CHAPTER TEN
All or nothing.
The air was different.
Quiet. Sharp. Electrified.
Jayden locked the front door behind him and slammed home the bolt. He'd not said a word since this morning—since Lani sent the last text.
"You think she loves you? She'll be gone tomorrow."
He'd deleted it without reading on.
Now, he stood before Ella.
"She called my workplace," he said to her. "Told them I was mentally unstable. Told them I was violent. Told them I was losing it."
Ella's breath was caught. "Did they think she was lying?"
"No," he replied. "Because I resigned before they even asked."
She stiffened. "Jayden…"
"I'm finished," he said. "With her. With lies. With pretending that I can protect you and shield you from distance."
He inched nearer.
"You've seen all my shattered fragments. And instead of walking away. you remained."
He tenderly cupped her face.
"I choose you, Ella."
Teardrops flowed down her face. "Even if she tries to destroy us?
"She already has," he said, voice low. "And we're still here."
Silence stretched between them—but not the scared kind. This was deep. Rooted. Real.
"I don't want to fight anymore," she whispered. "I just want you."
"You have me," Jayden said.
He kissed her—softly at first. But then it grew deeper. Hungrier. He lifted her off her feet, carrying her to the bedroom like she weighed nothing. The world outside didn't exist anymore.
He laid her down like she was something sacred.
Then he peeled off her clothes slowly, one layer at a time, worshipping every inch of skin with his mouth, his hands, his breath.
"You're so fucking beautiful," he whispered, his voice cracked with emotion.
Ella traced his scars with her fingers—physical and emotional—and kissed each one.
"I'm not afraid," she whispered. "Not when I'm with you."
Jayden gazed down at her, dark eyes and full of fire. "Good. Because I'm going to make love to you like the world is about to end."
He sank into her slow. Deep. Thick, hard, and filling her whole. Every single inch of him.
She gasped, locked thighs around his waist, fingers bruising his back. He thrust with a rhythm that was controlled. Deliberate. Intimate. Like each thrust was a vow.
"I love the way you feel," he breathed in her neck.
She gasped. "I love the way you make me feel."
They moved as if they'd been doing it a thousand times. As if they were two halves of a puzzle that fitted perfectly into one another. He braced her face in his hands as he drove into her, forehead to forehead, his mouth speaking her name in prayer.
"Ella."
"Jayden."
She orgasmed first—tense, shuddering, crying out his name.
And as he trailed behind her, spilling within her, he kissed her deep enough to drown within flames and tenderness at the same time.
They were that way for so long—twisted in each other, skin to skin, breath in unison.
Outside, the world could go to hell.
But inside?
It was just the two of t
hem.
Raw. Real. Unbreakable.
All or nothing.
And they had it all.
THE END.