And then stared like she wanted to slap me or kiss me again—maybe both.
And that? That did something dangerous to me.
I scanned the crowd, pretending I wasn’t looking for her.
A group of juniors passed, nodding and smiling too wide. I didn’t acknowledge them. A girl in a silk tank top pressed close, brushing her fingers along my arm like I hadn’t just made out with someone else in front of her entire social set.
“Leo,” she purred. I think her name was Sienna. Or something equally useless. “You’re in rare form tonight.”
I gave her a half-smile and didn’t move away. Let her play her game. Let the crowd see me lean into it like nothing had changed.
“Guess I was bored,” I said. “New girl fixed that.”
Her face faltered for a second before the smile came back, glossy and mean. “She won’t last.”
I shrugged. “Most don’t.”
But the second the words left my mouth, I hated them.
Because Jade?
She wasn’t like them.
There’d been something in her eyes when I kissed her—something raw, like she'd been through hell and still stood taller for it. She didn’t need anyone to save her. She hadn’t even looked at me like I was worth her time.
That kiss? That was her punching back.
I liked it way more than I should’ve.
And now every time someone tried to talk to me, I kept half my attention tuned to the dark edges of the party—wondering if she was still here, or if she’d left the second I walked away.
Coward that I am, I didn’t go find out.
I stayed with the noise. The fire. The easy girls and easier conversations.
I let Caroline give me a look like she was already drafting an apology text I’d never send.
I let Tristan tease me, Xavier smirk, and the crowd do what it always did—orbit around me like I was their gravity.
And I kept playing the part.
Cool. Unbothered. Untouchable.
But deep down?
I knew exactly what I’d done.
I’d just made her a target.
And if I knew Royal Oaks the way Idid—they’d come for her.
Which meant if I didn’t want Jade Bryan to burn?
I was going to have to decide real fast whether I was going to be her biggest mistake… or her only defense.
Chapter Four
JADE
