Jason had known since childhood that Chloe Bennett was his.
Not in any official sense.
Not even in a way he ever said aloud.
But she had always been there.
A sweet little tail behind him. Bright-eyed. Loyal. Easy to find in every crowd because she was always looking at him.
He had told himself that was enough.
That it would stay enough forever.
At first, protecting her had felt natural.
The boys who mocked her because of her parents’ divorce annoyed him. He hated seeing her eyes go red. Hated the way she tried not to cry.
So he stood in front of her.
Spoke for her.
Taught her to rely on him.
Over time, that instinct twisted.
Protection became possession.
Not because Chloe ever belonged to him.
Because he couldn’t stand the idea of her belonging anywhere else.
She was good.
Too good.
She made friends. People liked her. Teachers praised her. Other boys noticed her.
Jason found all of them irritating.
Then Chloe met Summer Carter.
Summer was a menace.
Loud, fearless, impossible to control.
She dragged Chloe to the Carter house over and over again, and Chloe almost never said no because, outside of Jason, Summer was one of the few people she considered truly close.
Jason had tried to interfere.
Summer only pushed harder.
That was how Chloe started spending more time around the Carters.
At first, Jason didn’t care about Ryan Carter.
Ryan was older. In a different grade. One of those near-mythical students teachers talked about with dramatic sighs and impossible standards.
But then his name started appearing too often in Chloe’s life.
Ryan helped us with math.
Ryan explained that chapter so well.
Ryan knows everything.
Ryan’s amazing.
By senior year, the name had become unbearable.
One day Jason went to the bakery where Summer, Chloe, and Ryan were supposed to be studying.
Chloe had stayed up too late the night before. She fell asleep over her notes after less than an hour.
Jason stood outside the glass and watched Ryan take off his jacket and drape it gently over her shoulders.
That was the first time Jason felt it clearly.
Threat.
He had always thought he was exceptional.
Then he saw Ryan and understood there were people in the world who were just built taller, sharper, stronger, more certain.
And Ryan was looking at Chloe in a way Jason recognized immediately.
With care.
With intent.
With the kind of patience that scared him.
When Chloe confessed after graduation, Jason had been happy.
Truly happy.
But that happiness carried something ugly with it.
He wanted her to hurt the way he had hurt watching her smile at Ryan.
He wanted her to learn that he wasn’t something she could just have whenever she reached out.
So he rejected her.
He thought she would stay anyway.
He thought there was still time.
And when he realized Ryan might step into the space he’d made, Jason pulled Chloe back toward him again.
It worked.
For a while.
Because Chloe was gentle.
Because Chloe loved deeply.
Because no matter how badly he behaved, some part of him believed she would always still be there.
Ryan once told him, No one stays in one place waiting forever.
Jason hadn’t believed him.
What he never admitted—not even to himself—was that his relationship with Chloe had become a test he could not stop setting.
The more beautiful she became, the more accomplished, the more people liked her, the more afraid he grew.
So he hurt her to prove she would stay.
He flirted with other girls to make her jealous.
Mentioned breaking up to make her panic.
Pushed and pulled until the hurt in her eyes became unbearable.
And still he didn’t stop.
Until one day, Chloe looked at him calmly and said, “Let’s break up.”
Back to zero.
He remembered Ryan’s words then.
No one stays in one place waiting forever.
It had sounded like a warning when Ryan said it.
In the end, it became prophecy.
Years later, Jason would still think of Chloe sometimes.
Not because memory is romantic.
Because regret is.
And just as she told him, a person who only knows how to love himself never really finds happiness.