Page 151 of California Wild

Staring at his hand.

Staring at him.

And he knew.

He knew exactly what she was thinking—because he’d thought it too.

This could fuck everything up.

This could be the thing that tipped it all over.

But he hadn’t planned it. Hadn’t hunted it. Hadn’t even said a word when Caiden lit his cigarette and called Jesse a fucking junkie, a burnout, a mistake Hayley would regret twice.

He’d stood there. Silent.

Until he couldn’t anymore.

Until the words got too sharp. Until Caiden laughed about her being easy.

And then Jesse’s fist had answered for him.

He swallowed, jaw tight.

His voice, when it finally came, sounded like it was being scraped raw from his chest.

“I wasn’t gonna let him talk about you like that.”

The silence broke under the weight of it.

No excuses.

No embellishments.

He just said it.

And looked her in the eye like she was the only thing that ever fucking mattered.

Because she was.

She didn’t say a word.

Just stood there with her jaw slack, eyes flicking between his face and his knuckles, trying to make sense of it.

And Jesse—

He didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Didn’t breathe.

She walked past him, like the floor under her feet didn’t exist. Into the bedroom. Into the bathroom. Not a glance back.

But before she disappeared, he saw it.

Her face twisted. Crying.

Like it cracked open under the weight of all the emotion she was trying to carry. And then she was gone—door half shut behind her, the sound of the shower turning on a second later, drowning everything else.

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