On the front door.
I didn’t move. I didn’t have to. I knew that knock. It echoed like a song I hadn’t wanted to remember.
“Jade?” Aunt Susan’s voice drifted down the hall. She peeked in, already halfway in her robe. “He’s here.”
Of course he is.
“I don’t want to see him. Ever.”
She returned ten minutes later, her voice lower. “He won’t leave. He’s pacing on the front lawn. Fists clenched. But he was respectful and didn’t try to push his way inside. I half expected him to.”
I sat up. Slowly. “What did you tell him?”
“That it’s two in the morning and he’s not welcome to disturb my niece’s peace. Politely, of course. Do you want me to call the police?”
“No. Please don’t. The last thing I need tonight is lights, sirens and more hashtags.”
She patted my shoulder and went back up to her room.
My heart pinched. Not because I wanted to see him. But because part of me wished she hadn’t stopped him.
Thud. Crash. Clatter.
The backyard.
I flew to my window just in time to see Leo Holt scaling a stack of overturned flower pots and climbing onto the roof like some unhinged Romeo in Nikes and a sweatshirt.
He landed with a soft thud on the small ledge outside my window.
We stared at each other through the glass.
In another life, I would’ve opened it without thinking. Let him in. Let him kiss me into silence.
But that girl didn’t live here anymore.
I cracked the window an inch. “What the hell are you doing?”
His hair was windswept. His chest rose and fell with adrenaline. His voice was a deep rasp. “I needed to see you.”
“You saw me. Congratulations. Now go.”
He placed his hands on either side of the frame, eyes searching mine. “Don’t do this.”
I laughed. Bitter. Cold. “Dowhat? Let you in? Let youbreak me again with that voice and that mouth and that body you use like a weapon?”
“Jade—”
“No,” I cut him off. “You don’t get to say my name like that anymore.”
His jaw flexed.
“You should’ve pushed past my aunt,” I whispered. “That’s what you would’ve done before.”
“She asked me not to,” he said. “I’m not going to disrespect her. I came to talk toyou.”
I blinked. “Talk? Now you want to talk? After everything?”
His throat bobbed. “I know I messed up. I know I hurt you.”
