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My entire chest tightened, my lungs feeling like a vice had wrapped itself around them and squeezed. “She chose you.”

“No, she didn’t,” Matias snapped. “She wantsyou. She pickedyou, but something happened, and she couldn’t go through with it. So she asked for my help—”

I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth, shutting him out. I couldn’t do this. I wouldn’t let myself be dragged under again. Hope was a painful thing, a deadly thing. “You need to leave.” It was a warning to him. I had little patience left, little judgment, little grace. If he didn’t go, there was no telling what I would do.

“She wasscared, Wes.” His voice was hard and angry, echoing in the poolroom. “She came to me because she wasscared—”

“Shut the fuck up!” I whipped around to face him. “She betrayed me, she betrayed you, she betrayedeveryone—”

“You’re fuckingstupid,” he spat out, his words dripping dark venom.

My hands clenched into fists as I took a step toward him. “Want to say that again, huh? I dare you. Say it again and watch what happens.”

“Shelovesyou, Wes.” It was a slap across my face. “She fuckinglovesyou.” Matias ran both his hands through his hair, pacing in a circle before facing me again. “She wanted you to think she was in love with me so you wouldn’t go after her. Something happened—something bad, and she didn’t have a choice. And now she’s locked up someplace, and I’m seriously freaking worried! Nobody knows where she is, and I have a terrible feeling about it. Something’s going on, and you need todosomething.”

I opened and closed my hands, feeling a deep burn simmering through my entire body. Matias’s concerns were pulling on my broken heart. Was she in trouble? Did she need me? I didn’t push my father for the details of her incarceration—I couldn’t. It hurt too bad and my father wouldn’t allow me visiting her, anyway. Mom would get the painful end of that, and she suffered too much already. It wasn’t fair to her.

I shook my head. I couldn’t do this again. I had to bury what I felt for her. It hurt too much. She made her choice, and that choice wasn’t me. “Leave,” I ordered. “I need you gone.”

“Fuck,” Matias muttered, kicking the wall. Then he whirled back to face me, eyes narrowed and looking more pissed off than I’d ever seen him. “That night at the gala, I asked her to be with me. I did. And you know what? She turned me down.” He pointed an accusatory finger at me. “She turned me down foryou. She denied me foryou.”

My jaw clenched so tight, I thought I was going to crack a molar. But was it true? I tossed the towel on the bench and faced him. “Why would she end things?”

“Because she had to!” Matias snapped out, frustrated. “That’s what I’m saying. She didn’t have a choice! You think I wantto admit to you that you won? That she wants you instead of me? Hell no!” He worked his jaw, shoving his hands through his hair once more. “She swore me to secrecy, okay? But I’ll tell you whatever the hell you want to know as long as you help her. Something’s wrong, Wes. I can feel it. Something else has happened, and I’m worried about what’s going to happen next. But I can’t help her. That’s why I’m here.”

My heart pounded, adrenaline coursing through me like a fever.It’s not what it seems. Her words kept spinning in my head, begging me to believe. I looked up at Matias. “Calista said she saw you both on the balcony.”

Matias halted, his whole body going rigid as stone. “Yeah, she did. And it’s true…Ikissedher. I kissed her hoping that she would—” he hesitated, swallowing hard, shifting his gaze away from me before facing me head on. “I kissed her, hoping that she would feel something for me. That I could help her rememberus, whatweused to be. But,” he shook his head, “she pulled back.” Matias’s mouth hung open, words seemingly caught in his throat until he finally pushed them out. “And she told me she loved you.” He shoved his hands back in his pockets, shoulders going slack once more. “I knew I couldn’t compete anymore after that. It was over.”

Pain laced his words. Defeat gripped his face. I knew the look and sound of a rejected man. I had lived that experience before, knowing she was with him and not with me. Knowing she tasted Chase’s name on her tongue instead of mine.

I stared at Matias, disbelief and hope at war within me. She told him she loved me.

It’s not what it seems.

She came to him for help because she was afraid of something.

It’s not what it seems.

She was trying to tell me something, trying to talk to me, and I kept pushing her aside because I didn’t want to hear it.

It’s not what it seems.

Did she really want me? Did she truly pick me?

It’s not what it seems.

She told me in five words what I needed to know: that it was real. What we shared wasreal.

Hope swept through me like a tidal wave, bringing a fresh swell of adrenaline and a sense of cautious relief that filled me with an electrical buzz more powerful than any bolt of lightning. Then…I laughed. I tipped my head back and laughed deeply. It wasn’t what it seemed. Nothing was what it seemed.

“Dude,” Matias said heedfully, “are you okay?”

I just kept laughing.

“Seriously, Wes, are you all right? I’m a little freaked out—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his thought. In a matter of seconds, I whipped my head forward, closed the gap between us, and punched him. Matias’s head snapped back as he stumbled backwards. And when he brought his face forward again, he touched his hand to his nose and stared at his own blood on his fingertips. I cracked my neck, and it felt good. I needed that. He deserved that.