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Sliding down in my seat, I shrink away from curious eyes while running through our earlier conversation to see what could have upset him, but come up empty, so I shrug it off.

People usually get stars or dollar signs in their eyes once they discover who my family is.

I’m still lost in my thoughts when class ends. I barely make it five steps before I’m pushed against a wall.

“Did you have fun at my expense?”

My gaze meets Liam’s sneer.

“Hey man,” someone begins to grab him, but he waves them off.

“Wasn’t it enough that your family took everything from mine?” Liam growls.

Confusion knits my brows as anger roils up my spine. My arm raises before I consciously recognize what I’m doing. It’s notuntil my fist connects with his jaw and he stumbles backward that it registers, and I’m not mad about it.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me without my permission again,” I hiss, glaring at him. Then, without waiting for a response, I storm out of the building, ignoring shocked stares.

11

liam

Ignoring the crowd of rubberneckers,I storm from the building and try to control my breathing.

Anger rolls off me. I can’t believe I did that. My father would have my head if he knew what I just did. My mother and sister would be equally as pissed. Mason, though, with as angry as he still is about everything, he’d understand.

She’sher.

How can she beher?

Sighing, I try to reconcile the two truths. Eva Pierce is the daughter of the family who nearly ruined mine, and the girl I can still vividly taste on my tongue.

Images from that night flit through my mind. The way we synced—the way we synced.

We didn’t exchange names that night, and I wanted to kick my own ass for agreeing to that bullshit, but I had every intention of finding her. I searched faces any time I was on campus or in town. Any girl who remotely looked like her, I did a double-take.

Grinding my teeth, I flex my jaw. “Fuck,” I shout, clenching my fists at my sides and doubling my speed. I need to get away from people and my thoughts.

I weave in and out of the sea of students as they rush by, before turning off the main path down a quieter walkway—not stopping until I come to a set of benches surrounding some monument in the center.

The area is perfectly manicured, almost better than the entire campus. A vibrant array of flowers surrounds the slate-gray structure, and the benches sit on the grass around the pavement, shaded by oak trees.

Everything here looks so serene—like a calming energy is emanating from the space, instantly reducing the tension in my shoulders.

Inhaling the waning summer air, I walk closer, stopping to read the inscription. It’s a memorial.

In The Loving Memory of Farrah Amira Jacobi. Daughter, Sister, and Best Friend.

The world is dimmer without you, but the heavens shine brighter because of you.

Sleep well, for your pain is over.

And while our pain is everlasting in this life.

We know it’s temporary until the next.

Sawf nuhibuk fi hadhih alhayaat wafi alakhirati.

We will love you in this life and the next.