Alaric
The instant the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
The tension around the dining table shifted almost immediately after I mentioned Sophia, and suddenly I could not stop thinking about how ridiculous I must have sounded.
Why the hell did I even say that?
I was tired of hearing her name leave Nico's mouth every five minutes, and somehow that irritation had slipped out before I could stop myself. Now I sounded exactly like what I did not want to sound like.
Jealous.
Nico's brown eyes never left mine after that question, but I looked away almost immediately because I could not bear holding his stare after saying something that embarrassingly possessive.
The silence stretching between us afterward felt unbearable.
The warm atmosphere from earlier disappeared completely, replaced by something tighter and far more awkward. Even the soft music still playing quietly in the background suddenly felt too loud inside the silence.
For several long moments, neither of us spoke.
