Page 65 of Trapped With You

Cade’s tormented gaze clashed with mine as he absorbed my ugly lie, completely frozen under the weight of my deceit.

My expression conveyed my gratification. “Maybe I should have listened to my parents and dated your brother instead of wasting three years of my life on you.”

I tore the promise ring from the chain and threw it out the window, right into the darkness of the night.

Then I whirled around and walked away from a shocked Cade.

My pride intact.

My invisible crown in place.

And my broken heart, leaving a trail of blood in my wake.

C H A P T E R1 4

Jealous Princepin

Cade

The Past – 2 months ago

The love of my life broke up with me twenty-eight days, two hours, and eight minutes ago. And since then, there’s been a constant ache in my chest that wouldn’t assuage no matter what I did. It festered in my core like a painful, pus-filled wound.

I couldn’t eat, sleep, or breathe without thoughts of Ella consuming me. Day and night, whenever I closed my eyes, it was her face in my mind, tear-stricken and so heartbroken as she ‘caught’ me in the ‘act.’

But I never cheated. I never had. I never would.

I tried to explain to her the truth, but she wasn’t having any of it.

I called her. I texted her. I even climbed up to her balcony and tried to explain what really happened. She didn’t want to hear me out.

Ella had moved on with her life. But I hadn’t.

I was still here, pinning away like a lovesick fool.

Now I was at a crowded bar on a Friday night because Nico—one of my friends—texted me that my ex-girlfriend was here, playing pool and talking with a couple of preppy frat boys.

At first, I refused to believe it. Therefore, after completing business with Uncle Vance and Josh, I gunned it here to witness the sight myself.

Red mist coated my vision as I sat on a stool by the bar, not too far away from where Ella was flirting with a guy—tall, athletic-looking, and wearing an ugly red sweater. My stomach churned when she flipped her long hair over her shoulder and batted her lashes in that teasing manner that always did me in. And the fucker on the receiving end was eating up the attention like ice cream on a hot summer day.

Ella and I both turned nineteen a few days ago, and I bet this was her way of ‘celebrating’ her birthday. By spending her Friday night at one of the city’s most popular bars, scouting the scene for fresh meat.

She didn’t open my birthday messages and ignored all the gifts I sent to her home. A thousand orange begonias, a bouquet of orange lollipops, a basket filled with rolls of colourful yarn, and a key to something that couldn’t be delivered to her—onlyshown.

Which was impossible to do if she refused to talk to me.

My knuckles tightened around my glass as I drowned my woes in a non-alcoholic drink, watching her flirt with another like I wasn’t right here…bruised, bleeding, and in so much fucking pain.

“You need something stronger than that?” Nico asked, sensing my anger.

I glanced away from my ex-girlfriend andfuckface—that’s what I was calling the dude with her—to address him. “I’m planning on being sober when I gut his insides, Nico.”

Not to mention, I hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol since Josh’s party. Couldn’t bring myself to do it yet.

Nico chuckled and went on to pour a series of shots for a group of girls. They were eyeing him suggestively. This was the norm whenever he worked bartender duty, but he never paid attention to any of them, keeping his brown eyes downcast and running his fingers through his black inky curls.

Out of all the boys in our crew, he was the shier, reserved one.