Page 5 of Die for You
Monica Jones.I’d hoped graduation was the last time I’d ever have to see her, but here she is, a drink in her hand at the Sigma Chi party.
Fuck me.
I scan the party for a familiar face, but I’ve lost track of the Devils and I’m sure as hell not finding Juliet or Sienna with their short asses. Damien’s a ticking time bomb tonight after his mom brought her new boyfriend to the game, so hopefully a fight will break out that will require me to intervene.
My drink nearly spills over the rim as I try to dodge and weave through the crowd to avoid her, but I’m too late. A hand with mile-long nails lands on my arm, a cloud of suffocatingly flowery perfume clogging my nostrils. My stomach twists.
“Knoxy? Hey!”
I grit my teeth at the obnoxious nickname. One I don’t need following me to college, especially now that I’m about to graduate in a few months.
“I didn’t know you’d be at this party.” She wears a deceptively sweet smile.
Right. Totally a coincidence that she showed up at a party at my university. Why did I have to take my mask off? She never would’ve known it was me if I’d just left the damn thing on.
I plaster on a smile and force my stiff shoulders to relax. I won’t let her know that she still has any kind of effect on me. “Oh shit, hey.”
She hugs me, arms stiff and awkward around my middle. All I want is to shake her off, but I keep the smile glued on.
I break the hug first, unable to stomach it any longer. “No good parties at Providence tonight?”
Over her shoulder, she smiles at a friend who’s too busy grinding with a sweaty soccer player to notice us. “The Sigma Chi parties here are pretty infamous. We had to experience one for ourselves before graduation.”
It takes every ounce of willpower to hold back my sneer. Maybe if we were still in high school, I’d buy her lies, but not anymore.Why are you really here? The words are dying to slip off my tongue, but she wouldn’t tell me the truth anyway.
Besides, I already know why. She’s here for me. Even four years later, it’s her mission to make me miserable whenever possible. Miserable with her, miserable without her—those are your only options when Monica Jones crashes into your orbit. An asteroid with apocalyptic consequences.
I lift my cup, pretending to nod to someone over her head. “Well, have fun?—”
“Are you dating anyone?” Her hand is on my arm again, long nails clicking together. Her thin-lipped smile might appear sweet to anyone who doesn’t really know her. I know better.
A spider weaving her web. Laying her trap.
She’s here to get me back. I’d rather die an early, fiery death tonight than spend another second with her.
I chuckle. “Nah. I’m not looking for a girlfriend.”
She should know that she ruined relationships for me. But maybe she really doesn’t realize the hell she put me through. Maybe she actually thinks it’s normal to treat your boyfriend like shit one day and tell him you love him the next. To fuck with his head like that.
I won’t give anyone else the chance to do what she did to me.
“Aww, that’s too bad.” Behind her, a red-faced frat boy stumbles forward before he mumbles something unintelligible into her hair. She beams and presses her tits against him, and I nearly roll my eyes. “This is my boyfriend, Aaron.”
Right. If she can’t get me back, she’ll make me jealous. Poor bastard. I don’t envy him for a second. Wish I could tell him to run far from her, but he probably won’t remember this conversation tomorrow.
On the way home, she’ll berate him for how sloppy he got at the party. Maybe she’ll hit him while he’s slumped in the passenger seat beside her. And he’ll do what I always did—make excuses for her, convince himself that if he just loves her enough, if he just proves to her that he’s good enough, he can fix her. His love will make her stop treating him like shit.
He’ll learn his lesson the hard way too. There is no fixing someone who doesn’t think they’re broken, and the last person you should be with is someone you need to fix against their will.
A familiar feminine voice calls out my name, and I nearly sigh with relief. Sienna waves to me, Luke towering at her side. Behind them, Trey and Juliet are in the corner, getting entirely too handsy for a public setting.
I’ve never been happier to see them.
I nod and nearly plow through Monica still clinging to her unfortunate boy toy. “See ya.”
“Knox—”
But I keep walking. She’ll be seething the rest of the night that I dared to ignore her.
