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“Six hours,” I negotiate, already feeling my body surrendering to the pull of exhaustion.

“Eight,” she counters.

“Seven,” I offer, “and I get to set an alarm.”

Vesper considers this, then nods. “Deal. But I'm staying to make sure you actually sleep.”

“That's not necessary,” I mumble, though the thought of her keeping watch over me sends an unexpected warmth through my chest.

“It absolutely is,” she insists, shifting off me to sit more comfortably beside me. “I don't trust you not to sneak back to your computer.”

She's not wrong. I exhale slowly, the fight draining out of me. My eyelids feel impossibly heavy, my limbs leaden.

"Fine," I concede, "but this is completely ridiculous."

“So you've said. Now close your eyes.”

The irony isn't lost on me. She is comforting me when I'm the one who failed her. But I'm too exhausted to fight it, too selfish to push her away.

With one quick motion, I tug her beside me, wrapping my arm around her waist before she can protest. Her body tenses in surprise, but I hold firm, pulling her closer until her back is flush against my chest.

“Alex,” she gasps. “What are you doing?”

“Compromising,” I mumble against her head, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. “If I'm sleeping, so are you.”

"This wasn't part of the deal.”

“I'm renegotiating,” I reply, my words already slurring as exhaustion pulls me under. “Fair's fair.”

We fall silent, our breathing gradually synchronizing in the quiet room. Her presence in my arms feels right in a way I can'tarticulate, like a missing piece slotting into place. My thumb traces idle circles on her hip, a soothing gesture as much for me as for her.

The steady rise and fall of her chest slows, becoming more rhythmic. I fight against my own exhaustion just to savor this moment a little longer.

“Sleep, Alex,” she orders. “I'll be here when you wake up.”

Those words settle something within me. My eyes grow impossibly heavy, and I finally surrender to the exhaustion that's been clawing at me for days. As consciousness begins to slip away, I feel her fingers intertwine with mine against her stomach. The last thing I register is the soft, even cadence of her breathing, a lullaby drawing me into oblivion.

ZAIRE

My knee won't stop bouncing.Six hours. She's been in there with him for six fucking hours. I check my watch again, though the time hasn't changed since I looked thirty seconds ago.

“If you keep that up, you're going to wear a hole in the floor,” Oscar says, not looking up from his phone. My twin's calm exterior would fool anyone else, but I know better. The slight tension in his jaw, the fact that his phone doesn’t have a singleapp open, he's just as concerned as I am. He's just better at hiding it.

“It's been six hours,” I mutter, standing to pace the length of our living room. “What the hell are they doing in there?”

“Sleeping,” Talon answers from his spot on the armchair, scrolling through his phone. “Like normal humans do after being awake for forty-eight hours straight.”

“Together,” I point out, the word coming out sharper than intended.Shit. Get a hold of yourself.

Talon raises an eyebrow. “Jealous?”

“Concerned,” I correct, though the burning sensation in my gut suggests otherwise. "Alex isn't exactly the warm and fuzzy type."

“She went in to make sure he actually slept instead of working himself to death,” Oscar reminds me. “Which is what we all agreed needed to happen. Out of all of us, she is the only person he’ll listen to.”

“We agreed someone should check on him,” I counter. “Not crawl into bed with him.”

Talon snorts. “You don't know that's what happened. She could have him tied down to the bed for all we know.”