WRECKED BY YOU

Chapter Eleven: Smoke and Secrets

The rooftop was quiet — too quiet for midnight.

Zara leaned against the railing, a cigarette burning slowly between her fingers. She didn’t smoke, not really. But holding it gave her something to do with her hands. Something to focus on besides the hurricane swirling in her chest.

Jace hadn’t shown up yet.

She hated how much she was hoping he would.

The night air was cool, brushing over her bare legs like a whispered warning. Down below, Saint Matthew’s looked ghostly, lit only by the soft golden glow of streetlamps and the occasional flicker from dorm windows.

Her phone buzzed.

Unknown Number: “Look left.”

Her head snapped to the side — and there he was. Jace, stepping out from the shadows, hoodie up, face unreadable. Like a ghost she’d summoned just by missing him too hard.

“You always this dramatic?” she said, raising a brow.

He didn’t smile. Not this time.

Instead, he came closer — slow, deliberate. The way he moved made her breath catch. Like he was stalking something. Or someone.

“You didn’t answer my message,” he said quietly.

“You didn’t ask a question.”

Jace stopped in front of her, eyes locked on hers. “Why are you really here, Zara?”

She shrugged, flicking ash off the edge. “Same reason you are.”

“Which is?”

“Trying not to drown.”

He stared at her for a long time. Then — without a word — he plucked the cigarette from her fingers, took a drag, and flicked it over the edge.

“Smoke doesn’t suit you,” he muttered.

“What does?” she challenged, her voice low.

He leaned in until their faces were a breath apart. “Me.”

It wasn’t a kiss — not yet. It was the moment before the fall. The stretch of silence so loud it roared in your ears. His hand hovered just over her jaw, not touching… but promising everything.

“I’m not good for you,” he said, eyes burning.

“Too late,” she whispered.

And then — they crashed.

Mouths colliding. Teeth, tongue, heat. His hands cupped her face, her fingers tangled in his hoodie, and everything else disappeared. The pain, the fear, the past. All of it swallowed by the fire between them.

By the time they pulled apart, breathless and blinking, the rooftop was spinning.

“You wreck everything,” she whispered.

“So do you,” he replied. “Maybe that’s why it works.”

But in the shadows, they didn’t see the figure watching.

And what he saw?

Would ruin everything.