The Diamond’s Rule

Just the Best Friend

Victoria's POV

Love hurts.

I never understood how painfully true that was until tonight.

For fifteen years I loved my best friend, Caleb Ashfield, without a single regret—even though he’d made it clear that hot girls were his type, not a nerd like me.

I swallowed every casual rejection and kept right on loving him.

But now? I regret every single second of it.

He’d canceled our dinner plans with the usual excuse: ‘team training.’

In that moment, it finally dawned on me. All ninety-nine times he’d bailed before… It was never about baseball. It was about her.

The sight of them was excruciating to watch. Caleb and a girl I didn’t know, tucked into a dark corner, kissing like no one else in the room existed.

My stomach twisted so violently I thought I might be sick right there on the sticky floor.

What hurt worse than the kiss was the lie. Why did he think he needed to lie?

Was my love too obvious? Was I making him uncomfortable? No. I’d hidden it behind eye rolls and sarcasm.

I’d loved Caleb since we were spindly kids with pigtails and scabby knees. Back when he was the boy who shared his juice box with me on the playground and promised we’d be best friends forever.

He just never loved me back the same way.

I wasn’t supposed to be here. Engineering nerds don’t belong in loud, sweaty clubs. I had just finished a late group project meeting when his cancellation text came through.

After reading it, all I wanted was to crawl under my bed and cry until my eyes swelled shut. But my roommate, Eva, wouldn’t let me.

She dragged me out, thinking a night out was exactly what I needed after a ‘grueling week’ at school.

I could have said no. I should have said no.

Instead, I let her pull me through the doors, hoping the pounding bass and enough alcohol would numb the ache for a little while.

So here I was: numb, my vision swimming from too many drinks, watching the boy I’d loved for half my life kiss someone else.

My feet moved before my brain could stop them. I pushed through the pulsing crowd, the music and bodies blurring into nothing, until I stood only a few feet away.

“Caleb?” My voice came out smaller than I intended.

He jerked back. The curse that left his mouth was low, but I heard it.

He murmured something to her, pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. I do not know how to explain this, but that small intimacy hurts worse than the kiss itself.

He turned toward me, scratching the back of his neck, his eyes everywhere but on my face.

“Tori… What are you doing here? You never come to clubs. That’s a new development right there.” He chuckles.

“Training looked pretty intense,” I said, my voice dripping with bitter sarcasm.

“Tori, look…” He let out a sigh. Before he could continue his explanation, the girl stepped forward.

She was gorgeous, the kind of effortless, golden beauty that reminded me exactly why I was the "best friend" and never the "choice."

She slid her arm possessively around his waist.

“I’m Lexi,” she said, her voice sweet but sharp around the edges. “Caleb’s girlfriend. And you must be the childhood friend he’s always talking about.”

The word girlfriend cracked something open inside my chest.

I stared at Caleb, waiting for him to laugh. I wanted him to say she was joking, or that she was a friend, literally anything else. But he just looked at me with a blank expression.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “It’s been a couple of months, Tori. I didn’t tell you because… well, you only really have me here. I didn’t want you to feel like I was abandoning you or something.”

“Abandoning me?” The word scraped out of my throat. “Caleb, I’m your best friend. Not your damn child.”

Lexi let out a soft, mocking laugh.

“Don’t be dramatic, Victoria. It’s obvious why he hid it from you. You follow him around like a lost puppy. He’s too nice to say it, but he’s tired of it.”

I flinched. Caleb didn’t deny it. He just looked uncomfortable, like he was waiting for me to evaporate so he could get back to his fun.

“Anyway,” Lexi continued, scanning me with cool, bored eyes,

“I thought you had a boyfriend? That’s what Caleb said. Maybe you should spend more time with him instead of acting like you’re in love with mine. If you didn’t have one, I would’ve sworn you’re madly in love with Caleb.”

The lie I’d told Caleb months ago came rushing back, the one where I casually mentioned I was seeing someone.

I’d said it one night when he asked why I wasn’t dating anyone. I lied so I wouldn’t look desperate—so I wouldn’t look like I was just there, waiting for him to finally notice me.

“I do have a boyfriend,” I said, lifting my chin even as my soul screamed. My voice stayed steady, somehow.

“And I don’t like Caleb that way. He’s just… family.”

Caleb’s eyebrows shot up. For a split second, something flickered in his eyes. It wasn't jealousy; it was pure, unadulterated relief.

“Oh. Good,” he said, and that relief was the final kill-shot. He was glad I didn’t ‘love’ him.

“I was worried for a second. Why don’t you bring him next week? I want to meet the guy who finally got the nerd out of the library.”

He patted my shoulder. It was the most platonic, "bro" gesture in human history. Then, he turned back to Lexi.

I didn’t wait for anything else. I turned and shoved my way through the crowd, my lungs burning, tears blurring the lights.

The night air was a cold slap to my system as I burst through the exit. I ditched Eva without a word, my heart too tight by pain to care.

I hailed a cab and threw myself inside before the driver even came to a full stop, whispering my address through a throat that felt like it was filled with thorns.

By the time I reached my apartment, the shaking had taken over. I locked the door, slid down against it, and pulled my knees tight to my chest.

Fifteen years.

I turned down an Ivy League scholarship—gave up more than I ever should have—just to stay close to a boy who now sees me as nothing more than a clingy, lost puppy.

I buried my face in my arms and finally let the sobs tear free.

Fake Sprain, Real Blood

Victoria’s POV

It’s been a week since I found out my best friend, the boy who’s owned my heart for years without even knowing it, has a girlfriend.

Every time I close my eyes, I still see it: Caleb kissing Lexi.

It was a memory I relived on a loop, a picture that haunted my retinas.

I wished I could reach into my chest and manually stop my heart from beating for him. Or hunt down whoever was pulling the strings of the universe and beg them to rewrite the story—make Caleb realize that maybe hot girls weren’t his type after all, and that a quiet engineering nerd like me could be enough.

I knew how pathetic that sounded. But that was the cruelest part of loving someone who didn’t love you back: it turned you into someone you barely recognized.

The campus was crowded and loud as students spilled toward the stadium in groups for the baseball game.

I didn’t want to go. I wanted to be petty. I wanted to take vengeance for every time he’d bailed on me by bailing on him.

But Caleb had asked me himself, and my stupid, loyal heart wouldn’t let me skip it. My love burned stronger than the anger sitting heavy in my chest.

I grabbed a lemonade from a stand and headed into the fray. 

The closer I got, the louder the roar of the crowd grew.

When I finally found a spot in the stands, my eyes found them instantly.

Caleb and Lexi were near the dugout. The game was minutes from starting, and he was leaning down, kissing her softly while she giggled and adjusted his cap.

My heart clenched so hard I thought it might actually burst. I knew I should look away, but I was a masochist for the view.

I stared until a passerby nudged my shoulder accidentally, jolting me out of my trance.

The game started, and I tried to focus. I really tried to lose myself in the crack of the bat and the red dirt kicking up as players slid into home. But it was difficult.

Suddenly, the energy in the stadium shifted. The opposing team stepped up to the plate, and the crowd erupted.

It seemed like one player in particular had sparked the chaos. And I had a pretty good idea who it would have been.

I looked up, squinting against the floodlights to find him.

With a single, powerful swing, he sent the ball screaming into the far reaches of the field. A home run.

The silence on Caleb’s side was deafening, while the other half of the stadium exploded. 

People were jumping over seats, shouting a familiar name that traveled through the crowd in a roar .

“Elijah! Carter! Elijah!”

He was standing at the plate, his chest rising and falling. He pulled off his batting helmet, and for a second, the world narrowed down to just him.

Elijah was dangerously handsome, the kind of guy who seemed sculpted to tempt.

Dark hair fell carelessly across his forehead. 

His onyx-colored eyes, black as polished stone, burned with a heat that made it hard to look away.

He possessed a sharp jawline, dusted with just enough stubble to be rough but enticing, and lips curved in a perpetual half-smile that promised sin.

As he wiped sweat from his brow, a dark tattoo peaked out from his sleeve, curling around his bicep.

He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. And then, for a fleeting, impossible second, I felt his eyes land right on me.

My breath caught. It lasted maybe three seconds before his teammates swarmed him, pulling him back into the celebration.

Seeing him reminded me that I had only a few hours until the post-game party, the one where I was supposed to show up with a boyfriend who didn’t exist.

I glanced back at Elijah Carter. I knew of him, everyone on campus did.

He was one of the star players on the baseball team, rich, talented, and the kind of guy most girls fawned over.

I had never really paid him any attention before. My world had always revolved around Caleb. 

But the way he’d looked at me a moment ago made the air feel strangely charged.

After the baseball game, I should’ve gone straight home to rest. Instead, I found myself at Keith Sterling’s house for the after-party; Eva’s boyfriend, and tonight’s host.

Eva invited me, and even though I refused at first, she didn’t stop trying until I finally agreed. Not entirely because of her persistence, but because I had a lie to protect, a completely fictional boyfriend I needed to somehow produce out of thin air before Caleb started asking questions I couldn’t answer.

I scanned the crowded room, searching for any guy who looked like he might possibly play the part.

I almost laughed at myself. How the hell was I supposed to do this?

‘Hi, I’m Victoria. I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend because I’ve been lying to the guy I’ve loved for fifteen years just to save face.’

Pfft. Yeah, like that wouldn’t blow up in my face.

I sighed and shook my head.

I didn’t know how I was going to make this work but one thing was certain: I was not going to look like a loser tonight.

I wouldn’t let Caleb see how much I loved him, how I’d sunk low enough to invent a boyfriend just to hold on to a shred of dignity.

I kept my head down and tried to slip through the crowd toward the kitchen, but I wasn’t quick enough.

A warm hand closed around my upper arm. I knew who it was before I even turned around.

“Tori? What are you doing here?”

Caleb looked down at me, his eyes lit with surprise and a trace of amusement.

He didn’t let go of my arm. If anything, his grip tightened—just enough to ignite those giddy feelings.

“I’m just getting a drink, Caleb,” I said. My voice came out tighter than I wanted.

“I didn’t expect to see you at a house party,” he replied, gently pulling me out of the main flow of people. “You made it out to the game? I didn’t see you.”

I couldn’t even respond. I was stuck on his question.

“You know, we had them in the first half,” he went on, his jaw tightening. “We fucking had them.” He let out a frustrated breath through his nose. “Until that arrogant son of a…”

He bit back the rest of the sentence, a hard, frustrated huff escaping his nose. He wasn't just unhappy; he was humiliated that Elijah had outshone him. Again.

I looked at him, my heartbeat turning slow and heavy.

“Did you even bother to look for me, Caleb?” I asked softly. My lips moved before my brain did.

Caleb didn’t answer my question. Instead he studied my face for a moment.

“You’ve been quiet this week,” he noted. His thumb brushed lightly against my sleeve. “Are you intentionally ignoring me, Tori?”

Yes, I thought. Because every time I see you, it feels like I’m losing another piece of myself.

But I didn’t say any of that. I just looked at him, afraid that if I opened my mouth I’d either scream or start crying. So I turned around and walked away.

Midnight rolled in, and the party settled into that awkward, half-drunk haze where everyone played games they didn’t care about.

I ended up stuck in the circle directly across from Caleb and Lexi.

They were tangled together: her head tucked into his neck, soft laughter spilling out every time he whispered in her ear.

Every time his hand slid possessively over her knee, my chest tightened.

I was so busy staring at them that I didn’t notice the server approaching with a heavy tray of drinks until his foot caught my outstretched leg.

The tray tipped, and the glasses smashed against the hardwood. Cold gin splashed over my jeans, and a sharp shard of glass bit into my forearm, leaving a thin, blooming line of bright red.

I gasped at the sudden sting.

The server scrambled to his knees, frantically stammering apologies as he grabbed at the shards.

“Tori!”

Caleb and Eva shouted in unison. Caleb was already on his feet, his face etched with a flash of genuine, unadulterated panic.

For one stupid, blinding second, hope flared in my chest. He still cared. He was coming for me.

Then, Lexi shrieked.

“Caleb! Oh, my god, my ankle!” She clutched her leg, her face twisting into a mask of convenient, dramatic agony.

Caleb froze. He looked at me, then at Lexi. The hesitation lasted less than a second. He spun away from me, dropping to his knees at Lexi’s side with a devotion that turned my stomach.

“Lexi? Are you hurt?”

I sat there in a puddle of spilled gin and broken shards, bleeding from a real cut while he fussed over her fake injury.

“Are you okay?” some girl from the circle asked me.

“I’m fine,” I muttered, standing up, glass crunching under my shoes. “I just need to change.”

“Tori, wait!” Caleb called, but his eyes didn't leave Lexi. He offered me a half-hearted, furrowed-brow look, but he didn't stand up.

Lexi must have felt me watching. She tilted her head back against Caleb’s chest, her "pain" vanishing for a split second.


Our eyes locked, and her lips curled into a smug smile, a confirmation that she knew exactly what she was doing, and exactly how easily she could pull him away from me—which in reality, she’d done already. Caleb wasn’t even mine to begin with.

I turned and walked away before I could break down in front of everyone.

I found a guest bathroom at the back of the house, locked the door, and finally let the sob break free.

I cried quietly over the sink, mourning the years I’d wasted on a boy who picked a fake sprain over my real blood.

You’re Drunk, Victoria

Victoria’s POV

Eva had come to my rescue with a set of fresh clothes. I spent a few minutes in the bathroom pulling myself together.

When I stepped out, the party had swollen into something louder and more suffocating than before. I didn’t return to the living room. I couldn’t sit in that circle and watch Caleb press his mouth to Lexi’s again.

So I slipped through the back door.

The pool area was quieter. I sat down at the edge, shoes off, and stared at the glowing blue water.

A few minutes later, I heard soft footsteps approaching. Someone sat nearby—not close enough to intrude, but close enough to be noticed.

“I don’t want company,” I snapped, my voice rough with the remnants of tears. I didn’t even bother to look at who it was.

“I never said I was here to keep you company," a low, bored voice retorted.

I looked over my shoulders. Elijah Carter was leaning back on his elbows on a lounge chair.

He was the star of the rival team, the guy whose face was on every campus flyer.

Up close, he looked even more dangerous, his dark eyes scanning the horizon with supreme indifference.

“Elijah Carter," I muttered, quickly wiping my eyes. I straightened my spine, trying to reclaim some dignity.

“Is the party not enough of a stage for you? Did you follow me out here to disturb my peace?"

"Don't flatter yourself," he said, not even bothering to turn his head. "I’m just here to get away from the noise. You’re the one crashing my peace with all that sniffing."

He finally looked over, his eyes traveling slowly from my ruined makeup down to my shoes.

A small, judgmental smirk touched his lips.

“Rough night? Or… let me guess—Ashfield finally got tired of you trailing after him like a lost dog?”

A cold prickle of shock washed over me. How could he possibly know that?

I stared at him, searching for any sign that this was just a lucky guess, because the alternative—that I was that obvious with my feelings—was unbearable.

"I don’t follow him around," I defended.

"Right. You just happen to be wherever he is, wearing his jersey and that pathetic 'pick me' look on your face." He took a slow sip of his drink, his expression turning mocking.

"You don't know the first thing about me, Elijah. Stick to throwing balls and leave the psychoanalysis to people with actual brains," I snapped, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and embarrassment.

"I know enough to recognize a girl who’s starving for attention from a guy who’s already looking past her.”

I felt the heat of a thousand suns rush to my face. The urge to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face was so strong my fingers curled into fists.

I stayed seated, my body tense as I fixed him with a cold, piercing glare. A sharp retort was already on the tip of my tongue, ready to cut through his arrogance.

Before I could breathe a syllable, a girl in a silk dress that left nothing to the imagination sauntered between us.

"Elijah, baby," she cooed. She didn't even glance my way, completely ignoring my existence as she leaned into his space.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Why are you out here in the dark talking to... this?"

She finally flicked a look of pure disdain over her shoulder at me.

I felt a fresh spark of heat in my chest. I didn't give her the satisfaction of a response; I just rolled my eyes and looked away, staring back at the glowing blue water.

"The night is cold, the party is getting boring, and it looks like you’re in desperate need of better company," she continued, her fingers curling into his shirt. "We can go to my place. It’s only a few blocks away..."

Elijah didn't even turn his head. "I'm not interested," he said, his tone flat and dismissive.

She blinked, stunned by the rejection. "But—"

"I said no," he added, his tone sharpening. She huffed and stomped off.

Two minutes later, another girl tried her luck with a sultry, confident smile. He didn't even let her speak.

He just pointed a lazy finger back toward the crowd, his expression making it brutally clear that she wasn’t invited into his space.

I felt a surge of annoyance bubble up in my chest.

“Is there a trophy for being that much of an ass?” I snapped. “The ‘too-cool’ act? Does it make you feel important to treat people cruelly? To toy with girls’ feelings like we aren’t even human?”

“I prefer quality over quantity,” Elijah said, looking down at me, his dark eyes mocking. “You should try it sometime. Maybe then you wouldn’t be hiding out here crying over a guy who clearly didn’t notice you left.”

I glared up at him and shoved to my feet. “Go to hell, Elijah Carter.”

I spun around to storm away, but the gin in my system sent the world tilting sideways. My heel hit a slick, wet patch of tile near the deep end, and my balance vanished.

A panicked gasp tore out of me as I tumbled backward into the dark water.

The cold punched the breath straight out of my lungs. My soaked clothes turned heavy, dragging me down while I thrashed uselessly against the surface.

The water blurred from glowing sapphire to an empty, suffocating black.

My chest began to burn, a silent scream building in my throat, and just as I felt myself slipping away, I heard my name. It sounded muffled under the water.

Suddenly, the pressure of the water shifted around me, and strong arms hooked under my pits, hauling me upward with force.

The next thing I felt was the bite of rough concrete against my back and a heavy pressure on my chest.

A sharp, forced burst of air was shoved into my mouth. I coughed violently, retching up chlorinated water as my eyes flew open, stinging and blurred.

Elijah hovered over me, water dripping from his dark hair onto my face. He looked thoroughly pissed.

"Of all the ways to get my attention, Rhodes, you thought drowning was the best?” He rasped.

The cockiness in his tone acted like a shock to my system. Instead of thanking him, a flare of pride kicked in.

I shoved weakly at his chest, my wet palms sliding against his soaked shirt.

"I’ve got it," I choked out, trying to scramble up and away from him. But my hands skated on the slick stone, my balance vanished, and I collapsed forward, slamming directly into his chest.

Our mouths met in a clumsy, accidental kiss.

The world seemed to pause for a second, my heart kicking hard against my ribs. I started to pull back, an apology already forming, but Elijah didn’t move.

The look in his eyes changed. The indifference disappeared, replaced by something dark… something that made it hard to leave.

Before I could breathe, his hand slid to the back of my neck, his fingers threading into my wet hair with a possessive grip.

He didn't ask. He simply growled low in his throat and crushed his mouth back against mine.

A muffled sound of shock escaped me, but it was quickly swallowed.

My brain screamed that this was a mistake, but he bit my lip—just enough to make me inhale sharply—then kissed me deeper, his tongue moving against mine with an easy, unhurried confidence that left my knees weak.

I stopped fighting, and leaned into him, kissing him back with a desperate, reckless hunger.

Suddenly, a shout from the balcony above sliced through the haze. Elijah pulled back just enough for me to drag in a ragged breath.

"Fuck," he hissed, his jaw tightening. He looked toward the house, clearly more annoyed by the intrusion than the fact that he’d just been kissing a half-drowned stranger.

His gaze fell back on me, dark and unreadable, before he stood up.

“Not here,” he rasped.

Without a word of warning or a glance to see if I was okay with it, he bent down, slid one arm under my knees and the other around my back, and lifted me like I weighed nothing

I should have pushed him away, but I didn’t. I felt numb, unsure of what I wanted anymore, only that I needed to forget the pain that came from loving Caleb Ashfield, even if for a little while.

Water streamed off our clothes as he carried me across the deck toward the edge of the lot where a sleek black car idled.

He shoved me into the passenger seat and climbed in after me, the door slamming shut and cutting off the rest of the world.

Our eyes locked in the dim light of the tinted windows. The tension crackled between us, a hot, dangerous current that made my skin prickle.

A quiet voice in the back of my mind warned that I’d regret this tomorrow. But the alcohol had drowned my sense of reasoning.

Elijah caught my wrist and yanked me onto his lap.

My wet dress bunched up around my waist as I straddled him in the cramped seat.

His hands gripped my thighs hard, fingers digging in as he pulled me flush against the obvious bulge straining in his jeans.

Heat flooded between my legs instantly. Before I could even process it, he leaned in and kissed me.

His lips moved to my neck, his teeth grazing my skin. I gasped, my fingers digging into his shoulders, pulling him closer,

But as his hand slid higher, he suddenly stiffened and pulled back.

“You’re drunk, Victoria,” he pointed out, his mouth pressing into a hard line.

“I know what I’m doing,” I shot back, but my voice came out shaky and unconvincing.

“No, you don't.” He studied me for a long second, his dark eyes burrowing into mine as if he were dissecting every messy, hidden thought I possessed.

He reached over and tugged the hem of my dress back down in one quick motion. Then he shifted me off his lap and back into the passenger seat without another word.

I Need a Girlfriend

Elijah’s POV

I sat behind the wheel for a long moment before turning the key. 

Victoria was already curled up in the passenger seat, her head resting against the window as she slept peacefully.

I shook my head slowly, a dark smirk tugging at my mouth as I watched a stray lock of damp hair fall across her cheek.

I’d noticed Victoria freshman year. Hard not to when she was always at Caleb Ashfield’s side. 

And while most girls had their smiles and charm perfectly rehearsed before they even looked my way, she barely seemed to notice I existed. That alone made her interesting.

After I scored the winning run earlier, I did what I always do; I scanned the stands.

Everyone else was on their feet, screaming, faces lit up with excitement. But hers stayed completely blank. No reaction at all.

I’d never personally spoken to her until tonight, but I didn't need to. I’d felt the dislike radiating off her in waves since freshman year.

I still remember the trophy presentation at the last tailgate; she hadn't even bothered to hide the eye-roll she threw my way when they called my name.

It didn't take a genius to figure out her problem. 

Either she’d bought into whatever garbage reputation the campus had pinned on me, or the truth was much simpler; she hated me because I was the one rival Caleb Ashfield couldn’t beat, and she couldn't stand seeing her golden boy come in second.

Either way, I found it amusing.

I reached over and brushed a stray lock of hair off her face.

Her skin was still warm from earlier—from the way she’d climbed into my lap in the backseat, her dress shoved up around her waist, making those soft, broken sounds when my mouth was on her neck.

For a girl who spent her entire day buried in hoodies and textbooks, she wasn’t the "innocent" I’d expected. She was definitely more than I’d ever given her credit for.

I’d wanted to keep going. Badly. But then I saw that single tear slip down her cheek and the raw pain in her eyes.

Yeah, I can be a jerk. But I’m not the kind of asshole who fucks a drunk girl who’s still hung up on another guy.

I leaned back against the headrest, exhaling slowly as I stared out at the dark road ahead.

Victoria was beautiful in a way that didn’t try too hard. Most people overlooked her. Guys like me were supposed to.

But that was exactly it.

She didn’t fit the pattern. She didn't act the same way the others did.

There was something different about her, something quiet and closed off. Almost untouchable. And I wanted to figure her out.

Victoria’s POV

My head felt like someone had spent the night hammering nails into it. The sunlight slicing through the curtains was way too bright, and it annoyed me.

I groaned and pushed myself up against the headboard, blinking slowly as the room came into focus.

This wasn’t my apartment. My place was cramped and cluttered, with secondhand furniture and a ceiling fan that rattled when it hit the third speed.

This room was magnificent, and smelled great.

I glanced down and froze. I wasn't wearing my dress. I was swimming in a heavy black t-shirt that smelled exactly like the room.

I pressed my eyes shut and tried to drag the night back in pieces. What came was fragmented: dark colors, loud music, the leather interior of a Porsche, the sour taste of bile, and a deep voice cursing as I ruined his car.

“What have I done?”

I tried thinking hard to remember but the details refused to snap into place.

I reached for my phone on the nightstand.

The screen lit up with notifications. Twenty-six messages from Caleb.

My eyes widened. Was the world on fire or something? Caleb had never sent more than two texts in a row in his entire life.

A pathetic spark of hope flared in my chest, only to be extinguished by the first line I read:

‘Why the hell are you with Elijah Carter?’

The name unlocked new flashbacks. The stranger at the pool’s edge. His hand on the back of my neck. The way I had kissed and ground him because I was too drunk and too hurt to stop.

A muffled scream escaped my throat, and I gripped my hair until it hurt.

How did Caleb know? This was going to ruin everything.

Ruin what? my conscience bit back. Caleb was with Lexi. Why did it matter who I’d kissed or whose bed I was waking up in?

But the logic didn't stop the guilt. I still felt like I’d cheated on a man who didn't even want me that way.

I pressed my palms into my eyes. I had to know how he found out.

I navigated to the campus social page.

The first headline practically screamed off the screen:

Spotted: Victoria Rhodes getting cozy with Elijah Carter, the new star pitcher, at the after-party. Is this the breakout couple of the season? We definitely didn't see this one coming.

Below it was a clear image of us. The photo was dark, but you couldn't miss us: Elijah’s hand on my face, me looking like I was trying to climb into his skin.

My face burned with embarrassment. My quiet life had flipped upside down in a single night. 

One minute I was still struggling to move on from Caleb, and the next I was kissing someone else.

The sound of heavy footsteps approaching the bedroom made my heart jump. I scrambled for the lamp on the nightstand, gripping it like a weapon even though my fingers felt unsteady.

The moment the door opened, I swung with everything I had, but my balance was off. The lamp sailed past him and smashed against the wall behind him.

He didn’t even flinch. He just stepped aside, his eyebrows raised, sweat still glistening on his skin from what looked like an early morning run.

A towel hung around his neck, and his gray sweatpants sat low on his hips.

I hated how my eyes traced the lines of his arms and the tattoo disappearing beneath the waistband before I could stop myself.

“If you keep looking at me like that, we might have to pick up where we left off.”

His voice was low and rough, and I hated that it did something to me.

I dropped my gaze immediately, my face warming.

“I was drunk. Last night was a mistake. I didn’t mean for any of it to—”

“You meant every second of it,” he cut in. “The way you pulled me in, the way you didn't stop, the way you moved against me... you were pretty conscious, Rhodes.”

He walked closer, forcing me to back up until my spine met the wall.

My breathing came out uneven. He was close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating off him, and it made thinking considerably harder than it should have been.

“Stay away from me, Elijah,” I managed to choke out. “Last night didn’t mean anything. We don’t even know each other. We should just forget it ever happened.”

He studied me for a second. Then he hooked a finger under my chin and tilted my face up, forcing me to meet his eyes.

They were so dark I couldn’t find where the pupil ended.

“Say that again,” he dared. “Like you mean it this time.”

I opened my mouth to repeat it, but the words died in my throat. 

My gaze faltered, sliding from his intense stare to the pulse jumping in his neck.

“I thought as much,” he growled.

He didn't give me a chance to breathe before his mouth crashed into mine.

I pushed against his chest for half a second before his teeth grazed my bottom lip and I gave in. The kiss was slow, deep, and way too good.

My hands ended up on his shoulders, a soft, embarrassed moan slipping out before I could stop it.

We kissed for five long, devastating seconds before the shrill ring of my phone broke the spell.

I pulled back, chest rising fast, and answered without checking the screen.

“Tori? Tell me the post is fake,” Caleb snapped the second I answered. “Tell me you weren't actually with him.”

The familiar urge to explain, to make things right with him, rose up instantly.

“Caleb, I—“

Elijah’s hand covered mine. He took the phone from my grip before I could finish.

“She's with me, Ashfield," he growled into the receiver. “And the photos aren't fake. Actually, they missed the best parts.”

My eyes widened. I reached for the phone, but he held it out of reach, his gaze locked on mine the whole time.

He ended the call without waiting for Caleb’s reply and tossed the phone onto the bed.

“Why would you do that?” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“Because you were about to apologize to him for something you don’t owe him an explanation for.”

His dark eyes locked on mine. For a second I was completely lost in them.

Then reality hit, I had to leave.

I gathered every bit of strength I had left and shoved him hard, scrambling toward the bed to grab my phone.

“I’m leaving,” I said, my voice sharp to hide the tremor. “We forget last night. And this morning. All of it.”

I turned on my heels, ready to bolt, but he caught my wrist before I could reach the door.

“I need a favor.”

I stopped and slowly turned back to face him.

“What?”

“I need a girlfriend,” he said bluntly. “And I want it to be you, Victoria Rhodes.”

I watched him, waiting for him to say he was joking. He didn’t. His expression stayed completely serious.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, then stepped closer.

“Look, I’ve been trying to get Lexi’s attention. And you’ve clearly been trying to get the attention of the guy she’s with. Our photos are already all over campus. We might as well use them to our advantage.”

“You want to fake-date… to get to Lexi? You like her?” I asked, surprised.

Elijah didn’t answer. He just watched me with an unreadable expression.

My thoughts spun. It was a ridiculous, and completely insane idea. Yet… a small, aching part of me considered it.

“I… need time,” I whispered, pulling my wrist free.

“Take all the time you need,” he said, stepping back to give me room. “But the offer’s on the table, Victoria. And we both know it’s the only way you get what you want.”

A Game of Two Minds

Elijah’s POV

Sofia was still talking, her voice bouncing off the high ceilings of my condo.

She’s been a high-priced corporate lawyer for three years, which means she’s forgotten how to have a conversation like a normal person.

“A contract, Elijah? Really?” She flailed her arms, nearly knocking over the espresso I’d just made her.

“People do this for mergers, or maybe for a marriage they’re already planning to fail. Not for some flimsy college… whatever this is. Besides, this kind of thing was popular in the eighties and nineties. Who even does relationship contracts anymore?”

I didn't look up from my phone. I just leaned back against the kitchen island, letting the silence stretch until she stopped talking..

“Are you going to draft it for me, Sof, or do I have to hire someone who actually likes their brother?”

She glared at me.

“You don’t get to be demanding. I’m doing this for free, and I’m doing it against my better judgment.”

I finally met her eyes and gave her a small, tight smile.

“Then stop judging and start typing. You are acting like I had just asked you to dispose of a body.”

She huffed, opening her laptop grudgingly. Sofia might complain, but I knew she would help. She always did.

The truth was, the agreement didn’t need to be legally binding. It was just a prop.

Victoria was smart. If she ever stopped letting her feelings for Ashfield cloud her judgment and actually acted on that engineering-major brain of hers, she’d figure out my real game.

And if she did, the whole thing would blow up in my face.

That was exactly why I needed the contract.

It gave her the illusion of control; a clean, professional transaction instead of what it really was: me wanting her around for my own selfish reasons.

And as long as she bought into the story I was selling, I had a free pass to stay as close to her as I wanted.

Using Lexi as the excuse was perfect. The reality was that Lexi and I were basically siblings. Our families had been sharing beach houses since we were in diapers.

The mere idea of actually being with her made my skin crawl. She wasn’t my type.

Sofia tapped her pen against the table, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“So what exactly do you want this thing to say? Because if it’s just a fake dating agreement, we can keep it simple. No one’s actually going to enforce it.”

“Just make it look real enough,” I told her. “Six months. That’s the timeframe. During that time, she agrees to be seen with me in public, attend a few sports events, and we both keep up the story. At the end of it, we go our separate ways unless…” I trailed off.

“Unless what?” Sofia asked, raising an eyebrow.

I leaned back in my chair and smiled. “Unless she doesn’t want to walk away.”

Sofia shook her head, but there was a hint of amusement in her expression.

“You’ve always been insufferably sure of yourself. This girl must be something special if you’re going through this much trouble.”

“Perhaps she is,” I said simply.

Six months. That was all I needed.

Even though Victoria hadn’t given me an answer yet, I already knew how this would end. She would say yes.

Sofia sighed and started typing on her laptop.

“Fine. I’ll draft something basic. But if this blows up in your face, I’m telling Mom it was your idea.”

I chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Caleb’s POV

I couldn't put the phone down. My thumb kept hovering over the image, zooming in until the pixels broke apart. Victoria’s hand was tangled in Elijah ’s hair. Her eyes were closed. She looked… gone.

My chest felt tight. This wasn't the plan.

For fifteen years, Victoria Rhodes was the one constant in my life. It didn't matter if I blew a save in the ninth or if a girl I actually liked dumped me over a text, I always had Tori.

It wasn’t exactly a mystery that she liked me. Victoria thought she was being subtle, treating her feelings like some buried treasure she’d hidden under the floorboards, but it was pathetic how easy she was to read.

Whenever I walked into a room, her entire posture changed. She’d go still, her eyes tracking me like I was the only thing with color in a black-and-white world. I’d grown used to it. Hell, I’d lived for it.

Knowing she was there, tucked away in my back pocket, made me feel invincible. I could be a total prick, I could go days without answering her texts, or I could show up at her door at midnight expecting a favor, and it didn't matter. She never pushed back.

It was an ego trip I didn't have to work for. On the days I felt like a failure on the field, I’d look at Tori and remember that to at least one person, I was a god.

I wouldn’t have minded dating her someday. I’d even thought about it once or twice. But Tori was…safe backup.

She was the girl you married at thirty, not the one you had a wild time with in college.

She was too quiet. Too boring. Girls like Lexi were exciting. They kept things interesting.

Still, I had never expected Victoria to move on. Especially not like this. And definitely not with Elijah Carter of all people out of 8 billion here on earth.

When she said she had a boyfriend, I didn’t take it seriously. I figured it was just something she made up to make me jealous, get me to chase her. Turns out, she actually does have one.

The bedroom door opened behind me. Lexi stepped out, towel-drying her hair, wearing one of my hoodies.

“Why are you still staring at that phone?” she asked, voice light at first. “You’ve been glued to it since you woke up.”

I didn’t answer right away. My thumb scrolled past the photo again.

Lexi walked closer and peered over my shoulder.

“Oh. That.” She let out a short laugh. “Victoria finally got herself a boyfriend and you’re acting like the world is ending. She’s spending time with him. So what? You should be happy for her. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

I set the phone down harder than I meant to. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then explain it to me,” she said, crossing her arms. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re pissed that she’s finally with someone.”

“Not with him," I snapped. The words jumped out before I could catch them, louder and meaner than I intended.

Lexi’s eyebrows shot up, her hand pausing mid-motion as she dried her hair.

She looked at me, her eyes narrowing into two thin slits.

“Excuse me?"

"I’m just saying, Elijah is a jerk, Lexi. He’s a player. He’s going to chew her up and spit her out in a week. She’s too… she’s not built for guys like him."

Lexi let out a short, ugly laugh. "Are you actually serious right now? You’re mad because she’s with Elijah ? Or are you just pissed that she actually has a boyfriend?”

“That’s not it," I muttered, but I couldn't look her in the eye.

“Caleb, is that jealousy?" she stepped into my space, her voice dropping into a snarl. 

"Do you actually like her? Is that why you’ve been acting like a brat since you saw those pictures?"

I froze. The word love felt off. I didn’t love Victoria like that, I loved what she made me feel about myself.

"Of course not, baby," I said, forcing my voice to smooth out. I reached for her waist, trying to pull her in, but she stayed rigid.

“I'm not in love with her. You know that. She’s my childhood friend. We grew up together. I just… I worry about her. She’s naive."

Lexi didn't move. She didn't buy it for a second.

She pulled out of my grip and stepped away, her face twisted in a way I’d never seen before.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” she said, voice low and edged with irritation. “If you don’t like her, then why does it bother you so much that she’s moving on?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out right away.

Lexi watched me closely, waiting.

“Look,” I said, reaching for her hand. “I just… I don’t trust Elijah. I believe Victoria deserves better than him.”

Lexi pulled her hand away slowly.

“Then maybe you should have been the one to give her better. Instead of keeping her on the sidelines while you were with me.”

The silence that followed felt too long. I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly uncomfortable in my own skin.

“I’m not in love with her,” I said again, quieter this time. “She’s family. That’s it.”

Lexi studied my face for another moment, then gave a humorless smile.

“We’ll see,” she said. “But if you keep acting like this every time Victoria does something without you, we’re going to have a problem.”

She turned and walked back toward the bathroom, leaving me standing there with my phone still glowing on the table. The photo of Victoria and Elijah stared back at me.