Page 148 of California Wild

He stared at the dark sky for a beat, then heard the side door slam open.

Heavy boots.

A pissed-off voice.

Caiden.

“Stalking her, now?” Caiden muttered, stepping into the alley like he’d just bitten into something rotten. His eyes landed on Jesse. Cold. Tight.

Jesse didn’t move. He exhaled smoke, slow and calm. “Evening.”

Caiden’s jaw flexed.

And just like that, the tension snapped back into the night like a tripwire.

Jesse just kept smoking, gaze fixed ahead, not looking. Not reacting.

But he felt it.

The shift in the air. The low heat of something circling the drain.

Caiden stepped closer, one drag in, smirking. “Didn’t expect to see you here, man. What, missing the high? Thought maybe you’d chase it with a little nostalgia?”

Jesse exhaled smoke, slow and even. “Fuck off.”

“Makes me wonder,” Caiden said, voice dry, mean. “Nobody sees you for years. Hayley’s finally getting her shit together. You show up. Next thing we know, she’s looking tired again. Pulled back. Off her game. Kind of weird, right?”

Jesse’s jaw locked, but he said nothing.

“Here we go again…” Caiden made a spiraling motion with his finger. “Show up, suck the life out of the girl, crash and burn. Rinse, repeat.”

Still, Jesse didn’t move. Finished his cigarette.

Caiden took a long drag of his own. “I won’t watch someone so fucking talented throw herself away. On what? Some washed-up trash addict with a record and a broken moral compass?”

That was the one.

Jesse’s voice came low, razor-sharp. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

Caiden laughed. “Or what?”

And that’s when Jesse turned.

One step forward. Direct. Solid.

He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.

“You’ve had a hard-on for Hayley since day one,” Jesse said, eyes dark. “But she never wanted you. Not then. Not now.”

Caiden’s face twisted. “You don’t get to talk about her.”

“I’ll talk about whoever the fuck I want,” Jesse snapped. “You don’t know her. You don’t know me. And you sure as hell don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Caiden shoved him.

It wasn’t much.

But it was enough.

---