Page 134 of California Wild

Hayley let out a bitter laugh. “Right. There it is.”

“Hayley—”

“No,” she cut in, spinning to face him, fury flashing in her eyes. “You don’t get to stand there and watch me walk out. You don’t get to leave in the middle of the night and come back like it’s nothing, and then just stand there. Silent. Like I’m supposed to read your mind.”

Jesse’s jaw clenched. His hands curled at his sides like he didn’t know where to put them.

“You disappeared,” she snapped. “And I laid there thinking I was crazy. Again. That this—whatever the fuck this is—was just something I made up in my head.”

His eyes didn’t flinch, but something flickered behind them. Pain. Shame.

“Every time I think you’ve changed, you prove me wrong.” Her voice cracked, quieter now. “You keep saying you’re not that guy. But you keep being that guy. And maybe I’m the idiot for still believing you want to be anything else.”

She shifted toward the door.

One step.

Another.

Then—

His hand caught her wrist.

Firm. Solid. Present.

Her whole body tensed.

She looked up, and he was right there. Right there. Closer than she could handle, looking at her like she was slipping through his fingers and he didn’t know how to stop it.

His hand wasn’t pleading. It wasn’t rough.

It just held her. Quiet. Unshakable.

She should’ve ripped her arm away.

But she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

He stepped in, pressing her gently into the doorframe. No force. Just gravity. Just Jesse. And she hated how much her body remembered him. How much it still wanted him. Even now.

His fingers lifted to her jaw, brushing her cheek, tracing her lips. Memorizing.

Always silent.

He never said the things she needed to hear.

He just stood there, forehead against hers, eyes shut like it was killing him to breathe.

And when his arms wrapped around her—tight, all-encompassing, like he was holding the edges of himself together with her—something inside her broke.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t try to explain. Didn’t give excuses.

He just held her.

Like that was all he knew how to do.

And it wasn’t enough.

---