All Chapters of Project Heartbreak: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The week dragged on, each day slower than the last. I hadn’t talked to Jax, hadn’t even seen him, except from a distance on the soccer field. He was a blur of motion, always turning away, always surrounded by his teammates or, occasionally, Anna. He was actively avoiding me.A bitter, confused knot tightened in my stomach every time I thought about it. Does he hate the contact that much? The memory of his arm around my waist, the heat of his skin, the way his thumb had stroked my side, his scarred back… it played on a loop in my head, followed by the cold dismissal in his voice. Get out.It was unintentional. The whole thing was an accident. Who cared? Just get past it. It wasn’t like I’d forced myself on him. The more I thought about it, the more irritated I felt. He was the one who’d looked at me like… like that. He was the one who seemed so conflicted. Why was I the one feeling guilty and awkward?By Thursday, I’d resolved to just forget it. The Jax Situation was a weird, closed ch

The victory high was a fragile bubble, and it popped the moment I decided to be brave.Orhan was still mesmerized by his prize, carefully folding the sacred jersey under Ben and Maya’s supervision. “I’m just... gonna go find the bathroom,” I mumbled, not meeting their eyes. I needed to see him, to say congratulations, to maybe have one small, real moment in the middle of all this chaos.My heart thumped a nervous rhythm as I wove through the celebrating crowds. I checked the locker room entrance, but the stream of players was thinning. As I was looking around I heard his laugh. It was lighter, more intimate than his game-time shouts. It came from the secluded garden path behind the stadium.My feet carried me forward, a foolish hope still flickering. I rounded the corner of the tall hedge, my congratulatory words dying on my lips.There he was. Asher, leaning against the old brick wall, a relaxed, happy smile on his face. It wasn’t his captain’s smile, or his friendly grin. This was s

The air in my room was so thick you could choke on it. My heart was a frantic bird slamming against my ribs. Teach me? What did that even mean?“No,” I managed to stammer, taking a step back and hitting the edge of my bed. I sat down heavily. “That’s… that’s insane. You’re insane.”Jax didn’t seem bothered. He just followed, lowering himself onto the mattress beside me with that infuriating, casual grace. The springs creaked under his weight. My bed felt smaller, the space between us charged and dangerous.“It’s practical,” he said, as if explaining a simple math problem. “You’re a liability to yourself. You get flustered, you can’t form sentences. You need a baseline of competence.”“A baseline of competence?” I repeated, my voice squeaking. “This isn’t driver’s ed, Jax!”“Isn’t it?” He turned his head to look at me, his green eyes glinting in the dim light. “You’re scared to get behind the wheel because you don’t know how it works. So I’m offering lessons. No strings. No feelings. I

“Do you remember the lesson?” he asked, his voice a low thrum that seemed to vibrate in the confined space.My heart was a wild drum against my ribs. “What?”“The lesson,” he repeated, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. I instinctively took a step back. “We haven’t revised it in two days. I think you might have forgotten about it.”My back collided with a solid wooden table pushed against the wall, stopping my retreat. “I remember it,” I said, my voice breathless.Another step. He was right in front of me now, so close I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “You do?”“I do.”A challenging glint sparked in his eyes. “Then show me.”Before I could process the command, his hands were on my waist. In one smooth, effortless motion, he lifted me and set me down on the edge of the table. The worn wood was cool even through my uniform trousers. He didn’t step back. Instead, he moved forward, standing between my legs, his hands settling on my thighs. The contact was electric. My b

“I wasn’t... planning to do this, this early,” Jax’s confession hung in the space between us, a raw, hot truth that sent a fresh shiver through me. His fingers, surprisingly nimble, found the button of my trousers.My brain screamed a dozen warnings, but my body was a traitor, arching into his touch. The rasp of my zipper being drawn down felt like the loudest sound in the world.“Jax,” I breathed, a question and a plea all in one.“Just feel,” he murmured as he shoved my trousers and boxers down my thighs in one swift, decisive motion. The cool air was a shock. He was just as swift with his own clothes, pushing them down. My eyes, wide and helplessly curious, dropped. And my mind went completely, utterly blank.Oh.It wasn’t just the sight of him, hard and proud and so… male. It was the sheer, intimidating reality of it. My own body felt boyish, inexperienced in comparison. A wave of self-consciousness washed over me.“Is… is that…” I stammered, unable to form the question. Is that