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I didn't plan on letting him stay. I didn't plan on falling asleep beside him. Wrapped up in him. Breathing in sync like our bodies remembered something our minds kept trying to forget.
But the truth?
The moment I shut the door on Greyson... and turned around to see Ace standing there in my living room...
All I wanted was him.
Not the fights. Not the drama. Not the jealousy.
Him.
⸻
He looked shaken — not scared, but shaken — and it did something awful to my heart. "Ace..." I whispered.
Ace looked up at me with tired, raw eyes. Eyes I hadn't seen in months. Eyes that weren't The Heartbreaker, or the superstar, or the stage god everyone screamed for.
Just Ace.
"Do you want to go?" I asked quietly.
He shook his head. "Do you want me to?"
My throat tightened. Something in me wanted to say "yes". I felt like I should have said YES. We needed space and I should have asked for it. I should've remembered how broken we were last night.
Instead, I whispered, "No. Stay."
He breathed out like he'd been underwater.
We talked softly for a while. It was careful, like two people holding broken glass.
We talked about his parents. About Greyson and the tour. Even about the jealousy we didn't want to admit.
I didn't touch him at first.
But when he leaned his head back against the couch and rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhausted, I reached over... taking his hand I mine.
He didn't speak or move. He just looked down at our fingers tangled together like it was something he thought he'd never feel again.
That's when he said it — barely above a whisper but I still heard him. "I missed you." I almost cried.
We hadn't even meant to fall asleep.
One minute, we were sitting there touching hands... the next, I was curled against his chest, his arm around my waist, my hand pressed over his heart.
His breath softened and I noticed his body relax. He wasn't restless, or angry, or guarded.
Instead he seemed peaceful. So peaceful that I let myself drift...
His lips brushed the side of my forehead as he exhaled in his sleep.
I didn't move and break the moment. I fell asleep to the sound of Ace breathing — something I'd missed more than I wanted to admit.
