I sit up in the bed, clutching the blankets to my chest before anger sears through the embarrassment, hot and fast.
“What does that even mean, Jace?” I demand, my voice cutting through the tension. “You think I woke up planning our wedding?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“It sounds exactly like what you’re saying.”
He drags his hoodie off the floor and pulls it over his head, still avoiding my eyes like a coward. The fabric covers him completely.
“I don’t do...” He gestures vaguely between us, his hand waving as if he can erase what happened with a single motion. “This.”
“This?” I snap, the word sharp as a blade. “Or me?”
His silence speaks louder than words ever could. It fills every corner of the trailer, confirming every shitty thought swirling through my mind.
Heat rushes to my face. Not from shame but from fury, white-hot and blazing.
“You’re fucking unbelievable,” I spit out, each word filled with venom. “You made me promise last night. You looked me in the eye and made me swear it wouldn’t get weird, that nothing would change.”
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up. The cold hits immediately, but I ignore it, too pissed off to care. I scan the floor until I find my jeans tangled near the foot of the mattress, half-buried under his discarded shirt.
“You’re the one who kissed me,” I say, yanking the denim up my legs, the fabric rough against my skin. “And now you’re standing there acting like I’m some clingy mess when you’re the one making this awkward as shit.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he shoots back, his jaw tight.
“Then stop making it weird.”
He chuckles softly, but there’s no amusement in it. “I’m not making anything weird.”
“You rolled away from me like I was on fire,” I throw back at him, my voice rising. “The second you woke up, you couldn’t get far enough away. So yeah, you’re making it weird.”
He finally looks at me, and there’s a raw flicker of vulnerability beneath the irritation—something almost exposed before he buries it again.
“I’m trying not to screw this up,” he says, his voice lower now, strained.
“Well you’re doing a fantastic fucking job,” I snap, reaching for my shirt and yanking it over my head with more force than needed. “Really stellar work.”
I slide my feet into my boots without untying them properly, the laces catching awkwardly as I force them on.
“You treat every girl like they’re disposable,” I say, turning back to him, my voice trembling with barely contained rage. “Fine. That’s your thing. But don’t act like I’m just another name on your fucking list.”
His expression hardens, and that mask slips back into place.
“You’re more than just a name, Bells.”
“Then stop treating me like that.”
For a moment, I see it. A flicker of vulnerability crosses his face. Something he doesn’t know how to handle. Then it’s gone, hidden behind that carefully constructed wall.
“I don’t want you expecting more,” he says, quieter now, as if that makes it better.
I laugh once, the sound bitter in my throat.
“Expecting more? Jace, I came here because my dad is in a coma and I couldn’t stay alone in that house for another second. I didn’t show up with a five-year plan. You don’t get to push me away just to make yourself comfortable.”
He swallows hard, his muscles working beneath the skin.
“Bells—”
