The next two days were unbearable.
They barely spoke.
Savannah stayed gone most of the day, using errands as an excuse. Jace buried himself in the shop's security system, even when the work didn't need him. Every time they passed in the hallway, it was like static in the air - words unsaid, tension so thick it strangled.
It all came to a head the night Noah left to meet some friends for dinner.
Savannah was curled on the porch swing, barefoot, nursing a glass of wine she didn't even like.
Jace stepped outside just after sunset, gaze sweeping across her before he silently sat on the top step.
She didn't look at him.
"Say something," she said softly. "Or I will."
He stared out at the yard. "I wanted to stay away."
"Then you shouldn't have touched me."
His voice cracked. "I know."
Savannah stood, wine sloshing. "Do you? Do you really know what it felt like to finally have you - and then wake up to find you gone again?"
"I wasn't running - "
"Weren't you?"
He stood now too, matching her height on the deck, eyes dark and tired. "I didn't leave because I regretted it. I left because it scared the hell out of me."
She swallowed hard. "Why?"
"Because I've wanted you for years, Savannah. I've wanted you since the day you turned eighteen and smiled at me like I was more than your brother's friend and I knew - knew - I was fucked."
Her breath hitched.
"You were never a mistake," he said, stepping closer. "You were temptation. You were everything I couldn't have. But that didn't stop me from wanting you. And that night… I wasn't strong enough to walk away again."
"Then don't," she whispered.
But he shook his head.
"I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to face Noah. I don't know how to be what you need when everything about us is wrapped in guilt."
"Stop speaking for me," she snapped, eyes wet. "You don't get to decide what I need. You only get to decide if you want it too."
Silence.
A beat of pure pain stretched between them.
Jace took a deep breath. "I want you. That's not the question."
"Then what is?"
He looked down. "The question is whether I can live with what it might cost."
That hurt more than anything.
More than walking away. More than silence.
Because now she knew.
She wasn't the issue.
Fear was.
And he wasn't ready to fight it.
Savannah stepped back, voice trembling. "Then you've already made your choice."
And with that, she left him alone on the porch.
And for the first time in years… he let her go.