Page 57 of Light My Fire Three Times
“What’s the big deal? It’s just us. Let’s go on a date.” Her fingers hover near my chest, daring me not to react. “Have a bit of fun, just like we always used to.”
I catch her wrist before she touches me, but she doesn’t back off. If anything, her smile widens, daring me to let go.
“Stop,” I bite out.
But she doesn’t even blink. She leans in, lips inches from mine, her free hand skimming up to my jaw before I can block her.
“You kissed me like I was the only one in the world. Don’t you dare tell me that was nothing. I miss you. I missed that. It wasn’t the same withhim.”
I shove her hand down, stepping back so fast the chair behind me rattles. “Enough. Vanessa, I said no.”
The smile drops from her face like a mask shattering. Her eyes widen, stunned, as if no one’s ever told her that word in her life. Then the shock twists into something else—anger, hurt, disbelief.
“No?” she spits, rising. “You don’t mean that. You can’t mean that. You don’t just… walk away from what we had.”
My jaw locks, but I keep my tone steady, even as heat burns under my skin. “You already did.”
Her chest heaves, color rising high in her cheeks. She takes another step forward, refusing to give me space, her hands balling into fists.
“Don’t put this on me. You wanted me, Jesse. You still want me. I see it. Don’t you dare lie to my face.”
I shake my head, my pulse hammering, the air in the room sharp. “I’m not lying. I’m telling you the truth. I wanted you, yeah. I cared more than I should’ve. And you left anyway. You don’t get to rewrite it now because you’re lonely.”
Her lips part, trembling between fury and desperation. “So that’s it? You’re just going to throw me away like I never mattered?”
I drag a hand through my hair, pacing, needing the distance before I explode. “You mattered. That’s the problem. You mattered too much. And now I’m done.”
Silence drops heavy between us. She stares at me like I just ripped the ground out from under her. And for the first time since she walked in, I see it. She didn’t expect the no. She doesn’t know how to hear it.
Her stare hardens.
“So that’s it?” she snaps. “You’re done with me? Just like that? Don’t even try to tell me it’s because you’re suddenly above it all.”
I stay quiet, bracing against the counter, arms crossed tight.
Her voice cracks, anger slicing through the tremor. “Tell me the truth, Jesse. Is there someone else?”
The question slams into me, and before I can stop it, my brain betrays me.
Livvy.
Her laugh was low and husky in the dark. The way she clung to me, nails in my shoulders, breathless and begging. The way she whispered my name like it meant something, like I meant something.
Heat punches through me, raw and sharp. I close my eyes, jaw clenching.
But then Ivy’s face cuts in. My sister. Livvy’s best friend. The invisible line I’m not supposed to cross. One, I already blurred too far that night. Guilt swells hard in my chest, choking out the memory.
I force myself to look at Vanessa, my expression hard.
“No,” I say flatly. “There’s no one.”
She narrows her eyes, studying me like she can peel the truth right off my skin. “Liar.”
I shake my head, but it’s too slow, too heavy. She sees the hesitation, the flicker I didn’t mean to show.
Her laugh is bitter, sharp as glass. “There is someone. I can see it all over your face. Jesse, who is she? Who the hell got under your skin enough to make you throw me away?”
Her words whip through me, but I don’t move, don’t answer. I can’t. Saying Livvy’s name would blow everything up.
