Chapter3

Someone had filmed the few seconds of Sloane holding her cheek and crying, captioned it "The girl the Hales took in just slapped someone in public," and it was going viral on TikTok.

On the anonymous campus app, posts about me kept getting bumped to the top, one after another.

Overnight, I'd become the most famous person at school.

Everywhere I went, people whispered about me. Between classes, someone was always turning around to look at me with a meaningful look.

"That's her. She was jealous of Sloane and hit her."

"She's not even that pretty. And she's trying to be a homewrecker?"

"They're literally back together and she's still throwing herself at him. That's so creepy."

"Like, does she even know her place? Trying to steal Sloane's man?"

I raised my head and looked at them, one by one.

No one stopped.

Maya got so mad she started fighting with them, but the more she explained, the uglier the rumors got.

I was leaving in a few days anyway. So I just stopped going to the rest of my classes.

I thought at least at home, I could get away from all the noise.

Instead, the moment I opened the front door, I saw Grayson and Sloane curled up on the living room couch, all over each other.

I didn't want to deal with them, so I went straight upstairs to my room.

I'd barely stepped through the door when Grayson followed me in.

"You come home and don't even say hi? There's a limit to how long you can throw a tantrum."

Halfway through, he noticed the gauze wrapped around my hand. His expression changed instantly.

"What happened to your hand?"

I hid it behind my back and didn't look up.

"Nothing. If there's nothing else, I'd like to go to sleep."

He probably didn't expect me to be so cold. He hesitated, then his voice gentled.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I overreacted last night. But you shouldn't have hit her, or lied about it..."

"This isn't like you, Wren."

He sounded so exasperated, like I was the one who'd done something wrong.

I clenched my fists. My eyes burned.

"Grayson, what am I to you?"

He froze. "You're family. Wren, you have to understand. You and me—it's never going to happen."

The tears fell before I could stop them.

He reached out to wipe them away. I turned my head.

"Then if you like Sloane, why did you start something with me?"

His face darkened in an instant.

"I like her. You've always known that."

It was the first time I'd ever brought up Sloane in front of him. All the warmth I was used to from him vanished on the spot. He felt like a stranger, and it made it hard to breathe.

Sloane was his line. Nobody got to touch it.

He must have realized he'd been too harsh, because he sighed.

"I know you've always had feelings for me. But Sloane's the only one for me. You're still my family—one of the most important people in my life. We can go back to the way things were."

I let out a cold laugh inside.

He wanted the girl he'd never gotten over, and he couldn't bear to let go of me either—his backup, always available whenever he needed me.

The last little ripple of feeling I had left went still.

He didn't seem to notice the look on my face at all. He just kept on talking.

When I still didn't say anything, he cleared his throat.

"In three days, I'm going to propose to Sloane. You're one of the most important people in my life, and I want you there. That way, Sloane won't overthink things."

My heart gave a hard, painful twist.

Three days.

The exact day I was leaving.

He'd go chase his happiness. I'd go chase my future.

Fine by me.

"Okay." I nodded and forced a smile that looked worse than crying.

He visibly relaxed.

"I've got a lot to get ready the next couple days, so I probably won't be home much. I'll text you the address. Just meet us there."

He told me a few more things before he finally turned and left.

A few minutes later, I heard him and Sloane laughing and talking downstairs on their way out.

For the next two days, just like he said, he didn't come home once.