I told myself I wasn’t going to fidget, but my thumb plucked at my belt loop.

He stared into my eyes, brows creasing. “For real?”

“Yeah. And if you say no, I’d appreciate we just forgot I made this offer.”

I’d told myself I wasn’t going to say that either. My thumb plucked at my belt loop again.

“If you’d rather sleep, I know you finished patrol a bit ago.”

And that. Damn it.

“No,” he said, negating. He looked at me. “Yeah. Yes.”

I started forward. He put a hand out, flat to my stomach.

“Hold up.”

I remained where I was, frozen, tense, nervous.

“Boundaries?” he asked. “Or better yet, why?”

I could have lied, or come up with reasons.

“I don’t want to be alone right now. I want to be the opposite of alone.”

“Okay, then. That’s why,” he said, and his voice was breathy. My hair stood on end. His hand was still flat against my stomach. “Boundaries? Rules? How do we go about this?”

“No talking?” I ventured. “That’s easier. Talking leads to thinking and I don’t want to think for the next… thirty minutes.”

“That’s harder. There’s stuff to figure out partway, there’s questions, do you want… vigorous? Rough? Gentle? Also, holy shit, thirty minutes.”

“Gentle,” I said, barely a whisper. “It’s okay if thirty minutes is a big ask. Skin to skin contact. Tender. Anything that’s…”

“Not alone?” he asked.

I nodded.

My heart was hammering. I was terrified. A whole morass of dark thoughts lurked near the back of my brain, but that other drive won over. At least in this context.

“I don’t have protection,” he said.

“I do. Grabbed some on the way over. For what it’s worth, it’s been… years. I’ve had checkups since then.”

“I’ve been checked up since,” he echoed me.

He stepped out of the doorway. Inviting me into the dim room. There wasn’t wall art, but he did have a plant, something like a bonsai, and rocks. There were some books on the bookshelf, but almost none were sitting up the right way, and most were lying on their side like bricks or stacked up into towers, to make more use of the space.

He couldn’t have even been here that long. Curious, that he’d bring a plant and rocks to a barracks-style dormitory room.

“My boundary,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I have neighbors.”

“I figured,” I whispered. “No noise above a whisper.”

He nodded.

My phone was warm in my pocket, the text one gesture away. Message from the Wardens, verdict reached. Capricorn, good to go. Sveta, good to go. Precipice, A-okay. Lookout, cleared provided there was supervision. She would have access to her tech. No word on Tattletale, but that hardly mattered.

Antares: benched. Stay nearby, await further instructions.

Anelace began to remove his long-sleeved shirt. I stopped him.