Chapter 2

I jolted awake.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Ethan's familiar jaw and throat.

He smelled like cedar, my favorite, but there was a trace of someone else's perfume mixed in.

I'd almost forgotten he'd always known the code to my front door.

When he saw I was awake, he smiled and leaned down to kiss my lips.

I turned my head away, shoved him off, and scrambled to the other side of the bed.

Ethan froze for a second, then laughed. "What, you're shy now?"

I ignored him and pulled the comforter over my head.

He tugged at the covers, grumbling, "Ava, got some nerve now, huh? You didn't say goodnight to me last night, and you turned your phone off. And now you're hiding from me?"

He moved too fast. He slid under the covers and pinned me tight in his arms.

"Stop messing around. You have to eat breakfast. I went for a half-hour run this morning just to get your favorite donuts and a pumpkin spice latte. You want to eat now, or do you want to... eat me first?"

His breath was right by my ear, and his hands started to wander.

That woke me all the way up, and I fought him with everything I had.

But there was no way I could wrestle free from a six-foot-two hockey player.

I really didn't understand him. He already had Chloe. Why was he still messing with me?

I struggled for a long time until I was out of breath, and he only held me tighter.

"What is it now? Is this because I didn't take you to the party last night? Over something that stupid?"

I didn't say anything.

He buried his face in my neck and laughed under his breath. "Let me guess. Your best friend ratted me out? It was just a game. You're jealous over that? I get a little close to another girl, and you get mad?"

I was so furious I couldn't get a single word out.

I jerked my knee up and drove it into his crotch, the way I'd learned in self-defense class.

"Fuck!"

Ethan doubled over, clutching himself, his face bright red.

I grabbed my jacket and ran out of the bedroom.

I didn't want to be in the same room with him for one more minute.

After a while, he came out, his face dark, angry and exasperated at the same time.

After a long silence, he seemed to suddenly remember something and asked offhandedly, "Oh, right. You took the pill, didn't you?"

He walked over to the dining table and held out the pumpkin spice latte to me.

I didn't take it, and I didn't answer him.

His hand froze in midair with the coffee in it, and his patience finally ran out.

"What is this about? Ava, there's got to be a limit to your tantrums."

I said coldly, "You know."

Ethan completely lost it. He slammed the latte down on the coffee table, and it spilled all over the rug.

"What's that supposed to mean? Who do you think you are? We slept together once, and now you think you get to control me? Do you have any idea how suffocating this is?"

His voice was terrifyingly harsh.

I broke down in tears, without warning.

All the disgusting things they'd said, and the look on his face in that locker room, came flooding back into my head at once.

Ethan obviously hadn't expected me to fall apart like that.

He crouched down, a little panicked, and apologized in a low voice. "I'm sorry. I was a jerk just now. I didn't sleep well, and I've got a short fuse."

He reached out to wipe away my tears, and I flinched back as if he'd burned me.

His hand froze in the air.

He was about to say something else when his phone buzzed.

He glanced at the screen, and the irritation on his face changed instantly. He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.

"I've got something urgent I need to deal with. Calm yourself down. Ava, stop acting like a little kid who never grew up."

Less than half an hour after he left, a text from Mia popped up. It was a screenshot of Chloe's Instagram Story.

In the photo, the exact same bag of donuts sat right there on the seat of her car.

The caption read: Someone drove halfway across town to bring me breakfast with love. He knew I was starving 🥰

I wiped my tears and crouched down to clean up the coffee.

But the stain on the wool rug wouldn't come out no matter what I did.

In a fit of anger, I rolled up the whole rug and threw it straight into the trash can outside.

Ethan had carried it all the way back from a trip to Nepal for me.

While I was at it, I packed up everything he'd left at my house, every big and small present he'd ever given me, and all our photos together, and threw them all out.

He probably didn't care about that junk anymore anyway.

From that day on, Ethan didn't contact me for several days.

He was probably too wrapped up with Chloe. Or maybe he was waiting for me to come crawling back and apologize first, the way I always had.

But this time, I didn't go to him.

I blocked his number and all his social media, and I changed the code on my door.

When I'd done all that, I called my parents, who were away on a business trip, and said I wanted to go stay with my aunt in California.

My plan was to stay there through the break and then go straight to college in California with Mia.

Except for her, no one knew I'd secretly changed my application.

That way, I could avoid Ethan perfectly.

My mom teased me on the phone. "Oh? Are you two going on vacation?"

I made up some excuse, said I just wanted to spend some time with my aunt, and had my dad book me on the next flight to California.

On my way out, I ran into Ethan's mom in the driveway.

She caught my arm warmly. "Ava, why are you all by yourself? Isn't Ethan picking you up? Didn't he say he was taking you skiing in New Zealand?"

I thought that was strange.

Junior year, I had told Ethan I wanted to go skiing in New Zealand.

But the way things were between us now, how could we possibly go on a trip together?

I didn't have time to think about it. I gave her some vague answer and hurried off.

But I never expected to run into Ethan at the airport.

He was with a group of friends, and Chloe.

He was carrying a woman's purse in one hand, his other arm around Chloe, walking at the back of the group.

Chloe turned her head to say something to him, and he bent down to listen.

Not like us.

Ethan had always been taller than me, and then he got even taller.

Whenever I talked to him, I always had to stand on my tiptoes and tilt my head back.

So for someone he liked, he would bend down on his own.

I took a deep breath and told myself that whatever he did had nothing to do with me.

But there was only one way to the gates, so all I could do was trail far behind them.

When we reached the place where the concourse split, Ethan started looking distracted.

He made several calls that didn't seem to go through.

Finally, he borrowed a friend's phone and went into the men's room with a grim face.

A minute later, my phone rang. It was an unknown number.

"Ava, you've got an attitude now, huh? If I don't call you, you won't call me? And you blocked me?"

Ethan tore into me before I could say a word.

I stayed silent, and that only made him angrier.

"Cut the crap. Unblock me right now. I'm about to go overseas for a couple of days, and I might not have service. Don't come crying to me about it later."

I couldn't even be bothered to say a single word. I just hung up and turned off my phone.

From far away, I watched Ethan, his face like thunder, grab Chloe's hand and walk toward the gates on the left without looking back.

I sighed and turned right.