bChapter /bb116/bb: /bbAJ POV /b

    She goes quiet after Hunter’s promise.

    :

    Not numb, exactly. But quiet in a way I don’t like, iat /iall.

    When La finally rises from her stool, she says something about needing to get dressed because

    she’s got ss and that she doesn’t want to bete.

    And we all let her go, mainly because none of us really knows what else to do.

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    Hunter watches her climb the stairs like he wants to follow her, but he doesn’t. Xavier’s already

    pulling out hisptop, while Cade grabs his phone and starts typing. The entire kitchen shifts gears

    in seconds, morphing into some kind of war room.

    But I can’t stay.

    Not when I saw the way she moved.

    She was too light on her feet and too careful with her posture. Like her body’s a mask, and her

    thoughts are on fire.

    I give it a minute – just one

    —

    then push away from the counter, leave the others talking a mile–a-

    minute behind me, and head towards the stairs without a word.

    I knock softly once I’m outside her doorb, /bbut there’s no answer, so I open it. But the room is empty and untouched, making me frown in confusion. Where could she be?

    Then I hear it – the soft rush of water behind the bathroom door.

    And underneath it? Something else. It’s barely audible, but it guts me all the same.

    A sob. It’s short and sharp like it broke free before she had a chance to choke it down.

    —

    I immediately freeze in ce with my hand still on the bedroom doorknob. I should walk away, I should give her space. But all I can think about is the way she looked reading the contents of that envelope. Like her heart cracked clean in half, and she didn’t know how to hold the pieces together.

    So I make a choice.

    I shut the bedroom door behind me and step into the bathroom as quietly as I can manage. The

    Chapter 116: AJ POV

    b55 /b

    room is thick with steam, and the mirror is already fogged up, as her clothes lie in a messy pile near the vanity cab. The opaque shower curtain is drawn halfway closed, and I can just make out the silhouette of her delicate frame standing under the hot stream.

    She’s hugging herself, with her forehead tipped forward against the wall, all while her shoulders shake.

    She’s still trying to cry silently, and still trying to be strong.

    And ithat’s /iwhat undoes me.

    I strip everything off except my boxer briefs, step forward slowly, and ease the curtain aside just enough so I can slip in behind her. She startles when she feels my presence, and her body jerks back instinctively, but I reach out to her and wrap my arms around her waist before she can spin around or retreat into a corner.

    “It’s just me, Cupcake,” I whisper into the crook of her neck. “It’s okay.”

    “AJ…” Her voice cracks around my name, as she tries to swipe at her face to try and hide the tears I had already heard.

    “No,” I say, tightening my arms around her, effectively pulling her back flush against my front, before I press my forehead to her shoulder. “Don’t. Don’t hide from me.”

    At my words, she goespletely still in my arms. Water runs over both of us now, and it’s hot, steady, and blurring the lines between skin and tears and the weight of everything she’s holding in.

    “You don’t have to be strong in here,” I murmur against her damp skin. “Not with me. Not right

    now.i” /i

    She tries to hold it in a second longer. I can feel it in the way her chest rises too fast, and in the way her hands shake at her sides.

    Then she ifinally /ibreaks.

    A sob slips free from her lips, and it’s raw and trembling. Then, without warning, she turns in my arms and buries her face against my chest. I hold her there tightly, anchoring her against me with everything I have, as her fingers twist into my back like she’s afraid I’ll vanish if she lets go even for a second.

    She doesn’t speak, but she doesn’t need to.

    (

    b14:31 /bWed, Sep 10

    Chapter 116: AJ POV

    I just let her cry.

    I let her shudder and shake and fall apart right there against my chest under the spray of the shower, while I press kisses into her soaked hair and murmur quiet, senseless things that don’t matter half as much as the fact that I mean them.

    “I’ve got you, baby.” or “I’m not going anywhere, Cupcake.” or “You don’t have to do this alone, sweetheart.”

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    She sobs harder for a second when I say that, and I think it’s thest statement that does it.

    When her breathing finally starts to settle down, she leans back just enough to look up at me. Her eyes are bloodshot, hershes clumped together, whether from the water or her tears, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t really matter. Her cheeks are also streaked with a mess of water, salt, and heartbreak. But to me, she’s never looked more beautiful.

    “I didn’t think she’d actually do it,” she whispers as her gaze searches mine. “I thought she was bluffing. I thought… God, I thought if I just held my ground, she’d back offb…/bb” /b

    “She should’ve,” I say as my one hand runs up and down her spine leisurely.

    “I just wanted her to isee /ime, you know.” Her voice breaks again, more quietly this time. “Like… actually see me. Not just my signature on a legal document, and not just as a pawn on her board of

    avarice.”

    I cup the side of her face with my other hand, lean in, and rest my forehead against hers. “She sees the wrong version of you,” I whisper. “The version she invented to make herself feel better about

    who she has be.”

    Tears start to slip down her cheeks again, but it’s slower now, like the worst of the storm has passed.

    “I’m so tired, AJ,” she breathes against my lips.

    “I know, baby, I know,” I say, then I kiss her temple tenderly, and add, “But we’re gonna fight this. Xavier’s already plotting, as if it were a murder trial. Hunter’s calling Cody as we speak. And Cade’s probably threatening to light something on fire in honor of your name.”

    That earns me a softugh against my chest. And even though it’s barely there, it’s real,

    “And me?b” /bI say quietly. “I’m up here with you. Because ithis /iis what matters most right now.”

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    She wraps her arms tighter around my middle again and lets her body melt against minepletely, effectively ensuring that our soaked bodies are pressed together from corbone to thigh. But it’s

    not sexual, not even a little.

    It’s just us. Silent and raw and honest.

    When I feel her knees wobble slightly, I adjust our position so that I’m the one bearing most of her

    weight. Then I guide us back just a little so that her head rests entirely against my chest, and my

    hand gets to cup the base of her spine.

    “Five more minutes,” I whisper into her hair. “That’s all I need. Just five more minutes of holding

    you.”

    She doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t let go either.

    And that’s how I know she heard me.

    Chapter Comments

    bJ /b

    Jessa Grignon

    7 days ago

    when for the next chapter

    7