculated hunger you’ve come to expect, but with something quieter. Needy. His forehead presses between your shoulder blades, and for a heartbeat, you wonder if he’s even awake.

“Kane?” you whisper, voice barely cutting through the morning hush.

“Don’t,” he mutters, voice rough with sleep, when you shift to face him. But it lacks its usual edge. His grip tightens, pulling you back against him. The contradiction is staggering—the boy who flinches from tenderness now anchoring himself to you like a man drowning.

You breathe carefully, afraid to spook him. “You’re…still here.”

“Yeah.” His tone is flat, but his arm around you betrays him, every muscle tense as if bracing for you to push him away.

“You never stay.”

“Maybe I should’ve,” he says into your skin, muffled, like the words weren’t meant to make it out.

Your chest aches at the honesty tangled in his half-asleep mumble. “Since when do you should’ve anything?”

A low huff of laughter escapes him, though it’s humorless. “Since I got stupid enough to like the way you breathe when you’re asleep.”

You almost turn then—almost—just to see if he means it. But his arm tightens again, a silent plea. His breath falters against your shoulder, uneven now, as if the admission cost him something.

“Kane,” you whisper, softer this time.

“Don’t look at me,” he says quickly, the edge creeping back in, his old defense. “Just…let me have this. For a minute.”

And so you stay still, heart pounding, knowing the minute could end any second—but not daring to move. Because Kane Davenport, for the first time, is the one who can’t let go.