Page 107 of Guarded Love

My cursor hovers over the notification icon. One message request from someone namedCozyCraft4Eva. The username is familiar, but I can’t place it. It’s not uncommon for people to try to message because they find me through mutual gaming contacts all the time. But something about seeing this request feels different.

I click.

CozyCraft4Eva (Lilly):Hey. I know this is random. But I heard you used to date Leo. Something happened and I don't know who else to talk to.

The words hit me like ice water. My hands freeze over the keyboard, cursor blinking in the empty reply box. Leo. Of course it's about Leo. No matter what I do recently, it seems like I can’t get away from hearing about the fucker.

I stare at the message until the letters start to blur. My relationship with Leo was a big deal years ago and a lot of people knew about us. Yet this message makes my stomach wantto flee my body. This girl knows something and now I know that something happened. Why else would she reach out when I haven’t been in Leo’s life in years?

I should close my laptop. Delete the message. Pretend I never saw it.

But my finger hovers over the keyboard, and despite every instinct screaming at me to run, I can't look away. Because this girl, there’s something about the simple message that is ringing every alarm bell in my head.

WillsNet56:Who is this? How did you find me?

The response comes back faster than I expect, like she was sitting there waiting for me to reply.

CozyCraft4Eva (Lilly):I'm sorry. I know this is weird. My name is Lilly. I'm a sophomore at Thornfield College. Leo and I have been...we've been seeing each other for a few months.

My blood turns to ice. The familiar nausea that comes up whenever I think about him rises in my throat as memories I've spent years burying claw their way to the surface.

WillsNet56:What happened?

CozyCraft4Eva (Lilly):I don't really know how to say this. But I think he's been lying to me about a lot of things. And when I asked around about his exes, your name came up. People said you two dated for a while in high school.

WillsNet56:We did.

Two simple words that don't even begin to cover the disaster that was Leo and me. Dated makes it sound normal, healthy, like something you'd smile about years later. Not like the slow-burning nightmare it actually was.

CozyCraft4Eva (Lilly):Can I ask what he was like? As a boyfriend, I mean. I'm starting to think I don't really know him at all. Not to mention there have been other things…

This girl has no idea what she's asking me to relive. But there's something in her messages that reminds me of myself atseventeen, confused and isolated and starting to realize that the person I loved was slowly destroying me. With that thought, I quickly make a decision on how to handle this.

WillsNet56:Please share your story and I’ll share mine.

32

BLAISE

As I take in the scene in front of me, I can’t help but ask myself the same old question: Why am I here? I sink deeper into the corner of the couch and debate whether that’s the right move when Knox jumps up and waves his controller around like he might launch it at our television.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Knox shouts at the screen. "That was clearly interference!"

"Dude, you literally skated into him." Levi laughs, not looking up from his own controller. "That's not interference, that's you completely missing the plot there."

"I fucking saw it, the ref is?—"

"The ref is a computer program," Asher points out dryly. "It doesn't have bias against your terrible gameplay."

"My gameplay isn't terrible," Knox says, but his voice cracks slightly on the last word as his player gets checked into the boards again.

I watch them argue, but soon their voices blend into background noise because I really don’t give a damn. It doesn't matter who wins or loses because my mind is somewhere else entirely. Has been since I walked through the door twentyminutes ago and realized I was waiting for someone who might not even show up.

I pull out my phone and check the time. Seven-thirty. No new messages.

"Blaise!" Wilder's voice makes me stop staring at my phone. "Back me up here. Tell these idiots that the Titans' power play is garbage this season."

"Sure." I shrug, not really listening. My eyes drift to the front door, then back to my phone screen.