-Ezra:
I didn't understand it at first.
Not the way my body reacted to him, not the way everything inside me seemed to quiet the moment his hand settled against my throat. It should have made me tense. It should have made me pull away, react, do something.
But I didn't.
I went still.
Not frozen—just… still.
Like my mind had finally found silence for the first time in my life.
My breath came out slower, even though my heart was beating harder, louder, like it was trying to make up for everything else going quiet. And all I could focus on was him.
On Julien.
On the way, he looked at me like he knew exactly what he was doing.
"Do you feel that?" he whispered again.
"…Yes," I answered, my voice lower than usual, rougher.
His fingers shifted slightly against my throat, not enough to hurt, just enough to remind me he was there, that he was the one doing this, the one guiding everything.
"I don't sit back," he said softly. "I don't let people take control of me."
