It was the kiss I couldn't forget.
A memory that haunted me in the dead of night, in the quiet moments when my mind wandered too far. His lips—warm, insistent, leaving a mark on my soul I couldn't erase, no matter how hard I tried.
But he left.
Just like that. One moment, he was there, his eyes dark with something I didn't quite understand. The next, he was gone. No explanation, no reason.
I never expected to see him again.
I thought I had moved on. After losing my mother to cancer, I was used to losing. It was easier that way, to believe that nothing would last. Nothing or no one could save me. I was numb, just floating through life, barely holding it together. Work. Bills. Surviving. That was my reality now.
And yet, there I was, standing outside my apartment building in the rain, feeling that old ache in my chest, the one that had started with her death.
I thought I was safe from him. From the temptation he was. From the chaos that seemed to follow him.
But then I heard the sound of an engine idling nearby.
I didn't have to look up to know it was him.
"Janica."
His voice was low, familiar, like a thread pulling me back to the place I thought I'd escaped.
My pulse quickened. I didn't want to look, but I couldn't stop myself. And there he was—Jason. Standing just a few feet away, his gaze locked on me as though he'd never left. His presence was overwhelming, as powerful as a storm.
He hadn't changed. He still wore that same dark aura, that same quiet intensity that made my heart race. The last time I saw him, it was only for a moment—a kiss that felt like the beginning of something dangerous, and then he was gone.
Gone without a word, leaving me to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing.
But now, he was back.
"Jason..." My voice cracked, betraying me. I hadn't even realized I said his name until it slipped out.
He didn't smile. Didn't say anything. He just stared at me with those eyes that saw right through me—into all my cracks and broken parts. It was as if he could feel every hurt I'd ever tried to bury.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice rough. "I should've never walked away."
I didn't know how to respond. I wanted to tell him I didn't care. That I was better off without him. But my heart wasn't listening.
"Why now?" The words left my lips before I could stop them. "Why after all this time?"
He took a step closer, and I instinctively backed away. I didn't want to feel anything. Didn't want to fall back into the trap I knew he was setting.
"Because I can't stay away anymore," he said, his voice soft but certain.
I shook my head, the ache in my chest growing. "You left. You disappeared. You—" I stopped, not knowing how to finish the sentence. I had no answers. Just the raw, painful truth that I was still affected by him, despite everything.
He was dangerous.
And I was broken.
"Let me help you," he whispered.
I almost laughed. Help me? After everything? But the truth hit me like a punch to the gut. I wasn't just broken. I was desperate. And no matter how much I hated myself for it, I couldn't shake the pull toward him.
"Help me?" I repeated, my voice trembling. "You don't even know who I am anymore."
Jason's eyes softened for the briefest moment, a flicker of something human breaking through the coldness. "I know exactly who you are, Janica."
He was right. He did. And that terrified me more than anything else.
"I'm here to protect you," he said, his voice steady but laced with a warning I couldn't ignore. "There are things you don't understand. Things I can't explain yet."
I swallowed hard, the weight of his words sinking into my skin. "And if I don't want your protection?"
"Then I'll make sure no one else touches you."
There it was. The promise I knew would change everything.
I stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say, how to feel. I hated him for leaving me. But part of me—some desperate, stupid part of me—was relieved that he was back.
I wasn't sure whether I should run or fall into his arms.
But one thing was certain: nothing in my life would ever be the same again.