Page 42 of Unofficial

"I'd rather you did it when I wasn't with someone else."

He's losing her. He looks into her eyes and he sees it. Everything he's doing now is too little too late. "Jess, please. Give me a chance to prove it to you. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it."

"Kade-"

Jess stops when a knock at the door interrupts them, and her eyes widen in panic. He knows it's the other man. Landry. The name comes as a sneer in his mind.

"Don't answer it, Jess. Please. I'm begging you, don't answer it. We need to talk because I know you still care for me. The feelings are still there, and we just have to figure out how to work through everything I did wrong before."

"No, I won't ignore him. He was invited," she says and walks over to open the door. "Landry-"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Landry asks and walks in, standing a foot away from Kade. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Kade stares at the man a couple of inches shorter than him without flinching or backing down. "I came here to plead my case."

"What case?" Landry asks with a chuckle. "You cheated on her, remember?"

"It wasn't cheating," Jess jumps in. "You know, since he and I weren't officially together. We hadn't had the talk yet."

The frustration in her voice makes Kade angry. Angry at himself. "I was an idiot. I know it. And semantics doesn't get me out of hurting someone I deeply care about."

"You're just here because she's with someone new," Landry says. "If she wasn't with me, you wouldn't give a damn. You only want her because she moved on. You're the type of guy who wants what he can't have."

Screw him. "That's not true."

"Which part?"

"All of it."

"Tell me you didn't start realizing how amazing she is after our conversation at the bar."

Jess looks between them. "What conversation at the bar?"

"I realized it long before we talked. Our conversation really drove the point home that I had some shit to work through because I really hate seeing her with you. I'd hate seeing her with any man, but especially you. Because at the end of the day, you're not the one for her. I am. And deep down, you know that. That's why you dislike me so much."

Landry steps back. "You're lucky I don't punch you in the face right now."

"No one punches anyone," Jess says, stepping between them. "What conversation did you have at the bar? When did you two talk?"

"I saw Landry at O'Reilly's one night when you were working late. He says he was already on his way to your place when you messaged him, but part of me wonders if he didn't show up on purpose to see me. See what I'd do."

"Don't flatter yourself," Landry says.

Kade smirks. "He stopped in for a drink, and I started up a conversation."

"Why would you do that?" Jess asks, her brows furrowed, creating the cute crease on her forehead whenever she concentrates on something.

Kade can't help but admit he's asked himself that same question ten times over since Landry left that night. "Because I wanted to know how serious you two were. If you were still together."

"We are," Landry says. "So, get out. Take your exit like a man."

"No, if I leave now, I'm not a man. Jess did everything to show me how much she cared when we dated, and I took her for granted. I never let myself be the man she needed, and when she walked away, I let her go. None of that is what a man does. A man fights for what he wants. And he'll only stop when he's tried everything possible. I haven't tried everything yet."

"She's with me!"

Jess stares between them, and Kade wishes she'd say something. Anything. Instead, she just looks stunned. But maybe not saying anything means something. She's not jumping in, telling him how much he failed, and that he needs to give up already. Maybe, just maybe, her silence means there's still hope. That's all he needs. A little bit of hope.

"She loved me," Kade says. "That doesn’t just go away in a few months."

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