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“You’re fucking kidding me.” He grabbed the door lever, but hesitated. “Kate, I’ll give you two minutes to get a towel and cover yourself before I come in. I mean it.”

“Sweetie, I wanted to surprise you with something—”

Fuck it.

He threw open the door and stepped into his room, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes found Kate’s face and held steady, unaffected by her otherwise naked figure sprawled over his bed among hundreds of rose petals.

Just to make things strikingly clear, he flicked on the lights, even if the ridiculous number of candles provided ample illumination.

Kate slowly pushed upright, her smile waning. “Bryce, I thought you’d be surprised.”

He scowled. “Oh, I’m surprised all right. Surprised that you’d have the nerve to lie to your mother, and to mine, thatwechose a wedding date. Next month, huh?” He jabbed a finger toward her. “Absurd. You don’t get to make up my mind. And my mind’s already made up. Not only did I have to deal with the repercussions of explaining the truth to my mother before I left my parents’ house, but I had to convince her that you made the whole fucking thing up!”

Kate pulled her legs beneath her and grappled for the blanket, wisely covering herself. Her cheeks deepened to rose, but her eyes flared with frustration.

“You wanted a date, I gave you a date! So you’d stopcriticizing me about planning a phantom wedding!” She sneered, wiggling to the edge of the bed and dragging his blanket with her. “You haven’t done a damn thing to move this along, so I took matters into my own hands. You don’t want to make the decisions, then I’ll do it for us both. Instead, you’re too fucking busy going out and getting drunk to give our wedding any thought!”

“Actually, it’s quite the opposite, Kate. I’ve been thinking about this wedding every night. And I’ve made a decision.” He lifted his chin, refusing to let the shimmer in her eyes sway him. Her tears would no longer work on him. “I’m calling the engagement off. I’ve already told my parents, and had to deal with my mother’s reaction. I’m not happy, Kate, and it’ll never change. We both deserve more than”—he waved a hand to his room—“this. I’m not your pawn and neither are you mine.”

Her jaw slackened. “You’re breaking up? With me?”

Bryce nodded once. “Yes. You can’t honestly tell me you’re happy in this relationship, because I’m certainly not. Somewhere along the line, our relationship turned into one of duty and expectations, not one built on love. I love you, Kate, as a friend. We’ve been through a lot together, but my heart...” He let out a sharp breath. “My heart is not in this, and I won’t sell myself short. Neither should you.”

“How can you tell me this? How can you break up with me like this? How?!” She stormed up to him and shoved him in the shoulder. He stepped back, but allowed her to unleash her aggravation with a finger that jabbed repeatedly at his chest. “You proposed to me six months ago! Why?” She shoved him again, this time with enough force to make him stumble into the wall. “You can’t play me, Bryce Hampton. I won’t let you! I won’t let you make a fool out of me!”

“I’m not making a fool out of you. But you were on thatpath tonight by concocting the story that we chose a wedding date.”

She screeched, pulling her hand back. He caught her by the wrist before her palm came near his face and raised his brows.

“Stop, Kate. Now. Get dressed. Go home. When you’ve calmed down, we’ll talk about this more, but it’s over. You don’t want a one-sided relationship, and I won’t be chained into a marriage I’m unhappy with.”

When her arm slackened in his grip, he released her wrist and stepped out of reach. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but her lips pulled back in a cold scowl.

“Who is she, Bryce? Who’s the woman you chased after tonight? Is she the reason you’re breaking this off?”

He masked his surprised behind an exasperated sigh. “Kate, don’t dig. All I’ll say is that I’ve been contemplating this engagement for months now.”

“The woman.” She marched over to him again and screamed, “Who! Is! She!”

“Enough!” He shot her a hard glower and pointed to the door. “Get your clothes on. I won’t discuss anything while you’re naked under my blanket.”

“You’ve been cheating on me!”

Bryce shook his head. “No. I would never cheat on you, or anyone. That’s not who I am, and youknowit.”

Kate’s breaths came hard and fast, her face reddening more with each second. Her tears slowed until all that was left was a burning fury that could scald his skin.

After a few tenuous seconds, she grunted, spun around, and stormed to the bedroom door, dragging the blanket with her. Bryce closed his eyes, listening to the fervent beat of his heart as she gathered up her clothing with muttered curses. He hated doing this to her, after all they’ve been throughgrowing up together. He hoped that when she calmed down, they’d be able to reconcile some sort of friendship, though knowing Kate, her bitterness could make a saint turn tail and run for the hills. She knew how to hold a grudge, and he didn’t doubt that he’d be on the receiving end of her hatred for a long, long time.

Unfortunately, if things went the way he hoped with Rihanna, she’d suffer Kate’s brutal tongue and criticism, too.

Minutes ticked by. A door slammed shut, rattling the walls, followed by the hum of the garage door opening. He moved about the room, extinguishing the candles and flicking rose petals from his bed before he slumped onto the edge of his dresser and rubbed both hands over his face. He expected to feelsomethingafter breaking up with Kate—remorse, regret, sadness—but all he felt was a sense of freedom and relief. A tremendous weight lifting from his shoulders.

Bryce crossed the hall to the guest room when he heard the garage door lower. He pulled back a curtain enough to watch Kate’s BMW speed away.

Dropping the curtain back in place, he turned and leaned against the wall, tipping his head back. He had no idea how things would play out moving forward, but one thing was for certain.

He and Kate were never meant to stay together.