Chapter 1

Oliver's POV

I drove without saying a word. The silence inside the car was suffocating.

Cara Hartley finally spoke up. "Oliver, it's really not what you think. Dominic and I just run a social media account together. We film a video every now and then. That's all."

I let out a flat hum and went quiet again.

She grabbed my hand and pressed it against herself, urging me to hit her. "Smack me, scream at me—I don't care. Just please don't go silent on me like this."

I slammed the brakes. The car jerked to the side of the road.

Dominic Vale, sitting in the back seat, broke the silence. "What exactly do you want him to say? We're all adults. Everyone knows what's going on."

He met my bloodshot eyes in the rearview mirror.

"We all nearly died today, so we might as well be honest. She and I have been sleeping together for a while.

"The day your dad passed away and you flew home for the funeral, we did it in your bed. We even made a mess of the sheets. You washed them yourself when you got back."

I clamped my hands over my ears, but his voice still seeped through my fingers.

"And your last birthday, when you were sitting in that restaurant waiting for the two of us. And just now, in the airplane bathroom—"

"Shut your mouth!" Cara snapped, cutting him off.

She threw the door open and shoved Dominic out of the car, then moved me into the passenger seat.

She took the wheel, but her voice wouldn't stop shaking.

"All the things he said were just accidents. None of it meant anything. You know how we are when we drink together. They were all drunken mistakes, nothing more."

Dominic was a big personality, brash and generous, always the first to throw himself in front of trouble for me.

In college, when I was getting bullied and frozen out by everyone, he was the only one willing to call me his friend. He had my back for four straight years.

I still remembered the wedding. Cara and I were making the rounds with toasts, and Dominic grabbed a bottle and challenged her to a drinking contest right there at the table.

"If you can't even outdrink me, how the hell am I supposed to trust you to take care of my boy?"

After that, whenever there was a dinner or a round of drinks, I stopped being part of it. The two of them would excuse themselves to go smoke and come back with their arms slung around each other, laughing at some joke I wasn't in on.

It was like they already had a world of their own. And the truth was, their so-called friendship had crossed a line a long time ago.

But this time was different.

In what she thought were her final moments, Cara had reached for Dominic's hand. And the note she left behind said only one thing.

"Never forget Dominic."

That wasn't just lust. Even someone as dense as me could see it for what it really was.

I sat there listening to her ramble on with excuse after excuse. I didn't know what I was supposed to feel anymore. I just exhaled.

"Cara, I'm tired."

She froze for a second, then her expression softened. "Of course you are. You've been on a plane all day. I'll make you something to eat when we get home."

When we pulled into the driveway, she hurried out and came around to open my door. The phone she'd left on the driver's seat lit up.

It was a text from Dominic.

"I know him. If he didn't blow up, he's already over it.

"We just cheated death. Want to come over for another round?"