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“There is no one to compete with,” I told him. “They’re just words, Alex. They don’t mean anything.”

Liar, liar…

“Just do us a both a favor and stop treating me like I’m stupid. Read those words and tell me I’m supposed to think there’s no one else. You wrote about losing your virginity for shit sake, Kenzi, and then you told me you couldn’t remember anything? Well played, you’ve had me fooled this entire time.”

He buttoned his shirt with shaking hands. He was angry. Did he have a right to be?

I supposed he did.

But that didn’t give him the right to read my journal.

“So, what, you thought I was lying so you decided to go through my stuff?” Alex glared at me. “You’re not my boyfriend, Alex. You had no right to invade my privacy like that.”

His lips thinned, and he rested his hands on his hips. “I should have known…”

“Should have known what?”

“That there was something going on between you and Vaughan. Have you been fucking him this entire time?”

My intake of breath was so sharp that it hurt. What he was accusing me of hurt. “Why would you…” I whispered, and shook my head. He was being cruel, and I knew I was in the wrong for not ending whatever we had going on sooner, but I wanted to try, I really did. I’d lost enough, so I thought there would be no harm in trying. Obviously I was wrong, again. Even so, I didn’t think I deserved to be accused of sleeping with someone else while I was with Alex.

With my journal firmly clutched against my chest, I gathered up my things, and locked myself in the bathroom. Alex knocked, but anything he said was lost on me. My mind was a jumbled mess, my emotions scattered. I changed into the clean clothes I’d packed, and tucked my journal back in my bag. When I emerged from the bathroom, my eyes a little red and puffy, Alex looked at me with remorse.

“Let me take you home,” he said. No apology.

“No.” I searched the room for any belongings. “I’m going to call my Dad.”

“There’s no need, let me drive you.” Alex tried to take my bag, but I pushed his hand away.

“You accused me of lying to you, and sleeping with someone else in the same breath, so forgive me if I don’t want to go anywhere with you.”

“I didn’t mean —”

I lifted my hand. “Yes, Alex, you did. You don’t just throw those accusations around if you don’t mean them. I’m sorry I led you on, but you had no right to…” I stopped, unwilling to repeat what he’d said. As far as I was concerned, we were done. In every way. That included this conversation.

Without a backwards glance, I slipped my bag over my shoulder, grabbed my purse from the bedside table and walked out. I tried calling my Dad, but there was no answer, and when I tried Aiden, and Liam they also didn’t answer. Both Maddy and Jackson’s phones went straight to voicemail. That left me with one other option, and that was to take a cab. A cab ride back home was going to be expensive, and I didn’t have enough cash with me. So I scrolled through my contacts trying to find someone else I could call. I could try Connor and Natalie, but I chose not to because they work with Alex, and I didn’t really want to tell them what happened. My thumb scrolled, and then hesitated over one other name.

Vaughan.

I don’t know why I wanted to call him. Or why I felt like I could.

I opted for trying my Dad, and my brother’s again, but it was the same result. Maddy’s phone was still off, and I cursed my phone as if it were to blame. I’d been mulling around in the hotel lobby for over an hour, and it was already approaching midday. I was feeling tired, and defeated. I didn’t really want to take a cab, but it seemed to be my last option.

Just then my phone started vibrating, and I sighed in relief when I saw it was Aiden. I slid my finger across the screen.

“Aiden.” My voice betrayed me and cracked slightly. This entire morning had been a bust, and it was waring on me. I didn’t want to cry anymore, let alone in the lobby of a hotel for everyone to see. Talk about humiliating.

“Kenzi, what’s wrong?”

Something was happening in the background, so I had to strain to hear Aiden’s voice.

“I need you to come get me please. I’m in Denver. No one else is answering their phones.”

I heard a muttered, “shit” and then some muffled voices. It sounded as if he was passing the phone to someone else.

“Kenzi?”

I squeezed my eyes closed at the sound of that voice.