LOGINChapter 85The QuestionAlessia’s POVWhatever hunger I’d been feeling that morning flew out the kitchen window by the time I sat at the dining table. I hadn’t taken a single bite of my egg since then. I just kept pushing it around my plate, the memory of Zane’s face lingering in my mind like a plague. His mocking laugh and that statement of his made me stab my fork against the plate again, producing a sharp clinking sound that immediately caught Kendra’s attention.“What the hell, girl? Are you going to eat or not?” she asked, looking displeased.I groaned and pushed the plate further away, leaning back in my chair.“I lost my appetite.”“Nah, babe. Don’t tell me that crap. You’re in a sour mood, and you better talk. I’m tired of sitting here pretending I haven’t seen you sigh fifteen times in the last two minutes.”I managed a laugh, only it came out wrong, making my stomach hurt.“I kissed Caleb.”The words were finally out. I’d been battling with them in my head since last night,
ZANE’s POV. Everything in me stopped the second I set my eyes on Caleb kissing Alessia.I’d expected it. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d been waiting for it. But not this soon. And I definitely hadn’t expected it to gut me the way it did.She didn’t look sorry. She didn’t even look regretful. She just stood there, her lips still slightly parted, and when her eyes finally flicked up to meet mine, she couldn’t hold my gaze. Somehow, that was worse than if she’d glared at me. Looking away made me feel like she already knew what she’d done and had decided I wasn’t worth an explanation.Caleb looked confused as hell. The fucker had no idea what he’d stepped into. I gave them one last look before turning away, unwilling to find out what I might do if I stayed another second. Something I’d end up explaining to the police, the team, and every group chat in the city, probably.What’s worse than watching someone you were literally building your life around kiss someone else?Nothing.Not
ALESSIA’s POV. Noise, noise, and just noise. I was already feeling suffocated by the time I entered the house. It was different from every other party at Northbridge, mainly because of the smaller crowd.Perhaps there was another party going on somewhere else, or the students had suddenly developed a brain.The smell of alcohol and cigarettes hit me immediately, followed by the heat of sweaty bodies from the hockey and football teams. My eyes searched the room before I remembered I was here with someone else, who was equally busy holding my hand. I looked down at our joined hands before looking up at him and giving him a smile.He returned it. “If you start feeling aches anywhere or get tired, just tell me, and we’ll get out of here, okay?” he said, and I nodded before nudging his shoulder.“I’m not a toddler. I can survive a few noises and a few shots of alcohol, too,” I replied. He frowned at me but eventually shrugged it off, respecting my decision.I liked that.We made our way t
ALESSIA’s POV. His smile came almost immediately, and I returned one of my own.“Bennett,” he called, walking in with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other. I suddenly craved chocolate and immediately stood up to rush towards him, completely forgetting that my head had been banging. Surprisingly, the pain seemed to have eased.Caleb laughed and handed me the chocolates as I walked back to my bed. He then placed the flowers on the bedside stand.“You sure know how to create a scene. I was worried sick when Kendra called me and told me what happened,” he said with a worried expression. I smiled and glared at Adrian when he snickered behind us.“I’m fine now. Apparently, chocolates solve all problems, don’t they?” I said, making him laugh. He sat down and started filling me in on everything going on with his team. By then, Adrian had left and returned a few minutes later with a nurse.“Alessia Bennett?” she called with a professional smile, though it was
ALESSIA’s POV. Bang… bang… bang.A very loud one at the back of my head and the front, too. It felt like someone had shoved a drum inside my skull and decided to beat the hell out of it.I slowly opened my eyes, immediately regretting it when the bright light above me stabbed through my vision.“Fuck,” I whispered, squeezing them shut again. Then I tried to raise my head, only for the pain to get worse.“What the hell?” I murmured, raising my palm to my forehead.“Alessia?”I recognised that voice. Adrian.“Thank God.” His voice sounded closer now, and I felt his fingers wrap around mine. “Hey, hey, take it easy. Don’t move too quickly, okay?”I tried opening my eyes again, blinking several times until the blurry figure beside me finally became recognisable. Adrian sat in a chair next to my bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. His expression was somewhere between relief and the kind of anger that made me wonder what I’d done wrong.Why was he looking at me like that?“W
ALESSIA’s POV. I’d gotten a call from Coach and the head media team that I needed to be at the rink that morning for practice so I could get pre-game shots for the papers before the interview.That should have been easy, except I was going to be a few feet from my ex-boyfriend… the only person I still craved, no matter how things had ended between us. And I was going to watch him play as usual, act like I was fine, and pretend I wasn’t itching to scream my head off at him.I got dressed simply and drove across campus to the rink, counting numbers in my head so I wouldn’t have to think about him or anything that had to do with him. It was difficult—fucking difficult—because twice I caught myself checking the rear-view mirror to inspect my appearance and trying to rearrange my hair.Just to look good for him.Just to look like the girl who had moved on. A strained tear slipped from my eye because I hadn’t. Not when I’d tried to convince myself otherwise or even when I’d changed my look







