Chapter 29 :The Cracks between them
ELLA’S POV:
I saw the exact moment it changed.
One second, everyone was whispering in messy, excited circles with their phones out, replaying the fight like it was some highlight reel. The next, Hayden stepped back from the crowd, jaw tight, blood on his lip, and something darker in his eyes.
Lilian grabbed his arm. “Hayden…..”
“I’m fine,” he snapped.
She tried again, softer this time. “Maybe you should just……”
“Don’t follow me.” The way he said it made me flinch.
He walked down the street alone, shoulders rigid, hands flexing at his sides like he needed to hit something else and for a second, I stayed where I was.
I told myself it wasn’t my place and I shouldn’t care but I had been watching him all night.
Watching the way everyone chanted “Captain.” the way Lilian stood beside him like she belonged there and the way he looked… untouchable.
I hated how much it hurt.
So when he disappeared past the streetlights toward the trail that led up to the cliffs, I followed.
Not close enough for him to hear. The music faded behind me as I climbed the narrow dirt path. The air up there was colder, sharper. The ocean roared faintly below the cliffs, black and endless.
And then I heard it.
Thud……Thud……Thud.
I rounded the bend and saw him.
He was at the edge near the old oak tree, the one everyone carved initials into junior year. His fist slammed into the trunk again, bark splintering.
“Hayden!” I ran toward him. “Stop!”
He ignored me. His knuckles were already scraped raw. Blood streaked across the bark.
“Hayden, you’re going to break your hand!”
“Good.” He punched it again.
I grabbed his wrist before he could swing once more. “Stop it!”
He yanked his arm away like I burned him. “What are you doing here, Ella?”
The way he said my name wasn’t soft or familiar. It was filled with anger.
“I was worried about you.”
“Why?”
I swallowed. “Because you just got into a fight, you’re bleeding and you look like you’re about to lose it.”
He laughed under his breath, but there was no humor in it. “You don’t get to be worried about me.”
That stung more than I expected. “Why not?”
He stepped closer, towering over me, eyes blazing. “Because if you had been loyal to Stephen, none of this would be happening.”
The words hit like a slap. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” His voice was low and vicious. “You had been playing both sides since day one.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” he shot back. “You knew how competitive we were. You knew what this captain thing meant and instead of staying out of it, you kept inserting yourself.”
My chest tightened. “I didn’t make you two fight.”
“No, you fucking made it worse.”
My vision blurred for a second. “You don’t get to pin this on me,” I said, my voice shaking despite my effort to keep it steady. “You also took part in this. You’re the one who slept with me.”
The words hung between us. He looked away for half a second with guilt flickering in his eyes, then it hardened again.
“That was a mistake.”
I flinched. “You don’t get to rewrite it like I tricked you,” I said quietly. “You came to me.”
“And you didn’t stop it.”
Neither did you, I wanted to scream. Instead, I said, “I lost everything too.”
He scoffed. “Oh, here we go.”
“I’m serious!” My voice cracked. “Do you think it was easy watching you tonight? Watching everyone cheer for you and Lilian like you’re some perfect power couple?”
His jaw tightened at her name.
“I saw you with her,” I continued, the words spilling now. “After I lost you and I lost my cheer captain spot. Everything blew up. I felt…..” I swallowed hard. “I felt completely hopeless.”
For the first time, he didn’t interrupt.
“When I lost that title,” I said, “it felt like I lost who I was and then I lost you too.”
“You didn’t lose me,” he said coldly. “You never had me.”
The air left my lungs.I stepped closer anyway.
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
I could see the cracks in him. The fury wasn’t just about Stephen or the car. It was about feeling replaced and about always being second. It was the need to win something.
I reached up without thinking and touched his chest.His heart was racing.
“So is this what you want?” I whispered. “To pretend none of it meant anything?”
His eyes dropped to my hand, then back to my face. “Ella…”
There was a warning in my name but I leaned in anyway.
Maybe it was stupid and desperate. Maybe I just needed to know that I hadn’t imagined everything between us.
I rose onto my toes and pressed my lips toward his.He moved his head and kiss landed on air. He stepped back immediately like I’d crossed a line.
“I would never kiss you again.” The words were flat and final and my face burned.“I hate you.”
That one landed deeper. I stared at him.“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.” His voice didn’t waver. “You don’t get to bounce between two fucking brothers and then act surprised when everything explodes.”
“I wasn’t……,” I whispered.
“You were keeping options.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither was what you did.”
Silence swallowed us.
The wind off the cliff whipped my hair across my face. Somewhere below, waves crashed violently against the rocks. He wiped blood from his knuckles onto his jeans.
“I’m done being your backup plan,” he said quietly. “And I’m done letting Stephen use you to get under my skin.”
“I never wanted to be used.”
“Then stop letting it happen.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Because maybe part of me had liked that they fought over me or part of me had needed to feel wanted by someone.
Even if it destroyed everything. He looked at me one last time. “Go back to the party, Ella.”
“What about you?”
“Its none of your fucking business. I need air.”
“But you are bleeding.” I reminded him and his eyes went to his finger.
“I’ve had worse.”
That hurt too. He turned and started walking down the path.
“Hayden,” I called after him. He didn’t stop. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
He paused for half a second, just long enough for hope to flicker. Then he kept walking. I stood there alone at the edge of the cliff, the tree bark still stained with his blood.
The ocean roared below like it was laughing at me. I thought losing my title had been the worst part.But standing there, replaying the look in his eyes when he said he hated me, I realized something worse.
I wasn’t the girl they were fighting for.
I was the crack between them and cracks didn't get chosen.They just split things apart.