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A hollow opened in Sloane’s chest. She could really lose her.

“You know what? Fuck you, Sloane. Fuck you and your superstar, player ways.” Ella’s eyes shone as she spoke. “I can’t quite believe you were stringing me along this whole time, when really, you were just filling time, waiting to get back to the USA and back to being the golden couple.” Ella put her fingers to her compass necklace. When they connected, her face soured, and she ripped the chain from her neck. She yanked open the fingers of Sloane’s right hand, and pressed it into her palm.

“You can have this back, too. You lied to me.” Ella took a shaky breath. “You’ve been in contact with your ex for months and not said a word.”

Ella’s words were like machine-gun fire. Every one lodged in Sloane’s heart. Her mind flailed for ways to turn this around, but her scrambling senses came up with none. Tonight, she already knew this was a lost cause.

Ella turned to Jess. “You’re welcome to her. You’re clearly as bad as each other.”

With that, Ella shot Sloane a murderous look, turned on her heel and stalked back to her car. The tyres squealed as she accelerated out of the parking lot.

When she’d gone, Sloane turned back to Jess, then bowed her head. “I cannot quite believe that just happened.”

“I’m sorry,” Jess said.

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Sloane pocketed the necklace, then leaned her palms on her thighs and bent over, winded. What the hell was she going to do now? She glanced up at Jess. “Do you cause this much havoc everywhere you go?” She held up a hand. “You know what, don’t answer that. In Ella’s words, fuck you, Jess.”

Jess winced. “I didn’t know you were a proper item. I thought we still stood a chance.”

Sloane shook her head, disbelieving. “Whether Ella and I are together or not has no bearing on us. We stand no chance of getting back together. Am I clear?”

“But I thought—”

“You thought what?” Sloane squared up to her, hands on hips. This, she had to know.

“That we were destined.”

Sloane wasn’t sure, but by the look on Jess’s face, the penny might just have dropped.

“We were destined when I asked you to marry me, and you said yes. But then you fucked someone else, so destiny did a sharp U-turn.” Sloane shook her head. “You are such a hot mess, you know that? Go to camp, Jess. Play football. You’re good at that. But before you try to get together with anybody else, maybe try a little introspection and growing up, too.”

Jess held her gaze, went to say something, then obviously thought better of it.

Did Jess understand what Sloane was saying? She had no idea.

“You really pick your moments to proclaim undying love. You never did that when we were together.”

“I didn’t realise what I had then. I do now.” Jess paused, then caught Sloane’s gaze. “We’re really done?” Her shoulders slumped in preparation for the answer.

Sloane nodded. “We really are.”

“And you like this girl a lot?”

“Yes.” She could hardly get the word out.

Jess stood straight and folded her arms. “In that case, it sounds like you’ve been dicking around unnecessarily. It’s about time you showed her, isn’t it?”

CHAPTER32

Ella couldn’t recall a time in her life when she’d felt like this. She’d swallowed all of Sloane’s lies as if they were gospel. Yes, keeping their relationship close to her chest had taken a toll, but the light at the end of the tunnel, which she thought was so close, had turned out to be a mirage.

She felt ridiculously stupid, like one of those women in a magazine article who knew nothing about their partner’s secret life. Jess’s words kept coming back to her. “We split up. I didn’t die.” Was everything between them a lie? Had Sloane just been filling time? She couldn’t quite believe it after everything they’d shared, but all the evidence was staring her in the face. Even though things didn’t add up. She was living in a topsy-turvy world. Her mum had been cheated on by men enough times in her life, and Ella remembered them all. Maybe it was a genetic disorder she and her mum shared when it came to relationships.

That night, Sloane had sent messages and tried to call, but Ella had ignored them all. She’d been in no mood to talk. One thing Ella was sure of: she wasn’t going to the England vs USA game now. She’d had enough humiliation for one week.

The first person she spoke to about what had happened was Marina. Her cousin told her she’d drive over as soon as possible, which told Ella how upset she must have sounded. Marina wasn’t the drop-everything-for-no-reason type, but she’d always been there for Ella throughout her life. She was the sister she never had. Plus, as Marina said, “I need to be there with you to watch that England versus USA friendly, otherwise you’re going to drive yourself mad.”

Ella had started to refute she was going to watch the game, but then she’d stopped. There was no point. Her cousin was right. Ella was going to watch the whole game and clutch the sofa when Sloane and Jess got anywhere near each other.