I stepped closer. Couldn’t help it.
She didn’t flinch when I stepped in.
Didn’t shy away or shift her weight like she was nervous. She just looked up at me, eyes dark and daring in the firelight, like she was waiting to see if I’d blink first.
I liked that. Too much.
“You got a name?” I asked, my voice lower than I meant it to be. Didn’t care. She was too close for games now.
She tilted her head, a smirk playing on her lips. “Do you always ask before you pounce?”
I let my grin answer for me. “Only when I want to remember it.”
“Jade.”
Jade.
It fit her. Sharp. Beautiful. Dangerous if handled wrong.
“Jade,” I repeated, letting it settle on my tongue. “Sharp and pretty.”
She raised a brow. “Don’t forget dangerous.”
I stepped in just a little closer. Close enough that if she moved, I’d feel it. Close enough to see the fire dancing in the gold of her hair— the flecks of amber in her eyes. Close enough to smell something soft and citrusy under the smoke.
“See something you like?”
“You’re kinda mouthy for someone who just got here.”
“And you’re kinda full of yourself for someone who thinks Snap scores still matter.”
That made me grin.
And then I did it.
I kissed her.
No logic. No strategy. Just instinct and fire and something in me that wanted to feelalivefor once.
It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t careful.
It was teeth, breath, heat—this flash of something wild and messy andreal.
The party froze. I heard someone gasp. A phone camera click.
Didn’t care.
For one second, I let myself fall into it—into her—and everything went quiet.
Then I pulled back. Fast. Too fast.
“Welcome to Royal Oaks, new girl,” I said.
I turned before I could second guess it. Walked off like I hadn’t just detonated the night.
But my heart?
Still hammering.
