Chapter 1

Roxy’s POV

“Here you go.”

I had barely stepped through the front door when someone shoved a red plastic cup into my hand.

I looked up and recognized him as one of Cain’s friends from college, although I couldn’t remember his name. I had seen him around enough times to know his face.

“Thanks.”

He gave me a quick grin before disappearing back into the crowd. I stared down at the drink for a second before walking farther into the house.

Music blasted from speakers somewhere near the living room, loud enough to make the floor vibrate beneath my shoes. People were everywhere. Dancing, laughing, drinking, shouting over one another as if graduating high school meant they had suddenly been permitted to lose their minds.

Cain and his friends had been planning this graduation after party for weeks, and if I was being completely honest, there was nowhere I wanted to be less. I should have been in my room right now, curled up beneath my blankets with a movie playing on my laptop and enough snacks beside me to last until morning.

Crowded parties had never really been my thing, but Cain had practically begged me to come.

Please, baby. It’s graduation. You can’t miss this.

So here I was.

I took another step into the living room and glanced around, searching through dozens of unfamiliar faces. Then I found him. He stood across the room surrounded by his friends, one hand wrapped around a beer bottle while he laughed at something someone beside him had said.

My annoyance disappeared immediately, and a huge smile spread across my face before I could stop it.

Cain Carrington. My handsome devil.

His dark hair was slightly messy, the sleeves of his black shirt pushed carelessly up his forearms. He looked completely at ease surrounded by people, which was something I had always admired about him.

Almost as if he felt me looking at him, his eyes suddenly lifted. They found mine, and his face immediately broke into a grin as I waved.

Cain said something to his friends before leaving them and weaving his way through the crowd toward me. By the time he reached me, I was already smiling from ear to ear.

“Hey, baby.”

His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me against him before his mouth found mine. I kissed him back without hesitation, my free hand gripping the front of his shirt as the noise around us seemed to disappear for a few seconds.

When he finally pulled away, his forehead rested briefly against mine. “You came.”

“Of course I came.” I smiled. “I promised, didn’t I?”

“I know, but I also know how much you hate parties.”

“I don’t hate parties.”

He raised an eyebrow, and I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I strongly dislike parties.”

He laughed and kissed my forehead. “Thank you for coming.”

My chest warmed. “For you? Always.”

His smile softened. “Do you need anything?”

I lifted the cup someone had given me. “Do you have soda or something? Because whatever this is smells funny.”

Cain took the cup and sniffed it before bursting into laughter. “That’s because it’s definitely not soda.”

I grimaced. “Then take it away from me before I accidentally drink it.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“And yet you love me.”

His eyes held mine for a second. “Yeah. Yes, I do.” He chuckled softly. “Let me get you something. I’ll be right back.”

I grinned. “Thank you, Babe.”

He disappeared toward the kitchen while I remained where I was, adjusting my coat while people moved around me.

Almost everyone here seemed to know each other, but unfortunately, I knew almost no one. Being Cain’s girlfriend had introduced me to his circle, but I had never exactly become part of it. His friends were loud, wealthy, confident people who seemed to have known one another forever.

I was simply Roxy, Cain’s quiet girlfriend.

I glanced toward the kitchen.

Where was he?

A strange feeling suddenly crawled across my skin. Someone was watching me.

I turned, and my eyes landed immediately on Tina. Cain’s ex-girlfriend stood on the opposite side of the room.

She was staring directly at me and smiling and it was not a friendly smile. It was a sly, knowing smirk that immediately made my stomach tighten.

My brows furrowed. Why the hell was she looking at me like that?

Tina held my gaze for another moment before turning and weaving through the sweaty bodies toward the front of the room.

I looked around again, still no Cain. The uncomfortable feeling inside me grew stronger, then the music suddenly stopped.

A few people groaned.

“Everybody, shut up!” Tina’s voice rang through the speakers.

I turned toward the front of the room.

She stood beside the television with a microphone in one hand. “Seriously, give me two minutes!”

The room slowly quieted, and she smiled brightly. “First, thank you all for coming to our graduation after-party!”

Everyone erupted into cheers, and Tina laughed. “Okay, okay. Calm down,” she said. “So, since this is probably one of the last times we’ll all be together like this, I took some time to put together a video of our best memories as a class.”

People cheered again, and I smiled faintly. Then the large projection screen behind her flickered to life, and she pressed play.

For the first few seconds, the screen remained black. Then Cain appeared, and my smile wavered. He was sitting on a couch surrounded by several of the guys currently standing inside this house.

Someone behind the camera laughed. “So you’re actually doing it?”

Cain leaned back against the couch. “Doing what?”

“Roxy.”

My body went completely still, and my fingers tightened around the edge of my coat.

Another guy laughed. “You seriously think you can get her into your bed?”

My heart gave one violent beat.

Cain smirked. “Give me a month.”

The room around me suddenly felt unbearably hot. “No,” I whispered.

On the screen, one of his friends held out his hand. “Five hundred says you can’t.”

Cain shook it. “You’re on.”

Laughter exploded through the recorded video.

My ears started ringing. No. This couldn’t be real. The screen went black before another video appeared, and it was again this time, he stood in what I recognized instantly as his bedroom.

And in his hand was a white bedsheet.

My stomach dropped before my brain even understood what I was seeing. There was blood on it, a small dark stain.

Someone behind the camera shouted, “Proof that Cain Carrington is the man. Damn!”

The guys surrounding Cain erupted, and my vision blurred. I remembered that night, the nervousness, the way my hands had trembled when I told him I had never been with anyone before.

Cain had kissed me and promised I could trust him, and he’d held me afterward while I lay against his chest, believing I had given something important to someone who loved me.

My stomach lurched.

I searched frantically through the crowd, then I found him standing among his friends the same friends who were laughing and slapping him on the back.

Something inside me broke, and I pushed through the crowd.

He looked up, and his friends slowly went silent when they saw me approaching. I stopped directly in front of him, my chest heaving.

“It was a fucking bet?”

People around us had gone quiet.

Cain sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, it was a bet, but it happened months ago. You need to get over it.”

I stared at him.

Get over it!?

My hand moved before I could think, and the slap cracked loudly across his face, causing his head to snap sideways.

“Fuck you.”

He slowly turned back toward me, rubbing his jaw, and then he smiled.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “you knew how to ride for a virgin.”

The room exploded with laughter.

Someone whistled. Another person shouted something disgusting from behind me.

Tears filled my eyes so quickly I could barely see. I turned and ran. I pushed through bodies, ignored the laughter following me, and stumbled through the front door into the cold night.

The second the door closed behind me, the tears finally fell.

I had really loved him.

Every kiss, every promise. All of it had been a performance. And the worst part was that I had believed every single second of it.

I wrapped my coat tighter around myself as a sob tore through my chest.

How could I have been so stupid?

How could I ever have believed that Cain Carrington would actually love a girl like me?