THE PARTY

Riley did not want to be there. So naturally, there she was.

She stood just inside the entrance with Marcus beside her, holding a cup she had no intention of drinking from. The music was loud, the place was packed, and she was wearing her brother's face in a room full of people who could destroy her with one wrong look.

"You ready?" Marcus grinned.

No.

"Yeah," she said.

They had barely made it three steps when someone called her name. "Ryan!"

A girl was already cutting through the crowd — figure skating jacket, dark hair loose, face bright. Emma. Ryan's girlfriend.

Does she know? Did Ryan tell her? If he did not, this is already over.

Before Riley could say a word, Emma looped her arm through hers and introduced herself to Marcus as her girlfriend.

Marcus pressed one hand against his chest. "Wow, Ryan. You have a girlfriend, and I have been sitting alone in that dorm room. That genuinely hurt me."

Emma laughed. Riley laughed. She let Emma pull her away before Marcus could ask anything else.

"Relax," Emma said when they were alone. "Ryan called me last week. He told me everything. Your secret is safe."

Riley let out a breath that had been sitting in her chest for three days. Someone knew. Someone she could trust. For the first time since she arrived, she felt like she could breathe.

"Ryan told me to look out for you." Emma smiled, then her eyes dropped slowly down the front of Riley's pants. "Still. Something is missing."

"That is absolutely insane," Riley said, and somehow that made both of them laugh harder than anything else had all night.

Then Marcus appeared grinning. "Truth or Dare! Everyone in!"

Riley's stomach dropped. Truth or Dare. Where secrets came out. Where masks slipped. Where one wrong answer destroyed everything.

She sat down. Emma sat beside her and squeezed her arm once.

Across the circle Jax leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Not playing. Just watching. His eyes found Riley the moment she sat down.

The first few rounds were harmless. Then her turn came.

"Ryan. Truth or dare?"

Dare could be physical. Dare could expose everything.

"Truth," she said, and immediately regretted it.

"Have you ever hooked up with anyone in this room?"

"Yes."

"You hurt my feelings!" One girl said it. The circle laughed. She exhaled.

A few rounds later, someone pointed at her again.

"Who is the hottest person in this room?"

Her eyes landed on Jax. He was already looking at her. Their eyes locked, and something passed between them she could not name.

She tore her gaze away and said a name she pulled from nowhere. The group moved on.

Her heart did not.

The circle broke up. Riley stood.

Near the back wall, Lucas Reed stood with his arms crossed and his cup untouched. He was not watching the party.

He was watching her.

She looked away first.

She moved toward Jax before she decided to. He was still against the wall, jaw set, phone face-down beside him.

"You okay?"

Jax did not look at her. "Walk away, Morgan."

"You have been standing here alone all night."

"And you have been watching me all night." Now he looked at her. "Did I ask for that?"

She said nothing.

"Go enjoy the party. That is what you are here for."

"So are you."

He looked her over once. Slow. Unimpressed. "You done?"

She was not done. But she also had no answer for that.

"I don't need a babysitter, and I don't need a friend," he said. "So whatever this is — stop."

He picked up his cup and walked to the other side of the room.

Just like that. Like she was nothing worth staying for.

Riley stood where he had left her and felt something she did not have a name for settle in her chest.

She stepped outside for air.

That was when she saw the jackets.

Eagle crests. A group of them coming through the side entrance, loud, taking up space the way boys from rival schools always did at parties that were not theirs.

Riley went still.

She told herself it did not mean he was here. The Eagles had more than a million players.

Then she saw him.

Ethan her boyfriend. Standing just off the path with a girl beside him, her shoulder pressed against his, laughing at something he said.

It had not even been a month.

One second. She gave herself one second for everything she actually felt to move across her face. Then she put Ryan back on — flat, steady, unreadable — and walked straight toward him.

"Ethan."

He looked up. Something crossed his face before the smile came.

"Ryan. Hey, man. Didn't know you were at Falcons."

She looked at the girl. Then back at him. She did not smile.

"Riley called me last week," she said. "She said you two were good."

The smile dropped.

"It's not what it looks like."

"I'm not asking what it looks like," Riley said. "I'm telling you what she thinks."

Ethan looked at the ground. The girl beside him had gone very quiet.

Riley looked at the girl once. The girl read it correctly and went inside.

"Ryan—"

"Either she matters or she doesn't," Riley said. "That's it. That's the whole thing."

Ethan had no answer.

She looked at him one last moment — this boy she had grown up beside, who was looking straight at her and seeing nothing — and felt something close quietly inside her chest. Something that did not have a name yet but felt permanent.

"Figure it out before she finds out herself," she said.

She walked away before he could answer.

She walked away before he could answer.

The path back was narrow. She had her head down, everything locked tight.

"Interesting night, Morgan."

Lucas fell into step beside her. Unhurried. Hands in his pockets.

"Saw you outside." He didn't look at her. "The Eagles guy." A pause. "He looked at you like he recognized something."

Riley kept walking. "Old neighborhood."

"Mm." He pulled the door open and held it. Polite. Easy.

Then, just before she stepped through —

"Get some rest, Morgan."

She walked inside.

But Lucas Reed had been watching her all night — and now he was smiling.