Maddox:
I wasn’t sure why I showed up to rehearsal.
Maybe part of me just wanted to see if she’d actually go through with it. Maybe the other part—the reckless, stupid part—just wanted to be near her. Close enough to remind her that I was still here. Still the one she laughed with at 6 a.m., still the one who believed in her before anyone else did.
I didn’t expect to walk in just in time to see her kiss Cole Kingston.
It was part of the play. I knew that. I’d known it was coming. But knowing and seeing? Yeah, those were two different things.
She looked up at him like she believed it.
That’s what wrecked me.
I couldn’t even explain it—why I suddenly felt like something had snapped loose inside my chest. It wasn’t supposed to matter. She was supposed to be just a girl I trained
