Jade
The chill in the afternoon air did little to calm the fire already burning inside me. I sat at a weathered picnic table on the far edge of campus, pretending to study, though the open book in front of me blurred into meaningless lines. My fingers tightened around the edges of the pages, trying to ground myself, trying to stay anchored in a world that felt like it was slipping further from my control every second.
I felt him before I saw him.
The mark on my neck pulsed faintly, as if warning me, and my heart started racing even though I hadn’t moved. I didn’t have to look up to know Zade was near. His presence filled the space around me like a storm on the verge of breaking, heavy and electric.
When I finally lifted my head, my breath caught painfully in my chest.
Zade was walking across the quad, his long strides unhurried, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his black jacket. His gaze was fixed on me, steady and unwavering, as if I were the only thing in the world worth noticing. I hated how easily he unsettled me. I hated even more the way a part of me thrilled at the sight of him.
He stopped a few feet away, close enough that I could see the tension in his shoulders, the tightness in his jaw.
“I don’t want to interrupt if you’re busy,” he said, his voice low and carrying more restraint than I thought possible.
I swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump forming in my throat. “I wasn’t really studying,” I admitted, my voice softer than I intended. “I’m not sure I could even focus right now.”
Zade’s lips twitched, almost like he wanted to smile but didn’t dare. He moved closer, slower than usual, giving me time to react. I should have told him to leave. I should have stood up and walked away without looking back. But my body refused to obey the frantic warnings in my head.
Without asking, he sat across from me, the worn table the only thing separating us. The tension crackled like static in the air between us, and every instinct I had screamed that the safest thing would be to put distance between us.
Yet I stayed frozen in place, waiting, needing to know what would happen next.
For a moment, we just sat there in heavy silence, the kind that pressed down on your chest and made it hard to breathe. I busied myself with fidgeting, pretending to straighten the books I wasn’t reading, trying to focus on anything other than the weight of Zade’s gaze on me.
“You’re stronger than you think,” he said finally, his voice quiet but filled with something raw and real.
His words hit harder than they should have. I wanted to argue, to tell him he didn’t know me, but the bond between us pulsed again, betraying my true feelings. I was tired of pretending, tired of running from something that was becoming harder to deny with every breath.
When his hand moved across the table, slow and deliberate, I couldn’t look away. His fingers brushed against the back of my hand, so lightly it was barely a touch at all. But it didn’t matter. The second our skin made contact, my whole world shifted.
A jolt of heat raced through my body, so intense it stole the air from my lungs. My heart hammered against my ribs, my skin tingling where his fingertips had grazed me. I jerked my hand away instinctively, but not because I didn’t want his touch.
It was because I wanted it too much.
Zade didn’t reach for me again. He just sat there, his hand still resting on the table, his expression open and heartbreakingly patient.
“I can feel you fighting it,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper but still carrying an impossible amount of weight. “You don’t have to pretend you don’t feel it too.”
The truth of his words terrified me.
I shook my head slowly, unable to form a coherent response. Everything inside me was a mess of fear and longing, crashing together until I didn’t know which way was up anymore. I hated the way my body betrayed me, reaching for him even as my mind screamed for caution.
Zade stood up slowly, coming around the side of the table, moving closer but leaving enough space between us that I could still breathe. His every movement was measured, controlled, as if he knew exactly how dangerous it would be to push me too far.
When he stopped just in front of me, his hand hovered near mine again. He didn’t touch me this time, didn’t force anything. He just stood there, his presence overwhelming and magnetic, waiting for me to make the choice.
My heart thundered in my chest as he leaned in, his face inches from mine. His breath brushed against my skin, warm and intoxicating. His eyes locked onto mine, searching, asking without words if he could close the distance.
I didn’t move.
For a breathless second, it felt like the whole world had narrowed to this one impossible moment.
And just as our lips were about to meet, panic surged through me, slamming into my chest with brutal force.
I stumbled back, nearly tripping over my own feet in my desperation to put space between us. My breath came in shallow gasps, and my hands trembled uncontrollably at my sides.
“I can’t do this,” I said, my voice cracking from the weight of everything I felt and couldn’t handle.
Zade’s expression didn’t harden or darken with anger. If anything, his face softened even more, a deep sadness shadowing his features. He stepped back immediately, giving me the distance I so clearly needed, even though the pain in his eyes was almost too much to bear.
“I’ll wait,” he said gently, the words wrapping around me like a promise I didn’t deserve.
I shook my head, tears burning in the corners of my eyes as I turned and fled.
I didn’t stop until I was back in my room, my back pressed against the closed door, my hands fisted in my hair as if that could keep me from falling apart.
My chest heaved with silent sobs, the bond between us throbbing with a hunger that no amount of distance could kill.
I knew it now, as clearly as I knew my own name.
I was falling for him.