“Burned.”
“Savage.”
“Long live the Queen.”
I’m too stunned to speak.
A few minutes later, I hear her voice ring out clear and unimpressed.
“Lame party. Rich kid beach scene’s dead. Text me when someone throws a real one.”
She tosses her cup into the fire, flicks her fingers in a mock wave, and vanishes into the dark like a storm that came just to destroy me.
I blink. Once. Twice.
Then Tristan whistles low. “Bruh…”
But I already know.
She’s not mine anymore.
And this war?
It’s only just begun.
I barely slept.
Every time I closed my eyes I saw her — not the Jade I used to kiss behind the dunes, soft and shy and trusting — but the Jade who kissed me yesterday like she wanted to end me.
That kiss…
Fuck…
It shot straight through me, lit every nerve on fire, and then she looked me dead in the eyes and walked away like she feltnothing.
Who the hell is she now?
And why does this new version of her make my pulse go insane?
I’m terrified the girl I loved is gone.
I’m terrified something broke in her that I can’t fix.
I’m terrified this new Jade isn’t mine anymore.
And I want answers.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I’m in my car driving to downtown Newport, heart pounding like I’m about to commit a felony instead of… whatever this is.
Gloria’s Bakery is just opening.
The windows foggy, the smell of fresh bagels drifting out into the cold.
I walk in like a man possessed.
“A dozen cinnamon rolls.”
The girl behind the counter gives me a look like she knows exactly what kind of mistake I’m making.
