Page 29 of The Burnt Heart

“Jonah’s not here,” Jesse gloated, reading my thoughts. “He’s too busy with Lara.”

He snagged an empty chair from a nearby table and settled in between us. Ray let out a low whistle.

“You’re wasting your time.” The wild look in his eyes concerned me slightly. Ray was staring bug eyed over the table at me, trying to smother a smirk at my furious ex. Of course, he’d be enjoying this to the fullest.

“Time’s up and we need to talk.” Jesse leaned back in his borrowed chair, folding his arms over his chest. “Finally.”

“What are you talking about?” I feigned ignorance, my ribs rattling over the thunder of my heart.

“Two months, princess.” Jesse flashed his phone where there was a countdown readingTime to Get My Girl.

“I said everything I needed to say two months ago,” I countered, gratified that I could tamp down the ache at seeing Jesse up close. He looked handsome as ever, if thinner. His dark skin was smooth in the dim light. But there was a jitteriness to his manner. His knee bounced up and down.

“I’ve given you space. But that’s over now and I’m here to fight for you, just like I promised I would. I can’t walk away from you,Adelaide.” His jaw set mulishly as his eyes bore into mine. “I won’t.”

“Should I ahh-let you guys talk?” Ray interrupted with an amused huff.

“Don’t you dare,” I growled as Jesse grinned. No one was paying much attention to us, though some patrons threw a few discrete glances our way. My cheeks burned with indignation.

“Go or stay. It doesn’t make a difference. Whatever this is.” He waved his hands between us. “Isn’t fooling me. I know what you look like when you’re into a guy, Adelaide, and Ray here doesn’t get you going. No blushes, no coy looks, or soft touches. But you continue to meet with him every week. Why? You know there are an obscene number of photos and articles speculating if you’re the new ‘it couple’? Who are you trying to convince? Or is this all to make your stupid ex’s jealous? It’s working.”

My cheeks flamed at his outright accusation, annoyingly correct. Jesse was like a dog with a bone, and he wouldn’t let me wriggle out of this one. Also, how closely had he been watching me? What about Logan and Briar? I looked over his shoulder and couldn’t see them. Jesse’s eyes shuttered.

“Logan is on his way back, princess. He couldn’t stay in Greenich Bay and not break the space you wanted. He sends you photos of all the places he’d like to visit with us. If you’d unblock him, you’d know that. He had to leave the city outright because being this close to you and not able to be with you was too much to bear. Briar can barely function. He’s down to monosyllables. And me? I’m angry, so damn angry. At myself and for this time we’re losing with each other. Because I know that eventually we’ll be together again, all of us. I won’t stop until I make it happen. But I can’t take it anymore. I can’t breathe without you. Tell me what I need to do, and I will do it.”

“You can leave.” My jaw was tight. He couldn’t hear my heartbeat thundering in my ears or know how much his wordshad shaken me. “I don’t care what you’re feeling. This is the consequence of your actions, and I don’t owe you anything. I said I was done, and I meant it.”

Jesse shook his head, only more determined. Ray lifted his glass to his lips, sucking up the drama like a vacuum.

“We’ll never be done.” He unfolded out of the seat slowly, like his muscles were aching. “You can keep me from you with Jonah, bulldoze Calder Place, go on farcical dates. But we will never be done. I hurt you,” his voice dropped to a whisper. “I regret what we did more than anything, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Let me heal the pain I caused you. There is more to this story, and you deserve the truth. We can fix this if you give us another chance.”

“You can’t heal someone when you were the one who broke them.” I swallowed, wanting him to go, but knowing if I said anything more, he’d just dig his heels in harder. Jesse was as stubborn as me. Locked together by metaphorical horns. But I wouldn’t give an inch. I waited for his argument, but it never came. Jesse’s eyes widened, and he lunged in front of me. My chair overbalanced as his arm made contact. Air whooshed through my ears as I thudded on the ground, screaming in surprise. But before I could orient myself, a loud smash rang out and glass shattered around me. My neck burned as a shallow piece cut into me. Jesse groaned and his weight slumped down over me. His left hand fumbled over his arm, gasping as his knuckles turned white with pressure. Red bled through the tight grip of his hold.

He’d been shot.

If I’d stayed in my seat, it would have hit me.

My ears shrieked with the storming panic of patrons as they stampeded for the door. Jesse’s body was a furnace against me, his weight pinning me to the ground. All around us were glittering shards of glass. A brisk gust of wind blew in from theshattered windowpane, sending a riot of shivers through me. Ray stared openmouthed for a moment before flipping the table and providing us some cover. I held Jesse in my arms as he groaned, blood warm over my fingers as I staunched the wound.

“Take my phone,” I said through gritted teeth to Ray, fighting the panic that was surging through me. “Call Paolo.”

Ray flipped through my bag for my phone and made the calls. No tremor in his barking tone. He was like me. There was no time to fall apart right now. This gross display of violence was a tremendous breach of respect. Whoever had dared to do this was about to feel the fire of the Donato and Orazio families on their head. Firing on the two heirs to the biggest crime families in Greenich?

Big mistake.

Without meaning to, I brushed a kiss on Jesse’s head. A habit ingrained over the years. Offering comfort to a man I had thought part of my forever.

“Does taking a bullet for you get me any brownie points?” he gasped, his lips ashen and trembling.

“Shut up,” I ordered. But I let myself hold him a little tighter. My panic was easier to wrangle with his solid body pressed up against mine. He let out a soft laugh, wheezing as it moved his arm. I looked into his eyes, so close after being separated for so long. Pain burned deep in their light brown depths. I held his gaze, silently offering my support until his eyelids drooped and he went limp in my arms. I swallowed a sob. There wasn’t time for this. Instead, I started picking up the threads of wild emotion within me, tucking them away in a locked box.

“Who could have done this?” I wondered aloud. Ray shook his head, glaring out the broken window into the darkness.

“Whoever it is, they’re dead.”

His shoes crunched over the broken glass as he leaned to look at Jesse’s arm. His fingers had slipped slightly as he fellunconscious. I had added mine to give him the pressure he needed. The hot, wet slickness against my skin was making memories rattle in the iron prison of my mind. The last time I held someone like this, it had changed everything. My fear must have shown on my face because Ray said, “It’s only a graze, he’ll be alright, Adelaide. We’ve survived plenty worse, haven’t we?” He joked. Jesse’s weight on me was suddenly oppressive. I had my hand pressed against his wound out of kindness, not because of lingering feelings.

“This means nothing,” I asserted firmly. Ray’s eyebrows inched up as if he didn’t believe me, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

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