Chapter 34. The Night He Stays

Rae POV

He didn't ask right away.

He looked at me for a long moment in the doorway, the hall light behind me and the lamp in his room turned low behind him. I could hear his heart doing something complicated.

"You heard Jesse," I said.

"I heard you." His voice was rough. "I heard you say my name like it was a decision."

"It was."

He swallowed. Then he stepped back from the door, just one step, and held it open.

"Stay tonight, Rae," he said. "Please."

I walked in. He closed the door behind me, and the latch clicked, and it was the loudest sound I'd ever heard.

***

I'd thought I would be nervous. I'd been nervous with Brett for