Chapter 1

Leah’s POV 

Let me tell you something about walking in on your boyfriend.

There’s this half second, this tiny ridiculous half second where your brain just… refuses.

Like it looks at the information in front of it and goes -nope, that’s not right, let me try again.

Mine tried three times.

The first time I thought I had the wrong room.

The second time I thought maybe I was dreaming.

The third time I realized that was definitely Cole’s voice and those were definitely Cole’s hands and that was definitely not a girl.

Not even close.

Oh.

The word just sat there in my head doing nothing useful.

Oh.

Cole saw me first. Something crossed his face that I’d genuinely never seen before. Not guilt exactly. Something bigger than guilt. Something that looked almost like relief mixed with absolute terror.

The guy with him moved so fast he was basically a blur. Hood up, head down, door in three seconds flat. Impressive honestly. Under different circumstances I might have respected the exit strategy.

And then it was just me and Cole and the specific silence of a moment that was going to change everything.

“Leah—”

“Don’t.” I held up a hand. “Give me a second.”

He went quiet.

I stood there.

My brain was still buffering honestly. Still stuck on that half second loop of -nope, try again, nope, try again.

Thirteen months.

THIRTEEN.

I counted every single one of them standing right there in that doorway.

“How long?” I finally said.

“Leah—”

“I’m not yelling.” And I wasn’t. My voice was eerily calm. “I’m just asking a question Cole. How long.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. “It’s complicated.”

I laughed.

It just came out. This slightly unhinged sound that bounced off the walls and surprised both of us.

Complicated?

He cheated on me with a man and it’s complicated.

“Does he go here?” I asked.

“Leah please—”

“I’m just curious.”

“Can you just—” he stood up, voice dropping. “Can you just let me explain?”

“Explain what exactly?” I leaned against the doorframe because my legs were doing something unreliable. “Which part needs explaining? Pick one. Take your time.”

His jaw tightened. There it was. The familiar shift. The moment Cole Bennett stopped feeling guilty and started feeling cornered. I’d seen it aimed at other people before. Referees. Teammates. Anyone who made him uncomfortable.

Never at me though.

Until now.

“You want to act like this is all my fault?” His voice went cold. “You’ve been checked out for months. Always studying. Always running somewhere. I’ve been invisible to you Leah.”

The word invisible hit weird.

Because that’s what I was before Cole. Invisible. The quiet girl with the good grades and the zero social life until Cole Bennett looked up from across the dining hall fourteen months ago and smiled at me like I was the only person in the room.

I built a whole personality around being seen by him.

God that’s embarrassing.

“So this is my fault,” I said flatly.

“I’m just saying—”

“No I got it.” I pushed off the doorframe and walked to his desk looking for my notes. I needed my notes. I came here for my notes. “Completely my fault. Makes sense.”

“Leah—”

“Where are my Statistics notes Cole.”

“Would you stop—”

“NOTES. Cole.”

He pointed at the drawer. I grabbed them without looking at him.

“You think you’re so much better than everyone.” His voice followed me. “You always have. But nobody actually sees you the way I did. Nobody else is even going to look at you.”

I stopped at the door.

Stood there for exactly one second.

My phone buzzed.

Marcus: *sis don’t forget. Zane needs tutoring today or Coach benches him. You promised. Business Stats. 4pm.*

I stared at the name.

Zane Carter.

Cole’s estranged half brother.

The one name that made Cole’s eye do that specific twitch. The one person he’d spent thirteen months making sure I never properly met. Never properly spoke to. Like he already knew.

Maybe he did.

I typed back.

*Tell him I’ll be there.*

I slid my phone into my pocket and looked back at Cole one last time.

He was standing in the middle of the room looking wrecked and angry and something else I didn’t have the energy to diagnose.

“Nobody’s going to look at me?” I said quietly.

He said nothing.

I smiled. The kind that didn’t reach anywhere.

“Bye Cole.”

The door closes behind me.

I make it to the stairwell before my back hits the wall and I slide down it slowly, knees to my chest, letting the shake move through my hands and out.

I give myself sixty seconds.

Fifty nine.

Fifty eight.

I count all the way down.

Then I stand up and straighten my jacket. 

Cole Bennett just told me nobody would ever notice me.

He has absolutely no idea what he just started.