Silence pressed in. Not awkward, but not comfortable either. Emma broke it gently. “Well, don’t let me interrupt.”
“You’re not,” Jacob said, already half a step back. “I was just heading over there to check in with Caroline.”
“It was nice to meet you,” Emma added.
Jacob nodded once, and then he was gone—swallowed by the crowd like he’d never been there.
Emma turned to Liam, still smiling. “He’s quieter than I expected.”
Liam’s eyes stayed on the empty space where Jacob had stood. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Not always.”
***
An hour later he was drinking more than he should. Emma gave him a look over her glass but said nothing. He knew what that look meant—but still, he didn’t stop.
His gaze had been dragging back to Jacob and Caroline all night. Stupid. He knew it and yet he couldn’t stop himself. Every time he tried, his gaze slipped back anyway. He just hoped he wasn’t too obvious.
He watched Caroline lean in, her hand on Jacob’s chest, her lips close to his ear as she whispered something private.
Jealousy slammed into him—fast and irrational. Sharp enough to make his fingers tighten around the glass.
Fuck.
He looked away and ordered another drink.
“Careful,” Emma said quietly, stepping close. Her voice was calm, but edged. “You’ve had enough. What’s going on? This isn’t like you.”
“I’m fine,” he lied, grabbing the glass anyway.
Behind him, Caroline laughed at something Jacob said. Liam didn’t turn—he didn’t need to. He felt Jacob’s presence anyway, heavy and magnetic, even without his eyes on him.
He tossed back the drink, barely tasting it. His skin itched. The air inside the ballroom pressed heavy, choking him. He kissed Emma’s cheek and murmured, “I need some fresh air, don’t worry about me.”
Before she could answer, he was already moving. He slipped through the press of bodies, breaking free of the lights and music, into the garden.
Away.
Chapter 11
Jacob
Jacob tracked him the second he slipped away. He watched Liam push through the crowd and vanish into the dark like he couldn’t get out fast enough. He told himself to look away, to let him go—he didn’t. The moment Liam disappeared, Jacob excused himself and followed.
Outside, the night pressed close. The garden stretched wider than it looked from the ballroom windows. There were winding paths, deep corners, and hedges high enough to swallow sound—a place meant for secrets.
Jacob’s eyes adjusted slowly to the dark. He shouldn’t be here. He knew that. He could still go back inside and let everyone believe he’d only stepped out for air. No one would question it. He could finish the night pretending he hadn’t secretly been watching Liam all evening, as if his gaze hadn’t been drawn again and again to the one person he shouldn’t want.
His jaw ached from the tension. Instead of turning back, he walked. One deliberate step after another, stone giving way to gravel, the crunch loud in the otherwise heavy silence. Lies lined up in his head—just a conversation, just checking in, just making sure he’s okay.He didn’t believe a single one.
He rounded a bend lined with rose bushes and saw him. Liam stood a few feet ahead; head tipped down, back stiff, arms folded like a shield across his chest. Alone but braced, as if the night itself were pressing too hard against him.
“I saw you bolt,” Jacob said, voice rougher than intended.
For a moment Liam didn’t turn. When he finally did, it was with a smile that wasn’t real, something tight and practiced that Jacob despised the instant he saw it. His eyes were glassy and a little unfocused.
“Just needed air,” Liam said, words slurring around the edges. He rocked back on his heels like his balance couldn’t quite decide what to do.
“Yeah,” Jacob muttered. “You looked like you couldn’t breathe in there.”
