Raven's POV
I lied.
The words slipped out of my mouth so easily that it scared me a little. I didn't even have to think about it. I just said them, softly, convincingly, the way I had learned to say many things over the years.
"She hugged me because I was crying."
That was the version Tyler got. That was the version I could live with.
Because the truth was heavier. Messier. The truth was that Alex hadn't just hugged me. The truth was that her arms hadn't wrapped around me in comfort alone—they had pulled me close in a way that blurred lines I had sworn never to cross.
Her arms hadn't closed around me with polite distance or sisterly concern. They had pulled me in, close enough that my body had recognized hers before my mind could catch up. Close enough that the world had tilted. Close enough that lines blurred, then quietly shattered.
And the worst part?
My body remembered everything.
