Even though I don't look up right away, I feel him. His presence shifts the air, makes it heavier, like the sky right before a storm. A shiver runs down my spine, but I shake it off. I can sense he's here to handle our unfinished business, and I know he won't hold his tongue this time, not without our audience from earlier to keep him in check. "Why yuh really come back Jodie?" He's blunt, as always, and I can tell he's revving up for a fight. Him lucky. "I love Ms. Iva and I respect her for what she does, but dem neva send yuh gah school fi sell yam dung a market...Why'd you leave Kingston?" "I told you already, I'm using my PTO Knox" I dispose of the water into the grass, setting the wash basin up against the tank. He scoffs. "Liad, yuh done tell dah one deh already, betta yuh come up wid a next one." His eyes are daring, challenging me to come clean, but I can't. "Why you cyaa juss believe me? What's so suspicious about me needing time away from work?" I push past him, not yet ready to dive so deep into the unknown. He grabs my wrist, pulling me into his chest and trapping me there. The warmth of him seeps into me, setting off a fire under my skin. He doesn't ease up, but the pressure does something to me that I can't shake. I tell myself to take a step back, create some space, but I don't. I won't. "Because me know yuh, Jodie. Better than I know myself. I know you..." He presses his index fingers to his heart, his breath shallow as it cascades across my collarbone. "I thought we were better than this, I thought we could tell each other anything" I shake my head, my eyes closing as I inhale his scent, it's uniquely him. It's dangerous how familiar it is, how it makes my chest ache. I hate him for making me feel like this, I hate myself for wanting to be even closer than we are now.

"Move from in front a mi," I say. But it comes out softer. Weaker. More honest than I intended. I'd be on the first plane out of here tomorrow. Nothing that we've said in the past twenty minutes would matter once I am on that plane. We are tied to each other, and our pasts don't have to intertwine any more than they already have. He doesn't move. I step sideways. He mirrors me, like he's tethered to the same gravity. "Kymani-" "Selah" My name in his mouth feels like a dare. A part of me wants it to feel like a promise. I shake the thought. After what feels like a standoff written in the marrow between us, he finally exhales and steps back. Barely. But enough. I don't waste it. I slip from his hold, my heartbeat pounding in my throat, in my ears, in the soles of my feet as I bolt toward the door. I leave him there. Leave the house. Leave the heat still burning between us. And I run. Fast, desperate, the same way I did the first time I left this place. The same way I survived. I don't look back. Not at him. Not at the house. Not at the version of myself that's still trembling inside those walls. Not anymore.

Only Love Can...Hurt Like This 💔

He turned a church girl into his personal freak.

Jacen and Paecyn's worlds collide, forcing them into a state of unending facades.

At 23, Kayla Richards has her life in careful balance as an accountant, but it wasn't always this way. Two years ago, she broke up with her boyfriend, Andre Malcolm, a successful businessman, without ever explaining why. When she simply said, "I want to break up," he agreed, leaving their once passionate relationship in ashes. Now, as Kayla faces a personal crisis, she finds herself needing Andre's help. Their unexpected reunion sparks old feelings and unresolved questions. Can they navigate the dark, twisting path of their past and find a way to rekindle their lost romance, or will the reasons that drove them apart continue to haunt them?