Chapter 1
In college, I made a bet with my arch-rival.
The stakes? To see if I could seduce the cold-faced genius of the Bio-Engineering department.
Armed with stack after stack of academic journals, I baited him for three long years and three months.
Once I got bored, I ghosted him. I walked away without a single word.
Seven years later, at our class reunion.
My rival walks in, hand-in-hand with the genius ex-boyfriend I once dumped.
"Layla Foster, I should really thank you for letting Alex Reed go back then."
I flash a defiant smile. "You're welcome. Feel free to pick up any man I've deemed not good enough for me."
But after I turn to leave, my phone pings.
"Layla Foster, then what kind of man is to your liking?
"I can play the part."
*****
It was the seven-year itch—our class reunion.
I rolled in looking like a wreck in my grease-stained work jumpsuit.
The second Claire Bennett spotted me, her eyes lit up like Christmas morning.
"Well, if it isn't Layla Foster. You've been MIA for every reunion until now.
"Why show up now? Do you need a loan or a job?"
Claire posed with calculated elegance, her designer eyeshadow shimmering with an expensive glow that couldn't hide her bitchy streak.
Still, she couldn't mask the wicked amusement glinting in her gaze.
The rest of the room started whispering about me.
"I heard after the Fosters went broke, she ended up at the station hustling fares for seven bucks a head."
If this was the old Layla, I'd have marched over and slapped the taste out of their mouths.
I'd have thrown a wad of cash in their faces like the spoiled brat I used to be.
"See this? My chump change is worth more than your damn life," I would've barked.
But now, I just swallowed the lump in my throat and kept my mouth shut.
Claire was still the same—she wanted to see me hit rock bottom and beg for mercy.
I held it in until I finally dropped my gaze and mumbled, "So... how's Alex?"
I immediately hated myself for being so pathetic.
God, I was such a loser. Seven years and I still had zero backbone.
Right on cue, Alex Reed walked in.
He blew past the crowd and me without a single glance, heading straight for Claire.
"Am I late?" he asked, his voice completely flat.
Claire hooked his arm, looking like she'd won the lottery.
"Not at all. Layla was actually just asking for you."
When his heavy, cold gaze locked onto me, my "'carefree" act went up in flames.
The second I saw his face, my nose started gushing blood.
Claire lost it. "Seriously, Layla? You're so thirsty for your ex that you're getting a nosebleed?"
It was not like that.
Truth was, I'd got a rare condition, and Alex's new lab drug was literally my only shot at staying alive.
But before I could speak, the blood hit the floor, taking my last shred of dignity with it.
Alex didn't even flinch. He just tossed a Bulgari handkerchief at my feet like I was a stray dog.
His eyes were pure ice. "Layla, you don't seriously think this tired act still works on me, do you?"
I took a jagged breath and wiped the mess away with my sleeve.
The taste of iron filled my mouth, but I forced a grin.
"Guess you caught me.
"I was actually hoping to play the sick card and scam a few bucks out of you.
"You've gotten smart, Alex."
That was the same lie I'd used to cut him loose back then.
I told him I was terminal just to get him out of my hair.
He was always the unfeeling type, right?
Yet he'd spent two weeks camped out at my dorm and searched every ER in the city looking for me.
I remember that day so clearly—the sun was blindingly bright.
I'd even used Claire as a prop to break him.
I shredded months of his research papers until they fell like a winter storm in the middle of June.
"It was just a bet, Alex," I'd told him, my voice icy.
"Do you really think I was ever sincere with you?
"A boring lab rat like you? I got bored of the game months ago."
Nobody knows how long Alex stood there in that storm of paper.
All we knew was that he took off for abroad with his professor right after.
He has every right to hate my guts.
I had zero reason to stick around; I had a cab to drive and bills to pay.
I swiped a few pieces of free fruit from the platter and headed out.
Claire watched me leave with pure disgust.
She jammed a wedding invite into my pocket without a second thought.
"Alex's and my wedding is in two months," she announced.
"Don't worry about a gift. I know you're broke.
"But you're definitely being my bridesmaid. I'll even tip you extra.
"Consider it a 'thank you' for dumping Alex back then."
My heart felt like it took a sledgehammer to the ribs.
I nearly dropped my phone.
Alex... getting married?
To Claire? The woman he used to despise?