Chapter 24
JUMP WITH ME
HUNTER
My blood heats watching her. The way her hands glide over her bare stomach, following the dip of her waist, before sweeping over her perfect breasts.
My palms tingle with the memory of them—soft, full—filling my hands last night.
The way she rocked against me, breath catching, begging without a single word when I gave them the attention they deserved.
“Man, why do I have to cook today?” Connor whines next to me.
Asher huffs out a laugh. “You jumped last. You lose, you cook.”
“Yeah, but this one here”—he elbows me—“pushed me. You two cheated and got a head start.”
I finally tear my eyes away from Madison long enough to face him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Asher, did we cheat?”
“I didn’t see any cheating,” Asher says smugly.
“You two are annoying,” Connor grumbles. “I hope your burgers burn.”
Asher’s smile disappears. “Oh… shit.”
I follow his stare across the park, my gut tightening. What the hell are they—
Then I see him. Xavier. Strolling toward Madi and Tessa. His eyes…
“Dude,” Connor blurts, “he’s staring at her ass.”
“I can see that,” I grit out, my jaw ticking so hard it aches.
“You gonna go over there? Stake your claim?” Connor nudges.
“I know I would,” Asher says, half laughing. “Who am I kidding? I’d throw Halle over my shoulder and storm off.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not a caveman like you,” I mutter.
“Are you sure about that?” Connor says, chin tipping toward them with a grin.
My stomach twists as Xavier’s hand settles on my girl’s back. His eyes catch mine, brows rising in a silent challenge. Baiting me. He wants me to bite, to lose it, to make a scene.
I force myself to stay still. Be rational. Be mature.
I know she’s my girl, even if we haven’t gone all in.
We’re dancing around the final leap—the one that makes it all real—and I’ve been letting her set the pace.
She deserves that. She deserves the control, the power, after everything I put her through.
But I know what she’s waiting on. Those fucking letters.
The ones that haunt the edges of every thought I have.
I need to hand them over. End the chokehold they have on me.
I keep telling myself I’ll choose her first—really choose her—and today, I’m going to make it happen.
I’ve stuffed the letters in my bag, and later, when the day winds down, I’m pulling Halle and Asher aside.
I’ll lay everything out. Come clean about finding them, about keeping them.
I’m going to need Asher there to help Halle through it because once those letters are in her hands, there’s no going back.
That’s the moment I’ll let go of my past and go all in with my future.
Xavier’s hand moves slowly up and down her spine, and the last thread of control I’ve been holding onto snaps.
White spots form around my vision. I’m moving before I realize it, feet stumbling over sticks and jagged rocks as heat burns through my chest. The guys howl behind me, but their laughter doesn’t break through the static in my head.
All I see is his hand on her.
All I feel is the undeniable urge to claim her.
“Hunter! How’s it going?” Xavier calls out as I step behind Madison.
My arm slides around her waist on instinct, pulling her back into my chest. She lets out a quiet, startled gasp, her body going rigid for a second before melting against me. Xavier’s brows lift, and I give him a slow smile.
“Better now. I have my girl in my arms,” I say.
Madison stiffens again, the smallest hitch in her breath giving her away.
Her hand moves over my forearm, where it’s wrapped around her waist, her fingers digging into my skin in a silent warning to behave.
It should snap my control back into place, but it doesn’t; if anything, it makes the buzzing under my skin flare hotter.
There’s a wild part of me that wants to climb onto the picnic table next to us and announce to the whole damn town that Madison Taylor is mine and I’m hers.
Xavier’s grin sharpens, like he’s got a front row seat to what’s running through my head. “I was just saying to Madi here that it’s a shame we never got to go out on our date.”
Madison’s breath catches real quick, a faint flush climbing up her neck. Her fingers tighten on my arm in another warning.
Every muscle in my body locks. “What?”
“He’s messing with you, Hunter,” she says quickly, stepping out of my hold.
She shoots Xavier a glare. “Really?”
“Sorry,” Xavier says, though the grin on his face makes it clear he’s not sorry at all. “Thought I’d see how far I could push him.”
I blink, thrown. He doesn’t even sound slightly put out.
If anything, I feel like I’ve walked into some inside joke between them.
Madison shakes her head at him, smiling in an all too familiar way, like it isn’t the first time he’s earned it.
My brows pull together. Something in my chest goes tight, and I’m reminded that I left for too long… and someone else tried to step in.
My eyes find hers, and the tension shifts. One look from her and the noise in my head slows, the tightness in my chest loosens. She steadies me without even knowing.
“You’re lucky she’s giving you a second chance.”
My gaze snaps back to Xavier.
“Don’t fuck it up this time.” He smiles, then turns, strolling back to his friends.
I let out a slow, shaky breath. He wanted her, tried for her, and she still chose me.
She could have said yes to him. Hell, maybe she should have, but she didn’t.
She stayed. Always in my corner. Always showing me she cares in the quiet ways I never deserved.
Meanwhile, I’m fumbling every chance she gives me. Yeah, I’m an idiot.
“Jump with me?” I blurt.
Her eyes widen, lashes fluttering. “Wh-what?”
“Take a leap with me.” The words stumble out, raw and trembling.
“Shit… Baby girl.” I step in, closing the space between us until our breaths mingle.
Her hands are small and warm in mine, holding them feels like I’m holding onto home.
“I’ve been doing this all wrong, but I want…
” I swallow hard. “I need you to jump with me. So what do you say?”
She bites her lip, gaze sweeping around Falls Creek, seeking the answer she needs, searching for someone to lean on.
The girls are too far away in the water with Remi, their laughter echoing off the rocks.
Connor and Asher are at the barbecue, bickering over who ruined the tongs this time.
She won’t find anyone to deflect to. No safety net.
It’s just us. Her and me.
And I want—no, need—to go all in with her.
“I promise I’ll catch you. I’ll catch you and never let go. Be spontaneous with me,” I say.
“I… I don’t…” Her voice shakes as she backs up, one step, then another.
She spins away from me entirely, and the world drops. The chirping birds fade in the distance. The rush of the waterfall dulls. All I can hear is the thud of my own heartbeat as she takes off.
“Mads!” I call, knowing how the nickname will hit.
She stops dead in her tracks, chest heaving, eyes flashing fire. The pull between us tightens, sparks flying as I catch up to her.
“Don’t call me Mads,” she hisses.
I lower my head, moving to shield us from the others’ view. “Why? Tell me why you hate it so much.”
Her head tilts, eyes squeezing shut as she drags in a deep breath.
I don’t think she’s ever told anyone this before.
I stay still, giving her the space to breathe, to navigate the storm inside her head.
The silence stretches, thick and heavy, and when I start to think she won’t let me in, her eyes open, a pool of sadness straight at me.
“My Nan… she used to call me Mads. It was her nickname for me. The only one my mom’s family ever used. When they all left after she passed, I started hating it because it’s a reminder of the people who were supposed to stay and love us. They didn’t, though. They left.”
A crack forms in my chest. It’s always been her and her mom, and every time I called her Mads, I was unknowingly reminding her of the family that left. Shit.
“I’m sorry.” I reach out, but she steps back, her shoulders tight. “I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Her voice is quiet but loud enough for me to hear over the water.
“Mom never told me much about why her family left. Just that when Nan died, her brother and sister couldn’t live here anymore, and she didn’t want to leave Sunlit Cove.
She stayed because she had me.” She shrugs, a ghost of a smile tugging at her lips.
“We’re a team, Mom and I. Whatever happened between them, it’s something we don’t talk about. ”
“I promise I won’t call you Mads ever again.
” I reach out again, brushing the hair from her shoulders to the back of her neck.
The tips of my fingers graze her skin, and a jolt of electricity fires through me.
“Besides, I’ve grown quite attached to baby girl.
” Her skin reacts, goosebumps prickling under my touch.
“I think you like being called baby girl, too,” I rasp.
Her gaze slides toward the lookout above the falls, shoulders rising and falling with her measured breaths. She’s fighting with a decision inside that beautiful mind of hers, and when her eyes swing back to mine, I catch it—determination, confidence, resolve.
My pulse pounds in my ears as I look behind me.
Our crew’s watching us—the guys with their thumbs up, Tessa swaying her arms at me like she’s shooing me off, a soft, knowing smile from my sister, and Sarah’s narrowed eyes warning me not to fuck it up.
Their quiet encouragement urges me on. This is my moment to catch her.