Page 39 of The Comeback Road (Leaving #2)

Jace

Even though my head was throbbing and I was pretty sure my nose might have been broken, I couldn’t help the way my heart seemed to be soaring over the fact that Lexie was there.

She was home . Relief that she was back was quickly replaced by worry when I realized she was hurt.

She looked almost fragile, her skin pale against the dark fabric of her clothes, but the fire in her eyes hadn’t dimmed. It was glorious. My starlight .

I had to fight the urge to rush to Lexie and wrap her in my arms until she understood that I would never let anything bad happen to her. That I’d protect her with everything I had to make sure I never had to be without her again.

“Lexie…” I started, but the words caught in my throat.

I hadn’t seen her in what felt like an eternity.

Every part of my skin was itchy and tingling with the need to touch her, to reassure her, but the memories of my own betrayal started to sweep in.

I’d left her for a fleeting moment. I had let the idea of Jess and the idea of the life I’d once known and planned seduce me.

And looking at Lexie, I felt even more like a coward for even considering it.

She looked at me, her expression a mix of weariness and something more distinct. Something that made my skin crawl. Is it disappointment? Hurt? Probably both, and it was nothing I didn’t deserve.

“You’re here,” she said, her voice steady. But there was a distinctive edge to it.

“I thought I lost you,” I managed, unable to keep myself from taking a step toward her. And the closer I got, the more I felt the weight of the loss of her. For a second, I forgot how to breathe as I went to reach for her and she stumbled backward. I winced at her reaction to me. “Starlight…”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Lexie…”

“Why are you here? How did you even know I was back?” Lexie looked at me for answers, and I didn’t even have to say anything before she connected the dots. “Sloan…My roomie and I are going to have a chat about boundaries.”

“Don’t blame him. He owed me a favor.”

She raised her eyebrows at me, and her eyes lit up with remembrance. I was the one who gave Sloan her number when he was trying to work things out with Magnolia.

“I hope his debt is paid to you now.” Her voice sounded strained and tired, as if it was taking all of her energy just to stand upright.

“I almost lost you.” I couldn’t help the words as they came out, and I could feel her gaze assessing me as she picked her words.

“You’d already lost me.” There was a haunting truth to her words that rocked me back a little.

Even so, I reached for her—I couldn’t help it.

Lexie buried her nose in my shoulder, and I felt her shudder, like she had been holding in the tears until then, waiting to break down when no one else was watching.

“I…I can’t do this.” She tore herself away from our embrace. “You need to go.”

“Starlight…”

“It’s Lexie, and I need you to go. This changes nothing.”

“I want you. I’ve always wanted you. I just…

” I faltered in my explanation because there wasn’t a good one.

I had just…hesitated, got sucked into a past that no longer existed—no, it no longer mattered.

It ceased to matter the second I laid eyes on Lexie.

It just took my head a minute to catch up to my heart. I was going to tell her as much.

“No. You don’t get it. You don’t get it.

” Her quiet words were louder than any screaming.

“I wasn’t your first choice, Jace. You left me.

You made me into the exact thing that ruined my childhood—the other woman.

And sure, it might have been on a technicality, but it still counts.

You can’t change what happened, and I can’t live my adult life wondering if I’m someone’s second choice.

I can’t. I won’t . So I need you to go.”

“I thought I could—”

“No,” she interrupted, her eyes flashing.

“Just let me prove it to you—”

“I can’t do what I need to do with you here, Jace. You remind me of everything I’m trying to forget. I need to heal, to move on, and I can’t do that with you here.”

My chest tightened so painfully. The thought of her pushing me away when she was so close was almost unbearable. “Don’t say that…You can’t mean it.”

She looked at me again, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of what I thought was hope. But then it was gone, replaced by what I could only assume was her resolve. “You need to go.”

Her words tasted bitter on my tongue, and I hadn’t even spoken them, all words and hopes floating away like ash. Fine. I was done talking. I’d give her the space she was asking me for, but I would show her that we were far from over.

“I’ll go for now because it’s what you need, but don’t you think for a second that this is over, Starlight. It’s so far from over. You’re my choice. My only choice, and I’m going to prove that to you.”

I turned and made my way out of the house, not waiting for a response because nothing she could say would change my mind. Lexie was mine—always had been, always would be—and I was going to fix my mistakes, no matter what anyone said.