I watched his face as he looked at the screen.
And I saw the exact moment everything changed.
His jaw went tight. His eyes went distant. The softness that had been there a second ago vanished, replaced by something harder. Colder. Guilty.
My stomach dropped.
I didn't need to ask who it was.
Emily.
Liam stared at his phone for a long moment. Not responding. Just staring. His thumb hovering over the screen like he was deciding between two versions of himself.
"Liam?"
He didn't answer. Didn't look at me. Just kept staring at that screen with an expression that closed him off as effectively as any door.
And the warmth from earlier—the closeness, the laughter, the ease that had felt so natural, so possible—receded like a tide pulling away from shore.
I lay there. Naked in my own bed. Watching the person I wanted most in the world choose, in real time, who mattered more.
And the worst part—the part that sat in my chest like a stone—was that I already knew the answer.
I'd always known.
Chapter 3: Liam
The dining hall was louder than usual for a Sunday afternoon.
I sat across from Noah, pushing scrambled eggs around my plate. The noise pressed in from all sides—voices, laughter, the clatter of trays and silverware. The whole place smelled like grease and burnt coffee and whatever industrial cleaner they used on the floors. Normally I could tune it out. Today everything was turned up too loud.
I had sex with Alex twice in the last four days.
Twice. That was more than Emily and I managed in two weeks, and the truth was I'd never come so hard in my life. The image of Alex when we finished together—eyes locked on mine, his mouth saying my name like it was the only word he knew—
Fucking sexy.
"You gonna eat that?" Noah asked.
I looked up. "What?"
"Your eggs."
I set my fork down. "Not that hungry."
Noah studied me over the rim of his coffee cup. Eyes too sharp. Too knowing. "You've been weird all morning."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You barely said ten words on the walk over here." He leaned back in his chair. "What's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit." He set his coffee down. "It's about Emily."
My stomach tightened. "Alright, yeah, she texted me yesterday."
"And?"
