Heartbreak Lover (Broken Hearts Academy #2) - C.R. Jane Page 0,69

and tapped the doorknob carefully, checking to see if it was hot.

“It’s still cool.”

Jackson wrapped his arm around my waist and led me down the hallway and down the stairs.

We turned the corner and stopped when we saw that the kitchen was entirely engulfed in flames. The whole house smelled of gas, and I dimly realized that all of the burners on the stove were on, pouring gas into the air.

“We have to get out of here,” I cried, and Jackson yanked me back the way we came, towards the small office on the opposite side of the first floor.

He yanked open a window, and we crawled out, coughing and choking on the thick smoke that followed us out the window.

Jackson swept me up in his arms and carried me across the street. We could hear sirens in the distance, assumedly coming here, but they would get here too late. There was an explosion just then, like something out of a horror movie. Right before our eyes, the house became nothing but twisted plastic and charred wood, acrid smoke pouring into the night air.

Two fire trucks came racing onto the street, and my attention got caught on a familiar silver Range Rover that was parked at the end of the street.

As if pulled by a string, I took a step forward, my gaze straining to look at the figure sitting in the car.

Caiden’s face appeared in the window as he leaned his head out the driver’s window and blew me a kiss.

I backed away quickly, as if I was in danger of him reaching out and grabbing me, even from that far away.

“Jackson,” I whispered, trembling as I grabbed onto his sleeve. Jackson looked over and saw Caiden as he pulled away, Caiden gifting him with a wave.

Caiden was playing on a whole other level.

I didn’t know if we could keep up.

Jackson and I wearily walked into the hotel room that he’d rented for us to stay for the night. His first credit card had been declined, his parent’s fulfilling their promise to cut him off. I was tired all the way to my bones…I was tired to my soul.

Caiden had sent a video to Jackson’s phone, obviously meant for me, of him jacking off into a pair of underwear that I clearly recognized as mine.

The police had made the night even better by telling us they had no way of proving Caiden had started the fire, due to the alibi his parents had given him and the condition of Jackson’s destroyed house.

To say we were stressed was an understatement for how we were feeling.

We showered the ash and smoke off in the shower, our hands trailing along each other’s skin in an effort to provide comfort.

I slid into bed, and Jackson collapsed next to me, his hand across his eyes.

Fear flickered as I tried to get a glimpse of his eyes. Sometimes, I forgot that he was a time bomb, and it was stressful events just like this that could trigger him.

He slid his hand off his face, and I sighed in relief as I got a glimpse of his cool, blue eyes. He was still with me. I wouldn’t have to be alone.

At least for now.

“Stay with me,” I pleaded to him when he looked at me questioningly.

Understanding filled his gaze. “Always,” he murmured, and even though I knew it was a promise that he couldn’t keep…I welcomed his answering kiss. So gentle, even when I tried to deepen it, he forced the pace, and it was slow, tender. Moving his body over me, he worshipped every inch of my body, with his mouth and tongue, hands and fingers, then finally, his body. Hard yet soft at the same time, he took me with a soothing glide, yet I screamed his name as I crashed around him. Tears streaked down the sides of my face and into my hair. I loved him. Forever and ever. No matter what happened, his kiss…his touch…him, he was all that mattered.

I listened to Jackson’s deep breaths in the dark, and my thoughts drifted to Caiden.

A tear slid down my face as I went through everything he had done.

I could now see all of Caiden’s demons, and it was truly the tragedy of a lifetime that they all looked like me.

21

“I have to take that exam,” I told Jackson as I worried my lip. “And you have to go to that meeting with your coach.”

“I’ll skip it,” he said nonchalantly, even though I