Chapter 13
Hearing those words made Jayden’s chest feel like it was caving in on itself. Her forgiveness somehow hurt worse than anger would have–it made him realize just how badly he’d fucked up, how much pain he’d caused the one person who’d never deserved it.
“I won’t let anything hurt you ever again,” he whispered, his voice breaking with the weight of the promise. “I swear on my life, Arianna. I’ll do better this time.”
Without thinking, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy–one of those strawberry
hard candies she’d always loved as a kid. It was probably stupid, but giving her sweets when she was upset had been his thing since they were five years old.
But when he held it out to her, she jerked back like he’d tried to hit her.
The movement was so instinctive, so immediate, that it felt like a knife to his heart. She realized what
she’d done and quickly tried to cover with an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, I just… I don’t eat candy anymore. My heart can’t handle the sugar spikes.”
The explanation was reasonable, medical, perfectly logical. But Jayden had seen t him everything he needed to know.
inch, and it told
She was afraid of him. Maybe not consciously, but some part of her still expected him to hurt her.
And Jesus, maybe she was right to feel that way.
“Right,” he managed, shoving the candy back in his pocket. His hands were shaking. “Of course. That
makes sense.”
He needed to get away from her before he completely broke down, so he stood up abruptly.
“It’s getting late. You should get some rest. Let me set up the guest room for you.”
“I can help-” she started to say, but he was already walking toward the hallway.
“No, it’s fine. I’ve got it.”
But she followed him anyway, and when he started pulling sheets from the linen closet, she moved to help him make the bed.
“Arianna, you don’t need to-”
“I’m not an invalid, Jayden,” she said quietly, but there was steel in her voice. “I can make a bed.”
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Chapter 13
He watched her tuck the corners of the fitted sheet with practiced precision, and something hollow opened up in his chest. This wasn’t the girl he remembered the one who used to need him for everything, who would crawl into his bed during thunderstorms because she was too scared to sleep
alone.
This Arianna was self–sufficient. Independent. She’d learned to take care of herself because the people who were supposed to protect her had failed her.
Because he had failed her.
“You’ve gotten really good at this,” he said, trying to keep his voice light.
She paused in smoothing out the comforter and looked at him with those enormous brown eyes.
“I had to,” she said simply. “I couldn’t keep depending on people who might disappear when things got
hard.”
The words hit him like a physical blow. She was talking about him. About how he’d abandoned her when
she needed him most.
“Arianna, I-”
“It’s okay,” she said quickly, turning back to the bed. “Really. I’m not that scared litt rl anymore. I learned how to be strong.”
He should have been proud of her strength. Instead, all he felt was grief for the girl who’d had to learn it
the hard way.
“I wish you hadn’t had to,” he said quietly.
She paused, her hands stilling on the pillowcase. For just a moment, he saw a crack in her composed facade–a glimpse of the hurt she was working so hard to hide.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Me too.”
The next morning was gorgeous–all blue skies and golden sunshine streaming through the windows. Jayden had barely slept, too afraid that if he closed his eyes, she might disappear again like some beautiful, impossible dream.
Over coffee, he made a suggestion that felt both natural and terrifying.
“Want to get out of here today? Go explore the city or something? We never really got to just… hang out when we were kids. You were always buried in textbooks, and I was too busy being a complete disaster.”
That earned him a real smile–the first genuine one he’d seen since they’d found each other again.
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Chapter 13
“That sounds really nice,” she said, and for a moment she looked like the girl he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
An hour later, they were driving through downtown Burlington with the windows down and soft rock playing on the radio. Jayden kept stealing glances at her as she watched the familiar streets go by, her dark hair blowing in the breeze.
God, she was still so beautiful it hurt to look at her.
He parked outside a trendy shopping center, thinking maybe they could walk around, grab lunch, pretend to be normal people having a normal day instead of two broken souls trying to put themselves back together.
They’d barely made it into the first boutique when a young woman approached them. She was pretty, probably mid–twenties, and she was looking directly at Jayden with obvious interest.
“Excuse me,” she said, a little breathless with nerves. “I’m really sorry to bother you, but would you maybe want to grab coffee sometime? I could give you my number?”
Jayden blinked, completely blindsided. It had been so long since he’d thought of himself as someone women would hit on that he didn’t know how to respond.
He glanced at Arianna, who was watching the whole interaction with barely conc amusement, clearly enjoying his discomfort.
“I’m flattered,” he said, turning back to the woman, “but I’m not available.”
“Oh.” Her face fell. “Girlfriend?”
Jayden’s eyes found Arianna again. She was biting her lip, trying not to laugh at his obvious panic.
“Something like that,” he said, his voice getting softer. “Someone I’ve been in love with for a really long time.”
The woman followed his gaze, understood immediately, and left with a polite but disappointed goodbye.
When they were alone again, Arianna raised an eyebrow at him with a teasing smile.
“In love with someone for a really long time?” she said, her voice light but her cheeks slightly pink. “That’s… interesting.”
Jayden felt heat crawl up his neck. He’d basically just confessed his feelings to a complete stranger while Arianna stood right there.
“I just… I didn’t want her to…”
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Chapter 13
“Relax,” Arianna said, her voice going soft and warm in a way that made his heart skip. “It’s funny,
actually.”
“What’s funny?”
She looked at him then, really looked at him, and he saw something in her eyes that made his breath
catch.
“What a coincidence, Jayden,” she said with a gentle smile. “I’m in love with someone too. Have been for a really long time.”
