One Deep Breath

Chapter Twenty-Six

When the door clicked shut behind them Jolie let herself meet Jesse's gaze.

"Thank you, Jesse," she gushed. Tears welled up in her eyes as the night's events caught up with her.

"I'm glad you called me," his big blue eyes piercing through her. They stood still for a moment, neither of them touching for the first time all weekend, Jolie realized. And then he said, "Come here."

Jolie crashed into his hug.

"Really, thank you so much," she blurted out into his chest.

Jesse held her, rubbing her back and stroking her hair. The tears that had threatened to fall all night were back, but she fought them away with all of her might. Pulling back, she rose up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss onto his lips.

He kissed her back, sweetly, softly and more gentle than usual.

When he pulled back she sighed. The last thing she wanted was for him to treat her differently now, as if she was somehow broken and needing to be handled with care. Landon had done that for months and it was like a constant reminder of what had happened. It's hard to feel normal when everyone else is acting like you're not.

Looking down at her toes, she whispered so softly that she almost hoped he hadn't heard her.

"It was a long time ago."

His hands traveled up her back, slowly making their way up to their place behind her neck and under her cheekbones. His thumbs grazed her jaw as he tilted her face up to look at him.

"I don't know what to say," he admitted. "But I'm here for you now."

Her heart swelled and her stomach flipped at the way he was looking at her, how tenderly he spoke to her.

"It's late. I'm sorry," Jolie stumbled over her words, unsure of how to respond to him.

"You don't need to be sorry," Jesse admonished. He was still studying her and she was still deciding what her next move would be. She could pour her heart and her history out for him to mull over, or she could shut it down and lock it away like she usually did.

Her past therapists had always encouraged her to not stifle her emotions, that the bottling of them was what triggered her panic attacks. But there were only a few people who really knew her, and she hated talking about her past. It wasn't productive and it wouldn't change anything. Burying it all seemed so much easier.

With Jesse the walls were still up, but they were way lower than they were with most people. She'd let him into her life, something she wasn't particularly great at, but she still kept her deepest-darkests locked away.

Until Rachel outed one of them, at least.

"My car," Jolie winced, if not changing the subject entirely at least redirecting the focus momentarily.

Jesse's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, right. I can get it. Give me your key. I'll take care of it on my way back."

"Oh," she frowned. "Um, okay, yeah."

"What?" he questioned her, picking up on her hesitation.

"What do you mean what?" she tried backing up a pace. Him helping her with her car was sweet, but him leaving right now felt disappointing. She wanted to shift the focus, not drive him away. Jolie felt like one big conflicted, confused mess.

He looked at her bemused.

"Well," she began slowly, "it's just already pushing two, and it's not like it's a penthouse or anything, but you could stay here, if you wanted."