Static Between Hearts
245 Words
CHAPTER 19: Static Between Hearts
The apartment was too quiet. Not the kind of quiet that calmed you, but the kind that made your skin crawl.
Jay paced like a man trying to outrun something invisible. Lena leaned against the counter, arms crossed, eyes fixed on him.
He hadn’t spoken since they got back. But she could feel it—the storm in him. It radiated in the way he walked, in how he clenched his fists and refused to look at her.
“You’re scaring me,” she finally said, voice steady.
Jay stopped. Turned.
“Good,” he said flatly. “Then maybe you’ll stay safe.”
“That’s not how this works,” she snapped, taking a step forward. “You drag me into your world, then shut me out like I don’t matter?”
His eyes flared. “You matter too much. That’s the problem.”
She blinked.
Jay exhaled, voice cracking under the weight of truth. “I don’t do feelings. I ruin things, Lena. I destroy the people who get too close.”
“Then let me be the first thing you don’t destroy.”
He stepped forward, close enough to feel her warmth. He lifted his hand—but didn’t touch her. Instead, he stared at her like he was memorizing her before she disappeared.
“I want to believe you,” he whispered. “But I’m still afraid of what I’ll do if I let go.”
- Writer
