chapter 3

I turned around and saw Maya and Tyler standing there.

Tyler's face was stone cold, and he was staring at me with this dark expression that could have killed someone.

I didn't want to deal with either of them right now, so I started walking away.

Maya grabbed my arm. "Olivia, please. Tyler and I aren't what you think we are. Just let me explain—"

I didn't have the patience to listen to her bullshit. I laughed coldly and shook her off.

Maya almost fell over, but Tyler caught her and yelled at me. "Olivia! Can't you at least let her finish what she's trying to say?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to hear about your bedroom activities."

Maya's face went pale. She bit her lip like she was about to cry.

Tyler grabbed my arm and hissed, "What did you just say?"

I tilted my chin up and smiled coldly at him, "Did I say something wrong? You two basically announced your affair to everyone, didn't you?"

Tyler's jaw clenched. "Do you have to embarrass everyone like this?"

I yanked my arm away from him. I couldn't even look at his face. "This is who I am. If you don't like it, don't watch."

Then I grabbed Amanda and we left the bar.

I told Amanda about my plan. I was going to study abroad in Lorentia.

Back when I was dating Tyler, all I could think about was him. Now I realized literally everything was more important than men.

"Will your dad be okay with that?" Amanda asked.

I smiled a little. "Like he even cares what I do anymore."

My dad barely paid attention to me these days. He spent ten times more energy on Maya than he ever did on me. They said when you got a stepmother, you lost your father too. That was exactly what happened.

Even when I married Tyler, Dad wasn't really happy about it. He was disappointed that Maya's boyfriend wasn't good enough, so seeing me with Tyler just made him feel worse about the whole situation.

I'd finally figured it out. I didn't want love anymore. I just wanted money.

I booked my flight pretty quickly. I figured I'd travel around over there first.

When I got on the plane, I found out that Blake was sitting right next to me.

I muted him right after adding him back that day. I never read any of his messages—just deleted them immediately.

I was still trying to figure out what to say when Blake said hi to me.

"Hey, Olivia?"

"Yeah."

That was all I gave him.

Blake gestured for me to sit down, then turned to me. "You're going to Lorentia too?"

I kept my responses ice cold—just "yeah" and "yes"—but that didn't stop him from talking the entire flight.

After we landed, he somehow ended up at the same hotel as me. Then somehow got the room right next to mine.

When I ran into him two more times, I stopped believing in coincidences.

"Blake, what the hell are you doing?"

He was completely straightforward. "I'm trying to win you over."

That wasn't the answer I expected. My brain needed a few seconds to process that.

I looked up at him with a blank expression. "I'm not some prize in your pissing contest with Tyler."

Blake's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly leaned closer, staring right into my eyes. "I don't see you as a prize. I want to date you. I want to marry you."

My eyes went wide. We stared at each other for what felt like forever before I turned my head away.

"No," I snorted.

Blake tilted his head too, his eyes crinkling with amusement. "Okay... first attempt failed. Time to prepare for round two."

Blake chased me all over Lorentia, and honestly, the guy had the patience of a saint.

No matter how much I annoyed him, yelled at him, or said horrible things to him, he just took it all in stride.

The biggest difference between him and Tyler was that Blake didn't pretend to be something he wasn't.

He straight up told me he didn't like how I said one thing but meant another. He didn't like how I always assumed the worst about everything.

But even though he didn't like those parts of me, he never tried to force me to change.

He even said, "If you don't want anything physical between us, that's fine. You can come and go as you please."

My heart skipped at beat.

But I pulled myself together pretty quick and turned him down again.

He looked like he'd been expecting that answer all along. Just smiled at me with this knowing look.

Something about that expression made me do something crazy. I grabbed him and kissed him—just lips touching lips for maybe two seconds.

Blake stood there in shock for like ten seconds straight. Then he grabbed my hand and yelled, "Holy shit, I finally gave away my first kiss!"

I looked down and laughed. It was the first real laugh I'd had in weeks.

Back at the hotel, Amanda sent me a photo out of nowhere.

She texted, "You kissed Blake? What the hell?"

The picture showed me and Blake kissing on a Belmont street. It looked like some random person had taken it.

I was about to ask her where she got it when my phone rang. It was Tyler.

I picked up, and before I could even say hello, he was already attacking me. "Olivia, what the hell am I to you?"

I burst out laughing. "You're a fucking idiot."