Chapter One

Celine

I froze on the spot, my lips parting as my eyes locked on the clearing beside the bonfire. It wasn’t the fire that caught my attention, it was the figure of a guy I swore was my boyfriend. The same boyfriend who was supposed to be in New Orleans for his sister’s wedding.

The music, the shouts, the thousand students buzzing around me, everything blurred out. All I could see was Jason, kissing the new transfer student from Russia like she was oxygen.

He had never kissed me like that. I don't need anyone to prove that, I could swear it. Never held me like I was his whole damn world. He never even took me to a bonfire. And now here he was, under the moonlight, smiling into her mouth.

I hated parties. God, I did. But Maddie, my best friend, had dragged me here. And now I wished I hadn’t let her.

I didn’t know how my legs carried me forward, but suddenly I was right there, so close I could hear my own heart trying to punch out of my chest. My hands shook violently.

“Jason?”

He pulled away from her, lips parting reluctantly, almost as if it hurt him to stop kissing her. The girl was gorgeous, sure. Silent, polished, with that dangerous kind of beauty that made her look innocent. Every guy in class wanted her. But not once in my nightmares did I think she’d be the girl I’d catch with my Jason.

“Celine?” Jason blinked, wide-eyed, like I was the one out of place. “What are you doing here? You don’t even like parties.”

This is funny. I just caught him kissing a girl and all he could say to me first was the fact that I hated parties?

I let out a bitter scoff. “Shouldn’t I be asking you the same thing? You’re supposed to be in New Orleans for Sharon’s wedding.”

“Yes… we got back today.” The voice didn’t belong to him, it belonged to her.

We.

The word sliced straight through me. He took her to his sister’s wedding. The same wedding I begged to attend. He’d told me there wasn’t enough space, that it was “just a little wedding” anyway. He had even looked sad when he lied, asking me not to be mad.

But he took her instead. Introduced her to his family. My family by extension. The betrayal twisted so sharp inside me, I could barely breathe.

Is this why Sharon did not reply to my congratulatory text? Because he introduced someone else to them?

  “You took her?” I asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Who’s she, Jason?” the Russian girl asked, clutching his arm like a lifeline. She didn’t even know who I was? He hadn’t told her?

“Celine,” he said. “This is Celine.”

The girl’s hazel eyes went wide. “Oh… oh my God.” She ripped her hand away from his arm like it burned. “I’m sorry, Celine. I knew he had someone, but… I fell in love with him first. He told me, but I just couldn’t let go. And then he…” she trailed off, blushing. “He fell back.”

I blinked, stunned. She knew?

God, have mercy. She knew he had someone? As innocent as that sounded, I wanted nothing more than to rip her extensions out.

“Jason?” My voice cracked against the weight of betrayal. “What the hell is she talking about?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, guilt painted across his features. “We’re really sorry, Celine, but I fell for Amaya too. I was going to tell—”

SLAP.

My palm stung, his cheek reddened, and Amaya flinched like I’d struck her too. Her eyes shimmered with tears that made me look like the villain, like I was cruel for being angry that my boyfriend had been screwing someone else. He fell out of love for me, yet he wouldn't let go.

My eyes burned, but I swallowed the tears. Not in this lifetime. Not over trash like him. I wasn’t about to shatter in front of a crowd of strangers circling the fire, pretending not to watch.

I’d been cheated on before. Love had never once gone my way. I’d imagined all kinds of disasters with men I thought I was safe with, but this was the cruelest joke yet.

‘What was that for?’ he snapped, clutching the spot on his face where my hand had landed, as if he had the right to be angry.

“You’re asking me that?” I spat, my voice shaking with fury. “You’re a filthy liar! How dare you think I’d just accept this with a smile?”

Jason hissed, rubbing his cheek. “You can’t hang on to me even after I came clean, right?”

Amaya tiptoed beside him, blowing gently over the sting on his skin. The sight was almost comical, like I was watching a parody of what I once thought was love.

I shook my head. “Hang on to you? Fuck you, Jason. I hope you two rot together.”

I turned on my heel, forcing my way through the sea of students as music blasted again, mocking me with every lyric. The fire’s heat pressed against my back as I prayed no one dared to stop me, because if they did, I’d explode.

And as I expected, Jason didn't.

“Hey, beauty, I’ve been looking for—” Maddie’s voice cut off when she saw me. Her brows shot up. “Jesus, why do you look like you’re about to puke? You didn’t drink anything, did you?”

She’d gone off to grab us drinks earlier. My throat burned, not with alcohol, but with rage.

“How strong is that drink?” I asked, pointing to the cup in her hand. I needed an outlet. Something that will keep me from running off to cry over that sorry ass of a boyfriend.

“That’s mine.”

“I know.” I pouted. “I want it.”

“What? No!”

“Will you deny your best friend, who just caught her boyfriend kissing that hazel-eyed angel-demon, one strong drink?”

Maddie’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“Exactly.” I grabbed the cup from her and downed half her drink in one swallow, grimacing at the burn, then glanced past her shoulder.

That’s when I saw someone. One I believe I shouldn't have. I don't know how fast the effects of whatever I just drank were, but it made me think things out of proportion. Things like a man carved from sin and blood secrets, standing a little apart from the crowd. Power radiated off him in a way that made people glance, then glance again. Every med student here knew him.

Maddie followed my stare, then gasped. “Isn’t that Professor Reed? What the hell is he doing here?”

My heart slammed against my ribs. He turned, catching my gaze like he already knew I’d been watching. His eyes lingered, unreadable, then curved into the faintest smirk.

Oh, right. He was Amaya’s uncle. Her very protective uncle.

A slow, dangerous smile curled at my lips.

“Perfect.”