Page 95 of Rook
Avery’s heart pounded as Rook turned back to her, his hand sliding up her arm, his thumb brushing her skin like he needed the contact.
She looked at him — really looked.
And suddenly she understood.
Noah was the boy she loved. Rook was the man he became when she wasn’t here. Both of them were standing in front of her.
“Rook,” she said softly.
His head snapped up. His breath stopped. Like she’d reached inside his chest and touched something he’d kept locked away for years.
“Avery…” His voice broke on her name.
She cupped his jaw with trembling fingers.
“I see you,” she whispered. “All of you.”
He closed his eyes like the sound of his road name on her lips was too much.
He pulled her into his arms and held her like he’d been drowning for seven years.
Rook didn’t let go right away.
His arms stayed locked around her, solid and warm, like he needed the weight of her against him to convince himself the night was over. Avery felt the tension in him, not the sharp, coiled kind she’d seen before a fight, but something deeper. Older. Worn thin.
When he finally eased his hold, he didn’t step back. He just slid his hand down her arm and laced their fingers together, his thumb brushing the inside of her wrist like he was memorizing her pulse.
“Come with me,” he murmured.
It wasn’t a command. It wasn’t even a request. It was something quieter. Something that felt like trust.
Avery followed him down the hall, past the noise and the laughter and the thrum of victory still humming through the clubhouse. When he closed the door behind them, the silence felt different. Not heavy, not tense. Just… theirs.
Rook stood there for a moment, back against the door, breathing like he was trying to settle something inside himself. Avery watched him, the rise and fall of his chest, the way his hands flexed once before he let them fall still.
She stepped closer. “Noah.”
His eyes lifted to hers, and the look in them made her breath catch, raw, unguarded, stripped of every wall he’d spent years building.
“I didn’t realize how hard it would hit me,” he said quietly. “Walking in the clubhouse and seeing you there. Waiting for me.”
Avery’s heart tightened. “I was scared.”
“I know.” His voice roughened. “I was too.”
She reached for him, fingertips brushing the bruise along his jaw. He leaned into her touch like he couldn’t help it.
“I’ve spent so long trying not to need anything,” he said. “Trying not to want anything. And then you show up and suddenly I’m…” He broke off, jaw clenching. “I’m not built for this, Aves. Not the way other men are.”
Avery stepped closer until her chest brushed his. “You don’t have to be built for anything. You just have to be here.”
His breath shuddered out of him.
She slid her hands up his arms, slow and steady, grounding him. “You came back to me tonight. That’s enough.”
Rook’s eyes softened, not in weakness, but in a way that made him look real. Human. Hers.
He cupped her jaw, thumbs brushing her cheeks. “I want this,” he said, voice low. “I want you. I just… don’t always know how to put the important things into words.”
