Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
LEO
It was supposed to be a chill night.
The kind where everyone drinks too much, someone lights a bonfire too close to the bleachers, and Tristan ends up crowd-surfing with a bottle of Dom in hand before the football team even shows up. Classic Royal Oaks chaos.
I wasn’t in the mood. I came because Xavier bribed me with Chick-fil-A and because my dad said showing face would help with optics since my mother still dint fully trust me to be done with Jade since the crew on our yacht snitched about Nantucket.
But when I saw her—everything tilted.
Jade.
Dressed in tight black jeans, a cropped knit sweater that slipped off one shoulder, and boots that made her legs look unfair. Her hair was darker now with lowlights and caramel strands blended with summer blonde, a little edgy, a little dangerous—and it looked fucking perfect.
She didn’t see me right away.
Tristan had dragged her here, but he was already deep in flirt mode with a tall, elegant brunette who had Boston prep written all over her. He forgot Jade even existed.
But I didn’t.
I never forgot.
She stood near the fire pit, arms crossed, watching people with that cool detachment she’d mastered. The crowd surged and thinned, football players howling, girls laughing like the whole world was glitter and filters.
Then he showed up.
Keiser.
Fifth-generation German old money. Drives a Porsche and thinks it’s modest. Had his eye on Jade since she joined Royal Oaks. But he’d never made a move.
Until now.
He slid up beside her like a fucking Bond villain in loafers. Said something that made her laugh—a real one. Not polite. Not forced.
My grip tightened around the White Claw can in my hand until it crumpled with a metallic crunch.
“Dude,” Xavier said under his breath beside me. “Control your face. You look like you’re about to kill someone.”
“I’m fine,” I said tightly.
I wasn’t.
Jade glanced my way then. Eyes locking with mine across the fire. Her chin lifted. She knew. She knew I was watching. Knew it drove me insane.
So she smiled at Keiser.
Tossed her hair.
Leaned in slightly, said something that made him grin.
I could see the power play in real-time. She was reminding me of one simple fact: I broke up with her.
I let her go.
And someone else was going to pick up the pieces.
“Fuck this,” I muttered.
Xavier grabbed my elbow. “Leo—don’t cause a scene.”
But I wasn’t listening. I moved through the crowd like a live wire until I was just close enough to hear her.
“…so then I told my aunt, maybe I do want to go to Yale just to make a point—”
She saw me.
Paused.
Her lips curled in something between a smirk and a challenge. “Leo. Enjoying the party?”
Barely restrained, I stepped in close. “He’s not your type.”
“Good thing I’m not taking applications,” she replied smoothly.
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I said, voice low.
Jade arched a brow. “You mean… flirting with someone who didn’t break my heart in front of an entire school?”
That one landed.
I didn’t answer.
Keiser looked between us, confused but clearly aware something tense was unfolding. “Everything good here?”
Jade turned to him with a dazzling smile. “Perfect. I was just saying how refreshing it is to talk to someone new.”
And then she took his hand.
I stood there, pulse pounding, watching her walk away.
She didn’t even look back.
But I did.
And I knew—I was still hers, even if she wasn’t mine.
“Jealous?” a syrupy voice purred beside me.
Bianca.
She curled her perfectly manicured fingers around my arm and leaned in like we were still a thing. “Done slumming? Maybe I’ll consider giving you another shot.”
I flicked her hand off my chest like it burned me. “You couldn’t pay me to relive that mistake.”
She gasped, offended, but I was already storming across the yard. Past the firepit. Past the judgmental stares.
And straight into the wreckage of my own choices.
Jade was still talking to Keiser, but her eyes flicked to mine when I stopped behind her. A glint of something unreadable flashed in her gaze. And pain, I saw it.
“Hey,” I said, voice lower than I meant.
She turned. Cool. Composed. “What, Leo?”
“I—” I swallowed. The truth clawed at my throat. That our time together was the only thing that ever felt real. That I was drowning without her.
But she beat me to it.
“You don’t get to do this,” she whispered, voice shaking. “You broke up with me. You walked away.”
I stepped closer, watching the way her chest rose and fell like she was trying not to cry. “I know.”
“You don’t get to be jealous.”
I cupped her face, couldn’t help it. “I miss you.”
And I kissed her.
It wasn’t smart. It wasn’t careful.
It was everything.
Her mouth met mine with the same ache I felt every second we’d been apart. I wanted to fall into her. Bury myself in everything we were and everything we’d lost.
And then the flashes started.
Phones. Dozens of them.
Gasps. Laughter. The murmurs of gossip reborn.
She pulled away, breathless and wide-eyed.
And I knew what I had to do.
I turned, looked the crowd in the eye, and gave them my best smirk. “Relax. It was just a reminder.”
“Of what?” someone asked.
“That I felt nothing.”
Her gasp was the loudest thing I’d ever heard.
Then, for good measure, I turned and grabbed Nicole—the captain of the soccer team and Jade’s biggest nightmare—and kissed her too. Deep. Possessive. Cruel.
The crowd screamed. Phones clicked.
And I died a little inside.
Because I’d just broken her again.
And I hated myself for it.