It wasn't just sex anymore.
Hadn't been for a while.
I knew it in the way Jesse's hands lingered too long after he untied me.
In the way he'd made me breakfast, always pretending he hadn't.
In the way his fingers brushed my lower back absentmindedly in public—like he forgot he wasn't allowed to be soft.
---
We didn't talk about it.
That would make it real.
So instead, we touched more.
Fucked harder.
And avoided the one word neither of us wanted to say out loud: feelings.
---
One night, after a slow scene where he held me down and made me beg until my voice cracked, I laid there, dizzy, floating.
He wiped the sweat from my chest, kissed my shoulder, and whispered:
"You okay, boy?"
Boy.
Not brat.
Not kid.
Boy.
My heart clenched.
"Yeah," I said. "More than okay."
He pulled me close. Let me rest against his chest.
We didn't speak for a long time.
But his hand stayed tangled in my hair.
Like he didn't want to let go.
---
The next day, Renna—the woman who owned the diner—pulled me aside while I waited for coffee.
"You and Jesse seem close," she said, too casual.
I blinked. "We work together."
She smiled like she didn't buy it. "Mm-hmm. Just… be careful, sweetheart. Men like him don't always stay."
Something in my chest twisted.
Not because she was wrong.
Because I knew she might be right.
---
That night, I showed up at Jesse's place without warning.
He opened the door half-dressed, eyes shadowed and unreadable.
"What's wrong?" he asked, voice low.
"I needed to see you."
He stepped back, let me in, and locked the door behind me.
"Did someone say something?"
I nodded. "Doesn't matter."
He stared at me for a beat.
Then stepped closer, tilted my chin up.
His thumb dragged over my lip.
"You want reassurance, Kade?"
"No," I whispered. "I want honesty."
He exhaled. Rough. Heavy.
"I don't know what this is," Jesse said. "But I know I don't want it to stop."
My throat tightened.
"Then don't."
He kissed me—slow and desperate.
Like the words he couldn't say were hiding in his mouth.
---
We didn't fuck that night.
We held.
We touched. Whispered. Fell asleep tangled in whatever and bare skin.
And for the first time—
It felt like more.