Chapter 23

Avery

I held my breath after the words left my mouth—*I don't know what to do*—and instinctively took half a step back, bracing for the moment when his expression would shift from shock to something worse. Regret, perhaps. Disgust. The cold, polite dismissal I'd seen on Reece's face a hundred times, the one that said *you're not worth the trouble*.

But the moonlight fell across Ryker's features,