~Jeremy’s POV~

I had been sitting here for so long that the plastic chair beneath me had molded to my weight, or maybe I had gone numb enough not to feel it anymore. My hands were clasped together, fingers interlocked so tightly my knuckles had turned pale, yet I hadn’t noticed when it happened.

Carrying her in earlier had felt mechanical, like my body was moving ahead of my mind, like instinct had taken over because if I stopped to think, I might have shattered completely.

I had been ...