Chapter 1

When I was 18, I honestly believed that true love could conquer anything. I believed that if two people really loved each other, they would make it to the end.

My girlfriend, Nadine Stark, was nine years older than me. We'd been together for three years, and I loved her down to the bone.

My family thought the age gap was way too big and disapproved of us. My dad even forced me to break up with her.

But after we split, she started going drinking every night, and I missed her like mad. Pathetic as it was, I went crawling back and got back together with her.

To let loose a little, we went to Sandoff Isle. But the minute we arrived, she ditched me and went clubbing on her own. We were supposed to let off steam together and have a little getaway for just the two of us, but she forgot all about that.

I ended up seeing a video of her at the club on her friend's social media. There were a few guys with them, too. In the video, Nadine was a little tipsy, and her cheeks were flushed pink.

I was upset and told myself I wasn't going after her, but I couldn't stop worrying. I went anyway.

Outside the club, I saw Nadine talking to her friends.

"Honestly, dating an influencer is so overrated," she said. "Like, on the surface it looks all cute, but behind the scenes he's basically a block of wood. He's six feet tall, but there's barely anything he can do. Half the stuff I wanna try, he won't even do. He's no fun in bed at all."

Her friends burst out laughing.

"No way! You've gotta be kidding." One of them cackled.

"Maybe you're the problem. Aaron has, like, millions of people following him just because of his boy-toy face. One look, and he could have people falling at his feet."

"Yeah. Stop messing with us."

"Oh, please." Nadine scoffed. "You think he's some kind of sex god? He's just a clueless kid. He has no skills, is too shy for anything even slightly kinky, and refuses to let me train him. He's boring as hell."

The moment I heard her voice, I got so nervous that my breathing turned shaky. I froze in place as tears filled my eyes.

One of her friends, Mikaela Green, noticed me standing at the door and nudged her. "Cut it out unless you want Aaron to hear all this."

Nadine glanced back at me like it was nothing, then continued drawling, "So what if he does? He's born to be my simp. I could tell him to get lost, and he'd still cling to me like a piece of chewed gum. There's no shaking him off."

I stood there in the doorway, feeling like I'd just had a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over me. I didn't know whether to walk away or stay.

I was a doormat—a terrifyingly self-aware one.

I couldn't leave Nadine. No matter what she did, I couldn't bring myself to walk away. Not even when my dad forced me to break up with her, and not even when she called me her simp in front of so many people. I still couldn't let go of what we had.

On some level, I did love her that much. She was all I had. So when she finally waved me over, I swallowed the hurt and walked toward her, feeling almost numb inside.

Some guy was sitting next to her. Even as I approached, he showed no intention of moving. He just sat there, smoking away.

I reached my hand out to Nadine, my voice small and hurt. "Nadine, can we go back now?"

My nose stung. I knew I was immature, and sometimes I hated myself for it. I hated the way she was acting, but I still couldn't leave her. I couldn't be as carefree and heartless about this as she was.