NOAH
The impact was less of a greeting and more of a structural collision. Cyan didn't just find me; he annexed me.
One second I was drowning in the cold, oily depth of Nick's condescension, and the next, the world was nothing but neon pink and the crushing, rib-cracking pressure of two arms locked around my middle.
He screeched my name... a high, joyous sound that probably shattered windows three blocks away... and then I was airless.
My feet dangled. My brain, already frayed from a weekend of silence and ten minutes of psychological warfare, simply stalled out.
I didn't know what to do with my hands. I didn't know how to process being held with this much unconditional, unbridled enthusiasm.
It was a physical wall of warmth that didn't ask for a reason to exist.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD—"
