Falling for My Best Friend’s Enemy

I hate Kai Stone. Not the mild kind of hate the kind that burns quietly in your chest and never really goes away. “Promise me something,” Maya said that night, her eyes red and swollen. “Promise you’ll never talk to him.” I didn’t hesitate. “I promise.” That was three months ago. Now here he was leaning against the hallway wall like he owned the place. Tall. Calm. Unbothered. As if he hadn’t broken my best friend into pieces. Our eyes met. His jaw tightened. Good. At least we agreed on one thing—we didn’t want to see each other. I walked past him, my shoulder brushing his by accident. “Careful,” he muttered. I stopped. Turned slowly. “I don’t take warnings from people like you.” His eyes darkened. “People like me?” “The kind who ruin others and pretend it never happened.” For a moment, he looked like he wanted to say something. Instead, he stepped aside. “Trust me,” he said quietly. “You don’t know the whole story.” “I know enough,” I snapped, walking away. I didn’t look back. If I had, I would’ve seen the way he watched me like I was already a problem.