Sharper. Harder. Hotter.
I want her.
I want answers.
I want everything.
Susan steps aside slowly, sensing the shift, the energy thick enough to choke on.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t move.
All I can do is stare at the girl who ruined me
and the girl I ruined
and the girl I still, somehow, stupidly, devastatingly love.
“Jade,” I breathe.
The wind-flushed cheeks. Tight leggings. Hair wild from the run.
She looks like something carved out of ice and fire, and my heart just… slams against my ribs.
Susan stiffens instantly, like she knows what’s coming.
Jade doesn’t even look at her.
“Out back,” she says. Not loud, but sharp enough to cut metal.
Her eyes flick to mine. “Now.”
I follow her through the sliding door.
Cold air hits my face. Doesn’t matter. I’m already burning.
She stops in the center of the yard and spins on me so fast I almost recoil.
“Say whatever the hell you came here to say so you can leave.”
Her voice is pure blade.
I take a breath. “I’m trying to fix this.”
She laughs. Bitter. Cruel. Not her laugh.
But maybe it is now.
“Fix it? You made it worse, Leo. You always make it worse.”
The words land like a punch.
“I didn’t know they were going to slime you, Jade. I didn’t know they were?—”
“Stop.” She slices the air with her hand. “Don’t tell me what you didn’t know. You broke up with me. You left me alone. You made me a target.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
