AIDEN’S POV
I stood there, rooted to the spot, watching her walk away from me. Again. Her figure grew smaller with each step, her shoulders stiff, her head held high—even as I knew her heart was anything but steady. The sight of her retreating form sent a sharp, jagged pain through my chest, like a blade twisting deeper with every breath I took.
Fury and desperation clawed at me, tearing through my veins like wildfire. They twisted together, morphing into something raw and ugly—something I couldn’t control. I had kissed her.
I had felt her hesitation, that fleeting moment where her body betrayed her, where her lips softened beneath mine as if they remembered the way we used to fit together. As if they remembered the heat, the hunger, the way we used to burn for each other.
But
