“We love you, Jade!” Mila’s yell comes over the line, followed by Hana’s, “and we miss you.”
My friends manage to bring a faint smile to my lips. “I miss you too. I just need to process everything.”
“You’re coming back after the summer, right?” Fallon asks.
“Yeah, my parents won’t let me stay here.”
Fallon clears her throat, and her tone sounds awkward when she asks, “Have you spoken to Hunter? He’s been trying to get a hold of you. When he asked if you’re okay because you’re not answering his calls, I didn’t know what to say.”
My anger has taken a back seat because the grief was hard enough to deal with. “I’m just sorting through the mess in my mind before I take his call.”
“Are you talking to Jade?” I hear Noah ask, which means my friends must be at Mila’s house. Noah and Mila’s fathers are twins, and the two families always spend a lot of time together.
Before Fallon can answer him, Noah takes the phone from her, and the next second, his voice comes over the line. “Bean, are you okay? The girls said you’re in Virginia.”
“Hey, Noah.”
Things happen fast over the next couple of seconds. I hear Kao, Jase, and Hunter in the background, and then the call is switched to video, and I’m staring at Noah’s worried brown eyes.
“Move to a spot with light so we can see you,” Noah instructs, and like a robot, I listen. I get up, and when I reach the first lamp that lights up the path back to the house, Noah grins at me. “That’s better. How are you holding up?”
Kao’s face pops into the screen from over Noah’s shoulder, and he gives me a caring smile.
As the words start to form on my lips, Noah holds the phone in the air so everyone can squeeze in around him. The moment I see Hunter, anger and heartache swirls in my chest until it feels like my insides are nothing but a bloody mess.
Distraught, I shake my head and cut the call.
I can’t do this. I can’t face Hunter yet.
Everything is still too raw.
My phone begins to ring again, and seeing Hunter’s name, the betrayal and hurt I’ve been suppressing wins out, and my voice drips with rage as I answer, “Don’t ever call me again. You lost that right when Brady killed himself because of you. I hate you, Hunter Chargill.” A sob cuts through my voice, but I force the words out, “I hate you, and I wish it was you instead of Brady. What did you do to him?” My emotions spiral out of control, and my voice climbs with hysterics as I scream, “What the hell did you do to Brady?”
“Jade, I didn’t do anything.” The confusion in Hunter’s voice only infuriates me even more.
I can’t believe he’s playing the innocent act right now!
“I don’t believe you!” I suck in a breath of air and bring my free hand to my clammy forehead. “I’ll never forgive you, Hunter. Someday I’m going to make you pay. I don’t know how or when, but I promise you, you’ll pay for what you’ve done to Brady.”
I cut the call and let out a scream as I throw my phone into the darkness. My breaths are coming too fast, and it feels like I’m not getting any air in. I let out another scream and start to sink to my knees, but before they can slam against the cobblestone pathway, Grandpa appears out of the darkness and grabs hold of me.
Taking hold of my trembling hand, he presses it against his chest and locks eyes with me. “Just focus on my breaths, Jade.” The first couple of breaths are painful as if I’m coming up for air after drowning. “Deep in. Let it out,” Gramps keep repeating until my breathing evens out.
When he’s sure I’m okay, his arms wrap around me, and he holds me tightly. “Let the pain in, Jade. I’ll be here to put you back together.”
My voice is muffled against his chest. “It hurts too much.”
“I know, Jade. I know.” I hear the faint echo of loss in his voice, and it feels like I’m bonding with my grandfather on a deeper level — a level where only the darkest pain lives.
I let out a scream that’s stifled by his shirt before I cry for everything I’ve lost.
Every dream. Every kiss. Every touch. Every day of the empty future stretching before me.
Because of Hunter, I lost the love of my life. I’ll never forgive him.
Chapter 2
JADE
Present.
Hunter 22; Jade 18
My grandfather once told me every time you drop to your knees, it’s a chance to push yourself harder. You do whatever you have to do to keep going. You never give up.
After I lost Brady, I spent every chance I got on the ranch with Grandpa. Whenever I visited him, I didn’t have to pretend I was okay. Instead, Grandpa and his best friend, Uncle Max, gave me an outlet for my pain and anger by teaching me how to fight.
They said I have to fight until the fire inside of me is nothing but dead ashes scattered over the bodies of my enemies.
I only have one enemy.
Hunter Chargill.
I thought I could avoid him. I even tried convincing Dad to let me go to the rival college instead of Trinity Academy, but he wouldn’t hear anything about it. Unfortunately for me, Dad is friends and business partners with Mr. Chargill, Hunter’s dad, who’s the president of Trinity.
Unless I tell Dad the real reason why I want to change schools, but I can’t do that. I never told Dad it was Hunter’s fault Brady committed suicide. Only Grandpa knows. This war is between Hunter and me, and I won’t drag our fathers into it.
So here I am, staring up at The Hope Diamond building I’ll be calling home for the next four years.
Luckily Hunter is a senior, and I only have to survive one year without killing him. I’m not sure it’s possible, though.
HUNTER
Just like my father, I took a year off after school before starting with my studies, and I’m regretting it for the first time. Had I started at the academy right after school, I would’ve been done, and wouldn’t have to face a year of living with Jade.
I walk through the shared space where our living room and the kitchen are. The suites were renovated not too long ago, and the new smell still lingers in the air. There used to be only three bedrooms in the penthouse suite, but after the extensive makeover, there are ten rooms that take up the entire space of the top two floors of The Hope Diamond building. It’s the main dorm on campus. The Pink Star and The Oppenheimer Blue are situated across from our building. Depending on where your family’s wealth and status ranks, you’re allocated a suite in the relevant dorm.
My great grandfather and his two best friends created Trinity Academy and CRC Holdings, where I’ll be taking over as President in a couple of years. It places me at the top of the food chain alongside Jase, Fallon, and Hana.
Being one of the crowned princes at Trinity has its ups and downs. Every girl wants your attention, and every guy wants to be your friend or challenge you.
Fallon steps out of one of the suites, and her brown eyes land on me. A smile forms around her mouth. She’s grown into a beautiful woman. I’ll probably have my hands full this year, keeping all the horny fuckers away from my girls.