You and Rafe had ended things pretty badly last summer, an argument turned into something deeper—which ultimately led you to break things off.

It didn’t sting the first day, it almost felt like you two were still attached, but when you checked your phone, his name wasn’t there telling you good morning, his warm touch ran cold, no one was there anymore.

That made it a little more real.

And then, he blocked you, on everything. That finally made your heart crack in half, spilling open and it was almost for certain that it wouldn’t ever heal back. But it did, slowly, it melted itself back together into something like the heart you once had. But then she came.

Skin like puff pastry, smart and sexy at the same time—she was everything you weren’t. She was your Lacy, and it opened the wound again, the one that took an eternity to heal.

Rafe’s arm was draped around her, and she was laughing about something he said, her perfect white teeth flashing through her smile. Her smile. It was so beautiful it hurt, it actually pained you to look at.

She quite literally had everything you didn’t.

God, wasn’t she just the sweetest little thing on this side of hell? Your stomach churned and twisted, and you felt nauseous as you tore your eyes off them, your heart thumping.

You didn’t just despise her. But you despised how your body tensed when she walked, as if she were some kind of queen. You despised how insecure you felt, even though she was meters away. It hurt, and it hurt bad.

Your eyes flashed over to Rafe, who just so happened to look up at you at the same exact moment. His gaze softened for a brief moment, as if he was reliving everything you two had been through.

Then he looked away, Lacy grabbing his attention again—hypnotizing him, drowning him in her beauty.

I see you everywhere. The sweetest torture one could bear.