Chapter 65: Untitled Chapter

Roberto didn’t sleep, so he made a decision. He would fix it.

Not Kendrix. Not the situation. Himself.

The house was quiet at breakfast. Too quiet. Kendrix wasn’t there. That should have been a relief. But it wasn’t.

Bash watched him over his cereal. Skyler watched him over the tablet.

Roberto didn’t sit down. “I’m busy.”

Bash nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

Skyler didn’t look up. “You’ve been busy for four days.”

“I have work.”

“You always have work, Roberto.”

Roberto turned toward the door. “I don’t have time for this.”

Bash sighed. “See? That’s the problem.”

That word again. Like they had all agreed on something he hadn’t named yet.

He left before they could keep going. Which was becoming a habit. And habits were starting to feel like running.

. .

The study was worse because there was nothing to distract him from his own head.

Roberto sat down, opened a file, didn’t read it, closed it. Opened another. Still nothing.

His head wasn’t quiet anymore. It was crowded with Kendrix. Her voice. Her laugh in the garden. The way she said his name when she was annoyed. The way she didn’t move away when she should have.

He shut his eyes and exhaled. This was stupid. Just a distraction. Nothing more.

A knock came at the door.

“Not now.” He groaned.

The door opened anyway. Kendrix leaned against the doorframe like she belonged there. Like she always had.

“You’re avoiding everyone.”

“I’m working.”

“You’re not.”

He looked up and that was a mistake, because she was looking right back.

“Bash thinks you’re dying.”

“I’m not.”

“Skyler thinks you’re screwing up the math.”

“I’m not.”

“And I think you’re lying to yourself.”

Roberto stood up too slow, too controlled. “You shouldn’t listen to them.”

“I didn’t need to.”

That landed differently. It meant she had been watching him before they noticed.

She stepped in and closed the door behind her.

“You should leave.”

“No.” She said with no hesitation at all.

Something in him shifted. Uncomfortable and familiar.

“Kendrix…”

“I’m not leaving every time you decide things are getting hard.” She crossed her arms. “You don’t get to disappear into your head and call it responsibility. I'm don't get to always decide to leave me hanging just like that."

She was right. That was the most annoying part.

“I’m trying to prevent mistakes.”

Kendrix smiled, but there was no humor in it. “Or you’re pretending you didn’t already make one.”

That hit harder than anything Bash had said. Because it wasn’t teasing. It was clear.

Roberto looked away first and hated himself for it. When he looked back his voice was lower, strained. “This isn’t sustainable.”

Kendrix stepped closer. “You mean us?”

The word \`us\` shouldn’t exist yet. But it did. He didn’t correct her. That silence answered everything.

“You keep acting like it’ll disappear if you ignore it.”

“It should.”

“Why?”

Because it’s distracting. Because it’s dangerous. Because it’s too late. He didn’t say any of that out loud. Instead he said,

“Because I can’t afford it... Because it isn't right."

Kendrix studied him for a long moment, then nodded once. “You think it isn't right, or you’re scared of it?”

“No. I just..."

She tilted her head. “Then prove it.”

Neither of them moved. The air between them changed. Not restraint anymore. Just pressure building.

Kendrix took one more step until she was close enough that he could feel her without trying.

“You keep stopping things,” she said quietly.

“I prevent things from getting damaged.” He corrected.

“That’s not what this is.”

Roberto’s eyes dropped to her mouth for half a second before he forced them back up. He caught it. She caught it as well.

“You shouldn’t be here, Kendrix.”

“Then...make me leave.”

His hand lifted and paused in the air between them. Not touching. Asking.

Kendrix didn’t move away. She just watched him like she already knew.

Roberto didn’t retreat either.

The silence stretched between them. Not empty. Heavy with everything neither of them said out loud anymore.

His hand stayed suspended between them for another second. Then, slowly, he lowered it.

Not rejection. Control. But it cost him.

Kendrix noticed. Of course she did. Her breath was uneven now, but she didn’t step back. That was becoming the pattern. Neither of them correcting distance anymore. Just holding it.

Roberto finally exhaled sharply. Like he was pulling himself back from a ledge only he could see.

“This is not the time,” he said.

Kendrix let out a short laugh. No humor in it. “There’s never a time for you, Roberto. You always think everything's about control and containment.”

His jaw tightened. Not anger. Restraint. A different kind. He turned slightly away. Just enough to break the line between them. When he spoke again his voice had changed. It was lower and maore deliberate.

“You should go to your room.”

Kendrix didn’t move. She studied him, waiting for the correction. The withdrawal. The usual pattern. It didn’t come. That was new.

Her voice softened. “Is that you running away again?”

“No.” He sighed in exasperation. “I’m choosing not to finish what I started right now.”

That landed differently. Not rejection. Timing. Control. Self-restraint. All the things that made it worse, not better.

Kendrix swallowed once. “ Is it because of the other night?”

His eyes flickered at that. A flash. It was gone as fast as it came. But real. The car. The silence. The way neither of them talked about it since.

“Yes,” he said.

Simple, honest, no avoidance.

That honesty made her chest tighten in a way she didn’t like.

Roberto stepped back fully now. Not far. Just enough to rebuild his space. But his eyes didn’t leave her. That part had changed permanently.

“I will be with you,” he said after a beat.

Kendrix frowned. “What?”

“When I’m done working.” He paused, then added quietly. “Stay in your room.”

That wasn’t an order. Not fully. Not anymore. It was something worse. A promise wrapped in restraint.

Kendrix stared at him a long second, trying to decide if she should be frustrated or affected. Well, she was both.

“You’re serious?” She asked.

“Yes.”

The silence was different now. Not tension without direction. Tension with delay.

Kendrix stepped back first this time, slowly. “Don’t take too long,” she muttered.

Then she turned and left. The door clicked shut behind her.

Roberto stayed standing in the study a moment longer than necessary. Still listening to the echo of her presence like it hadn’t left yet. Then he sat down and opened the file again. He didn’t read it. But this time he didn’t close it.