Chapter 14 Jesse #2
Ten minutes pass with those thoughts swirling in my head, and I take the last bite of dinner and look over at my dog.
“Wish me luck, boy.”
His eyebrows shift, but he doesn’t follow as I shove off the stool and take the stairs two at a time, adrenaline lighting up my veins.
This time, I’m not leaving without a real conversation.
Penny can hold grudges and push me away all she wants, but Fia and Danny are the closest things to family I still have. Fia deserves someone she can depend on, and I want to be able to look her in the eye tomorrow and say I gave it my best shot to smooth shit over with her sister.
When I came back here, I didn’t know what would happen with Penny and me. Truthfully, I thought it would take months to even figure out how to navigate talking to her again, given how things ended between us. Mending the fence, so to speak.
But I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect that seeing her would ignite something in me the way it has. Something uncontrollable.
I knock—three sharp raps on the oak door between us.
It’s silent for a few seconds before I hear shuffling.
The door cracks open, and Penny’s standing there in a baby-blue cropped hoodie, sleep shorts that really should be considered panties, and white fluffy socks up to her knees. I school my face, trying not to check her out. Trying harder not to physically react.
“I made a promise to Fia, and I intend to keep it,” I say, point-blank.
Her gaze flickers at promise, something all I do is break in her mind, but I keep my composure. I know I have to gain back her trust, but I can’t do that if she doesn’t even let me try.
I lean against the doorframe, blocking her in. She crosses her arms, pink lips twisting, and for a split second, I wonder if they taste the same as they did back then.
“Listen, your perseverance is admirable, but I’m not feeling it.” She attempts to shut the door on me, but I don’t move. It bounces right back at her.
“I don’t remember you having such a smart mouth,” I reply, and her jaw clenches.
“You want to play the big brother so bad? Fine. I’ll treat you like one.” Penny slams her palms against my chest, but unluckily for her, I’m pretty quick on my feet. All those years of boxing paid off.
In one clean motion, I squat, grab behind her knees, and haul her over my shoulder. I duck out of the doorway so she doesn’t hit her head.
I might be rowdy, but I’m a gentleman.
“JESSE! Put me down!” she yells, pounding on my back.
“Nope.” I grip her thighs tighter. “You owe me fifteen minutes. That’s all. Just long enough so I don’t have to lie to your sister’s face.”
Penny kicks and wiggles, but it just takes one arm wrapped around her ass to keep her pinned to my shoulder. I’ll give it to her—she packs a punch for being such a tiny thing.
“Keep squirming like that,” I mutter, “and I’ll start to think you’re enjoying this.” I trudge down the steps and deposit her into the oversized chair next to the fireplace.
Her bun’s half-falling out, cheeks flushed, eyes blazing. If she were a cartoon, steam would be coming out of her ears.
“You can’t just manhandle people to get what you want!” she snaps, jumping out of the chair and jabbing a sharp finger into my chest.
“Fifteen minutes won’t kill you.”
Penny crosses her arms over her chest and looks away from me.
“You’ve been pissed since the second I walked through that door.” I nod toward the back door, the memory still vivid in my mind. “How long do you want to keep pretending like nothing ever happened between us?”
Penny doesn’t look at me. “We were eighteen,” she mutters. “It was a long time ago.”
“Then why do you look at me like I set the whole damn place on fire?” My voice sharpens, but I can’t help it. “You talk like it’s ancient history, like it was nothing, but you treat me like I’m the fucking devil.”
Her body goes rigid, and she squares off with me. “You want to talk?” she asks, and I nod. “Fine, Jesse, let’s chat, shall we?” A wicked grin spreads across her face, and Penny starts pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace.
Tank watches her, tail wagging, like this is a fun game.
It’s not.
“First of all,” she starts, hands flying, “I busted my ass this year so I could take time off. Spa days, holiday parties, binge-watching trash TV, some actual peace for once. Christmas with my sister.”
Her voice fills the room, heat pouring off her.
“Then she tells me she’s pregnant, the baby daddy’s MIA, and to top it off, you walk in, like some movie hero who never left.”
I keep quiet, letting her get it out. She deserves that much.
Penny stops pacing, eyes locked on mine.
“You don’t just get to show up and decide you’re back in our lives,” she spits out. “You left us, Jesse. You left me. Like it was nothing, like we didn’t have a future planned.”
“So, that’s where we’re going?” I take a slow step forward. “You think I chose prison? I thought I was doing the right thing.”
She laughs, sharp and shrill, and I throw my head back. “Everyone has a choice, Jesse. You just made a bad one.”
My jaw tightens. “You want to talk about that night—or the three years that followed. How you never contacted me, never once set foot in that prison?”
She freezes, and the room goes still with her.
“No,” she says, her voice low and bitter. “I don’t want to talk about any of that. You broke my trust. Why the hell would I give you my time then or now?”
I pause, my tongue brushing over my bottom lip, and I crack my knuckles.
I lean down so we’re eye to eye.
“Sorry to break it to you, princess, but you’re forgetting the part where you disappeared, too.
” Her mouth opens, but I don’t stop. “You keep acting like I abandoned you, but the second they cuffed me and Danny, you vanished. We were ghosts to you before the door of that prison cell even slammed shut.”
Penny’s eyes catch the light of the fire, and for a second, it’s like time folds in on itself. I didn’t realize how long I’ve been holding those words in, waiting to say them to her face.
She thinks she was the only one shattered that night. But she never saw what it did to me. How it battered me down.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Penny replies, her voice small. “And don’t call me princess.”
“You want to know why I came back to North Carolina?” I ask, and for the first time, she doesn’t fire back, she just listens.
Ten years of unsaid words settle thick between us.
“I was eighteen when I got locked up with your brother,” I begin. “That might’ve been ten years ago, but it still feels raw. And no matter what you think, I never wanted to leave you. That was never the plan.” My voice is pained, sharp.
She begins to protest, but I grab her waist, touching the exposed skin under her hoodie, steadying her. I do it without thinking.
“After everything you were to me, you honestly think I went a whole decade without thinking about you?” I demand, my voice gravely. “Look me in the eye and tell me you really believe that.”
She doesn’t speak. Doesn’t move. She just watches me like she’s trying to memorize every word out of my mouth.
I release her from my grip. I’ve said what I needed to say to her.
My heart rages behind my ribs, and Penny doesn’t blink.
“Penny, I’m—” I start, but she puts a finger to my lips, silencing me.
Our eyes hold steady until hers drop to her finger, time stretching between us.
Before I can move, she pulls the finger away and replaces it with her mouth.
Soft. Certain. She kisses me like she means it, and suddenly, nothing else exists. She’s so close that I see every gold fleck in her eyes before she closes them.
My heart slams against my ribs, wild and unrelenting, and as fast as it starts, it ends. Her fingertips feathering across her lips, like she can still feel me there.
“Fuck, I shouldn’t have done that,” she hisses, shaking her head.
But I reach for the curve of her throat, pulling her back in, because I’m not sorry.
This time, I kiss her the way I’ve been dreaming about since the day I lost her.
Slowly, my tongue sweeps across hers, and she lets out a little moan that unlocks a part of me I’ve been smothering for ten damn years.
She melts under me, my fingers gripping her tiny waist, like it was molded for my hands, and for a breathless moment, everything fades away.
The hurt, the past, it’s just us.
And then—the heat kicks on.
Tank barks. Penny startles, heart pounding against mine as she pulls back, breathing unsteadily.
We stare at each other, stunned in silence. I want to grab her, pull her back in, touch her until she remembers everything, but she steps further back, out of reach.
“I can’t do this with you, Jesse,” she whispers, voice cracking, arms wrapping tight around herself.
And then she’s gone, running away from me. Just like that.
Watching Penny walk away brings back the ache like it never left.
But underneath it, there’s something else. That kiss gave me something fragile I haven’t felt in a long time—a glimmer of hope.