PART 6 CHAPTER 199
LUKE
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I took a shaky breath as Jessica’s eyes bore into me, filled with hurt and disbelief. The silence between us felt like an endless canyon, too wide to cross. My chest ached to see her like this, raw and vulnerable.
She had become this… this tame being. The fire that was Jessica–the one who fought with me, outran me–wasn’t there anymore. Or maybe it was, and I just needed to kindle it back to life.
“You don’t get to come here and say these things now.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but it cut through me like a knife. “I’ve tried so hard to move on, to forget everything we had, but you… you’re like this scar etched into me.” She dropped her face into her hands, the words trembling out of her, and before I knew it, she sank to the floor, folding in on herself, shoulders shaking.
Without thinking, I dropped to my knees in front of her. I reached for her hands, her skin warm against mine, soft and familiar. Her face was buried, and for a moment, I could barely breathe. “Jess…” I whispered, my voice rough as I brought her hands to my lips, pressing a kiss to each of her knuckles.
“I know,” I said quietly, every word feeling like it weighed a ton. “I know I don’t deserve to say this. I don’t deserve you. But you’ve been haunting me–my dreams, my every thought, every damn breath… Jess, I can’t exist without you. I tried to cut you out, to tell myself it was better this way, but if I had to let you go…” My voice cracked. “I’d stop existing.”
“Are you sure… Francesca could be lying again. Maybe you guys do…“I stopped Jess from finishing that sentence.
PART & CHAPTER 199
“Francesca and I haven’t been that intimate in a long time. She was convenient to keep,t other women away and stop the tabloids from looking for a juicy story. That’s all. I can’t believe I didn’t piece it together sooner the timeline. I guess I was blinded by the fact that I got a chance – a do–over. That’s all. I got lost in it all.“I confessed to Jess, who looked at me with a strange look on her face.
She finally looked up at me, her cheeks wet, her eyes so full of pain it broke me all over again. “I loved you,” she whispered, her voice full of something raw and broken. “More than I thought I could love anyone. I tried to let go, to cut you out, but you… you’re burned into me, Luke. It hurts to see you, but it hurts even more not to see you. It hurts to hear this now, after everything.” Her hands clung to mine, and I held them as if they were the last thing keeping me grounded.
My thumb brushed along her cheek, catching a stray tear, and I felt the walls I’d built up over the years shattering, piece by piece. “I know it’s too much to ask,” I managed, barely able to keep my voice steady, “but I need you, Jess. I need you to let me in, even if it’s just a little. Please… let me prove to you that I can be better. That I can stay, and I can take care of you.”
She looked at me then, her lips parted, her eyes full of something I couldn’t quite read–hope, fear, maybe both. For a moment, neither of us moved, and then her gaze dropped to my lips, lingering. And just like that, every last bit of restraint I’d been clinging to snapped.
I leaned in, brushing my lips softly against hers, tentative, careful. Her fingers tightened in mine, and she kissed me back, her lips warm and soft, and everything I’d been aching for. All the things I’d wanted to say, all the ways I’d wanted to show her… it all poured into that kiss.
I cupped her face, holding her like she was the only thing anchoring me to this world. Because she was. And at that moment, nothing else existed but her–Jess, here in my arms, where she’d always belonged.
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PART & CHAPTER 199
Jess finally responded, leaning into me and kissing me back. Opening up so that I could taste her again, and now, now I wanted more. So much
more.
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