Nown 14

Chapter 14 

KYRIE. 

It was a two–hour drive. But, two hours my ass. 

I got there in just under ninety minutes, and that’s with the shitty roads and speed limits I ignored on purpose. My tires hissed against the gravel as I pulled up in front of a beat–up bungalow with a rusty–ass gate and a paint job that had clearly given up on life. 

The place looked like poverty had taken a seat and decided to stay. 

Cole was parked outside in his black SUV, hiding in plain sight as usual. 

The moment he saw me, he stepped out, adjusting his cuffs, and he walked up to me. 

“She’s in there?” I asked, sliding on my shades as I slammed my car door shut. 

“Yes, she is,” Cole replied. 

“Let’s go, then,” 

Cole stared at me with a surprised expression. 

“Just like that?” He asked, stunned. 

I cocked a brow. “You want to bring some drums and dancers? Maybe light a fucking bonfire while 

we’re at it?” 

He gave a half–nod and moved aside. Smart. 

We walked into the compound, and I swear, every step I took pissed me off more. This place? Her home? Nah. Hell no. The gutters were broken. The roof looked like it might cave in if the wind coughed too hard. Paint peeled off like it was ashamed of being stuck to the walls. 

My enchantress didn’t belong in this broken, forgotten corner of the world. 

I had already seen more than a thousand and one things I’d fix for her the moment she accepts my feelings for her. 

Wait. No. The second she’s mine, this place goes. I’d build her something new. 

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7:24 Sun, Sep 21 

Chapter 14 

She shouldn’t be living in a place like this. 

Cole knocked gently on the front door, like we were selling Jesus and pamphlets. I scoffed and nudged him aside. Didn’t want his intimidating look to give the wrong impression. He had a thing for pitch black suits, and they always made him look way too intimidating to people out there. 

After a moment of waiting, the door creaked open, and a woman stood there. She should be in her 

late forties or early fifties. Her brows were drawn in, and she looked like life had been hitting her a 

bit too hard lately. Worn sweater. Tight bun. Lines around her eyes that said she’d done more 

worrying than smiling in the past decade. 

She had a polite smile plastered on her face. 

“Yes? How may I help you?” She asked, her gaze flicking from me to Cole as if she thought we were trespassers or unsafe. 

“Good day, ma’am,” I said with the most harmless smile I could pull off. “I am looking for a girl…” 

“Jessa,” Cole chipped in, saving the day. 

The woman narrowed her brows and looked at us properly again, “Why? What has she done? My daughter…” She seemed really worried. 

“Nothing bad,” I said quickly. “She’s not in trouble. We’re not cops or anything. We just want to talk.” I explained calmly, but she didn’t look convinced. 

But that was fine. I wasn’t în a hurry. Because if this was the mother of my obsession, then she deserved all the calmness and patience in the world. 

“Who is it, Mum?” I heard a voice call from inside. 

Something in my chest tightened. It wasn’t exactly the voice I remembered from that night, but damn it, it stirred a chord I hadn’t touched in eight fucking months. It had that same soft drop at the end. The same rhythm, too. 

She might’ve changed her hair… just a bit, though. Maybe added weight or lost some. Maybe her voice was still strained from whatever that hospital stay did to her. 

But that was fine. Her life was about to change for the better. 

The moment the girl stepped into the doorway, the world stopped fucking spinning. 

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7:24 Sun, Sep 21 

Chapter 14 

I froze. 

She wasn’t who I expected. Not as beautiful as I anticipated. She also looked like life had been too rough and too fast on her. She was wrapped in this oversized hoodie like she was trying to disappear 

inside it. But her eyes? 

Fuck. 

Those eyes. Doe–like. As blue and as deep as the sea. Same exact goddamn eyes. 

You needed to have seen how she rolled those eyes when I slipped two fingers inside her. Fuck. 

And that scent… God, that fucking perfume. She wore it that night, too. I never figured out the name, but it’s been tattooed in my head ever since. Sweet. Warm. Sin–drenched. 

Every girl I’ve touched since has felt wrong because none of them smelled like her. None of them 

tasted like her. 

It was her. No doubt. I wasn’t going to second–guess this. Because, this girl – this trembling, perfect fucking girl standing a few feet away – was the ghost I’d been chasing for eight goddamn months. 

Her lips parted. Recognition hit her too, and her entire body jolted like I’d just punched her in the 

gut. She flinched so hard she nearly lost her balance. 

My hand shot forward on instinct. I grabbed her wrist, “Easy, Jessa.” 

She looked at me like I was death itself. 

And then she quickly pulled away, like my skin burned her. 

Her eyes went wider than I thought possible, and her lips trembled. She nervously looked from her 

surprised mother to me again. 

She obviously didn’t want her mother to be part of this conversation. 

“What… what do you want?” she whispered in a voice so soft and terrified. 

And I realized then just how much I’d romanticized this. In my head, she was a tease… A player… The girl who used me and Saint, stole from us and vanished. But standing here now? 

She looked like a fucking child. She looked scared, broken, and innocent. 

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Chapter 14 

“I… I just wanted to see you,” I said after a moment. 

Her mother stepped forward, looking between us, “Do you two know each other?” 

Before I’d reply, Jessa quickly answered, “No, Mum. Uhm… I… I don’t know them.” She swallowed nervously, “Why not go in. I’ll be fine.” 

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