A Cage Built for Two Chapter 2

4:17 AM. The phone rang five times before the connection clicked open.

"...Jesse?"

His voice was thick with sleep, but he pronounced my name with sudden, razor-sharp clarity.

I opened my mouth. The tears got there before the words did.

"...Cole."

Silence fell on the other end for two beats. Then came the violent rustle of bedsheets, followed by the metallic jangle of keys.

"Where are you?"

"Home."

"Stay on the line. Don't hang up. I'm coming."

The roar of an engine ripped through the receiver, crackling over the static. His breathing was heavy and ragged, like he had bolted from his sheets straight into the driver’s seat.

In under twenty minutes, my doorbell rang.

I looked through the peephole. It was him.

His white t-shirt was wrinkled, his grey sweatpants rumpled, his dark hair a mess.

The second I pulled the door open, his pupils shrank. His hand rose, hovered above my head for half a beat, and then pressed gently against the nape of my neck, pulling me forward.

"Inside," he murmured. "Let's talk inside."