Chapter 96

Alex’s POV

Emily was still tucked against me, her hair spilling over my chest like it had decided it belonged there.

The city noise was starting to rise, but inside the room, it felt like the world had slowed to give us this fragile reprieve.

I knew I should have let her go.

I should have said something practical, something that reminded us both of the impossibility of what we were doing but instead, I heard myself ask…

“Do you always talk to yourself in your head?”

Her head lifted, startled. “What do you mean?”

I smirked. “The way you said you practiced conversations with me before… I just keep picturing you arguing with an imaginary me on the subway.”

Color rose in her cheeks. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not,” I said, grinning. “I’m just wondering if I ever won those arguments.”

“You always won,” she muttered, burying her face back against me. “Even in my imagination you were insufferable.”

I laughed softly,