Chapter 2

The moment I ended the call, my roommate Kevin Price sent me a photograph.

Naomi, dressed in white, leaned happily against a stranger in a suit.

Kevin followed it with a long voice message.

"Elliot, do you see it now? This is what real love looks like.

"You always act like some polished future executive who's better than everybody else. Naomi got tired of that years ago.

"Derek's gentle. He never pressures her. Other than controlling her, what have you ever given her?

"Take the hint and get out of Naomi's life."

I stared at the image as though someone had cut open my chest.

I'd spent an entire year of scholarship money on that white dress as Naomi's graduation gift.

Now she was wearing my gift while getting engaged to someone else.

I dragged my suitcase out of the airport and took a cab straight to the Bellrose Hotel in Bellwarren.

The moment I walked in, Owen Parker, our class representative, stepped in front of the head table.

"Elliot, did you seriously come here to wreck the engagement?

"We spent four years in the same class. Do you have to take it this far?

"Derek and Naomi were always better suited. It took them years to get to this day. Can't you be generous for once?"

I ignored him and stared at Naomi behind the main table.

She came toward me and let out a long, weary sigh.

"Eli, I explained everything on the phone.

"It's only a ceremony. It's to settle Derek's nerves.

"Do you have to make a scene now and embarrass everyone?"

She reached for me, but I stepped aside.

"Naomi, you disgust me."

Derek Vaughn came over in his suit.

He had one of those soft, pretty, harmless faces, the kind that never worked a day and knew exactly how useful that looked.

"Please don't blame Naomi, Elliot. This is all my fault.

"I was greedy. I knew she loves you now, but I still wanted one ceremony.

"If you need to hit somebody or scream at somebody, do it to me. Just don't make things harder for her."

He even started lowering himself as though he meant to kneel.

Naomi caught him and pulled him behind her.

"Derek, your health's bad. Don't strain yourself."

Then she turned on me with accusation in her eyes.

"What exactly do you want, Elliot?

"I explained and I apologized. Derek's humbled himself this far, and you still want to corner us?"

Watching them perform as tragic lovers, I suddenly wanted to laugh.

"One of you lied to me for three years. The other chased a woman knowing she already had a boyfriend.

"Have the two of you completely misunderstood what backing down means?"

Before I finished, Kevin, who'd slept in the bunk above mine for four years, snapped.

"Elliot, don't push your luck.

"Derek wrecked his back on construction sites to pay Naomi's tuition. What have you ever given up for her?

"All you do is use your history with her to squeeze her, every single day, until she's too scared to leave."

Another classmate joined in.

"Exactly. Naomi's a good person. You don't get to ruin her."

I looked across the familiar faces.

For four years I'd tutored them, rewritten their resumes, and lent money whenever one of them had an emergency.

Now every one of them was standing on moral high ground and grinding me into the floor.

"Fine. That's fine."

I looked at Naomi with perfect calm.

"If this is true love, I'll stop standing in the way of it."

I pulled a set of keys out of my bag.

They belonged to the apartment Naomi and I rented near campus.

I'd paid the rent. I'd paid the deposit.

I threw the keys at her feet.

"Get everything you own out by tomorrow.

"Anything still there after that goes in the trash."

Naomi's face changed before she forced it back under control.

"Eli, you're angry. I won't hold any of this against you.

"I'll come find you in a few days, once you've calmed down."

I didn't answer. I turned and left the hotel.

The moment I passed through the doors, cheers erupted behind me.

"We finally ran that control freak off."

"Come on, keep going."

"Kiss her. Kiss her."