Axel’s POV

The evening air was calm. I sat beneath the shade in the parking lot, the spot I always went to when I needed to breathe.

Alexa dropped beside me with her cup of ice cream, legs crossed and eyes bright like she had good news.

“I’m still thinking about that pizza,” she said with a soft laugh. “It was amazing. And Dami was actually nice today. She didn’t even roll her eyes at me once.”

I looked at her, half smiling. “Yeah, I noticed that too.”

There was a brief ...