Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 352

KASMINE

Okay, Jake, I said slowly, drawing in a breath to steady the rising nerves clawing at my throat. "You're in control now. Let's talk. It's getting really late."

My voic

sounded softer than I intended, but the pressure in my chest was anything but calm.

Jake didn't answer right away. He scoffed, but it wasn't his usual light-hearted scoff that used to come with

a smirk and a shake of the head when I teased him. No. This one was laced with something bitter. My spine stiffened.

For a brief second - no, less than that I saw something. I could swear I saw a different Jake sitting before me. Not the cool, sweet, composed Jake I used to know. But he blinked, and was gone in a millisecond, almost as if I'd imagined it or like my eyes had lied to me.

Jake was quiet for a long beat before he finally spoke in a low and almost fragile voice like it might snap if he spoke too

loud.

"I did love you, Kasmine..."

He didn't look at me. He kept his gaze ahead, staring out through the windshield into the darkness as though the trees beyond the roadside would offer him answers I couldn't.

"I really did love you," he repeated, slower and softer. "I just... I wish you had loved me back. The way I loved you. Maybe then..." His fingers curled around the edge of the steering wheel, knuckles going white, "Maybe then I would've had the guts to fight for you."

like the ground beneath us

as I tried to read his face. But he still

"What are you talking

not to face me. He shook it slowly, The

murmured. "I knew about you and Kester. All

heart thudded painfully

my voice hoarse, "What do you

time, he turned, and his eyes found mine. They weren't soft or kind anymore. They were tired and sad and

had finally clawed

me," he

his seat, exhaling through his nose. His hand ran down his face before he

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Chapter 352

you," he said in a clipped tone that cracked at he edges. "That day in the office...

I froze.

Je wasn't blinking.

he kept slamming into you slowly, probably teasing you with

lungs forgot how to work. My breath

He

stood outside that damn door for a full minute, Kasmine." His voice had dropped lower. "Listening, Knowing. Knowing. And still, I pretended I didn't. I convinced myself you'd explain it.

His fingers tapped erratically on the gear shift. And then he