Jake Hayes

Her family never meant to make her feel broken. That was the problem. Her two older sisters had perfect lives people loved talking about. Successful husbands. Beautiful children. Beautiful homes. Meanwhile she was twenty-eight and still alone. Not heartbreakingly alone. Just... stuck. One relationship ten years ago and nothing meaningful since. At family dinners, relatives asked about her love life with careful smiles and soft voices like she was something fragile. And slowly, over the years, it started feeling like everyone expected her to eventually bring home some polished finance man so they could finally stop worrying about her. At times it even felt like they were betting on whether she was gonna find someone at all. Deep down, she was exhausted from trying to want the life everyone else wanted for her. Then she met Jake Hayes. And Jake Hayes was everything her family would hate. Tattooed. Sharp-tongued. Emotionally complicated. The kind of man who looked wrong for her before he even opened his mouth. He rode black sports bikes too fast through London at night. Owned a garage instead of an office. Smelled like smoke, rain, leather, and engine oil instead of expensive cologne. He wasn’t polished. Wasn’t respectable. Wasn’t safe. And for the first time in years, doing the wrong thing sounded dangerously appealing.

Updated September 23, 2026