Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Javier wakes beside Nia and they share a quiet morning of intimacy and breakfast. Sheriff Dawson calls with news that the car from the note has been linked to a known associate of Eladio's, but the driver is still at large. The boys are due home soon, and Javier and Nia decide to face the day together, ending with them on the porch hand in hand as a car pulls into the driveway.
Javier woke to the sound of birds and the soft weight of Nia's hand on his chest. The light through her curtains was pale and gold, early enough that the world still felt like a secret. He turned his head and watched her sleep. Her mouth was slightly open, her braids spread across the pillow, one arm tucked under her cheek. She looked younger in sleep. Softer. Like the woman who ran a household with iron in her spine hadn't yet woken up.
He didn't move. Didn't want to break the spell. For a long moment he just breathed with her, matching the rise and fall of her ribs. The note was still out there. The lawsuit. The shadows. But none of it existed in this room. Just her. Just him. Just this.
Then her eyes fluttered open. She blinked, slow and hazy, and when she focused on him, a smile spread across her face like sunrise. "You been watchin' me sleep?"
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