He didn’t respond right away, so when I walked over to him, I placed my hand on his shoulder, feeling him tense up.

Knots formed in my stomach. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yup,” he replied shortly, not looking up.

Obviously, that was a lie. “Jackson, what’s going on?”

“I’m working.”

“Okay…but…you’re also being super short with me.”

He looked up in my direction, and I was taken aback by his cold stare. I hadn’t seen those hard eyes in so long, and I was almost confused as to why he was shooting them in my direction.

“What is it?” I whispered as the palms of my hands grew moist. “What’s going on?”

“I think it’s best if we cut off this whole arrangement right now,” he told me, going back to working on his car.

“What?”

“I just don’t see the point. We aren’t going anywhere, so we might as well end it now.”

“What are you talking about? Where is all this coming from?”

“I just been thinking, and the truth is, I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“You’re lying. What we have…what we are…” My voice was shaky because I was so thrown off by his change.

He locked his eyes with mine, his chilled stare piercing my soul, and he grimaced. “We aren’t anything, princess, all right? Everything that happened this summer was a mistake—you were a mistake, and it’s one I won’t make again, all right?”

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Because this is who I am,” he snapped. “This is who I’ll always be.”

“No. You’re good, Jackson. You’re kind, and gentle, and—”

“Drop it, Grace. I ain’t got shit to say to you. Turn around and walk away because this conversation is over.”

“Who’s in your head right now?” I asked, gently placing my hands on his cheeks, staring into his eyes. I saw it, too. The small tremble in his bottom lip. “Who’s feeding you these thoughts? Is it your father? Finn? My mother?”

He wrapped his hands around my wrists and lowered them from my face. “Walk away, princess, and don’t look back. There’s nothing here left for you.”

My eyes watered over, and I took a few strides backward.

What changed so fast? How had it happened?

Just the other day, we saw possibilities. How did we go so quickly to the final chapter of our story when I was convinced we were only on chapter two?

“I know you,” I swore to him. “This isn’t you.”

“You don’t know me,” he said, his voice sounded flat and somber. “You never did, and I never knew you. You were nothing more than another lay, and I’m done taking off your clothes, so you can go now.”

I stumbled back a bit more by his words. I felt betrayed. Stung. Unbelievably hurt. “You don’t mean that. You don’t mean any of this. When we had no one, we had one another. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but whatever it is, we can figure it out together because that’s what we do, Jackson. We help one another.”

“Stop making it out like we’re something we’re not. I am not your friend. I am not your lover. I am nothing to you, and you are nothing to me.” He turned away and went back to work, leaving me standing there stunned.

I wiped my tears away and turned to walk back toward the front door. I didn’t see a point in continuing the conversation with Jackson. It was clear he had no goals of letting me back in.

“Grace?”

I turned to face Jackson as he stared my way.

“Yes?”

“Don’t come back.”

Those three words hurt the most because they meant that all our possibilities were officially gone.

* * *

“Grace, what are you doing here?” Finn asked as I stood in the hospital hallway. I’d been waiting for him to come past so I could speak to him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked me, sounding alarmed.

“Did you say something to him?” I asked, crossing my arms. “Did you tell Jackson something?”

“What?”

The blank stare in his eyes made me frown. His confusion was strong as if he hadn’t a clue what I was talking about.

“I haven’t seen him since the fight,” he told me.

“Don’t lie to me, Finn.”

“I’m not. I swear. Why did…?” He cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. “He let you down.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him as I turned and walked away.

Finn called after me. “You can’t really be surprised, Grace. That’s what everyone’s been trying to tell you. He’s a ticking time bomb, and it was only a matter of time before he hurt you.”

“He’s not what you think he is,” I swore. I knew Jackson. I knew the corners of his dusty soul that he never shared with anyone else. Something happened, and it had to be bad if it meant he’d pushed me away like he did. “He’s kind.”