Heartbreak was a real motivator when it came to hatred. 

I was officially in a war with UCM basketball captain Kalen Rush—and he had no idea who I was. 

It didn't take long to find the asshole who I'd slapped just hours earlier by combing through Colby's photos online and following the trail from there. 

According to his social media, Kalen Rush was a twenty-one year old basketball prodigy and came from an affluent family—and his last name was annoyingly familiar.  

Maybe my dad had complained about them in his shop before...

Regardless of his last name, however, his social media presence was squeaky clean, and it looked like he was vying for 'most popular college basketball player' award with how many followers he had. 

Prick.

"Who are you stalking on your phone over there?"

Hiding my phone from view, Francesca "Franny" Hart peered over my shoulder while I tried to hide the evidence of what I was actually doing from my best friend. 

"No one!  I'm just...searching up our professors on social media, to see how they might act in class."

Franny scrunched up her button nose and wrinkled her blue eyes in amusement, tossing her midnight dyed black hair over her shoulder while eyeing me with a teasing remark just dancing on the tip of her tongue. 

"Nerd.  College isn't going to change you a bit, apparently."

"Apparently," I somehow squeaked out of my throat that was tightening with the strength to hold back where I'd gone before orientation and who exactly I'd seen there. 

Franny balled up a few pairs of her underwear and stuffed it into the top drawer of her new dresser in our shared dorm room that we'd requested the moment we found out we'd both been accepted to UCM, early decision.

"Colby's going to a party tonight and he invited us.  He said it's mostly going to be upperclassmen there though, so we probably won't see any of the people we met at orientation today."

"I don't know, Fran..."

"No!  Come on, this isn't back home anymore.  You don't have to deal with worrying your dad by being out late.  You don't have homework due yet, and you're not breaking any rules.  Please, just this once, can you let go and do something fun?  Just once?"

The high pitched ringtone of my phone interrupted what I'd just been about to tell Franny, but glancing at the unknown number displayed on the screen, I quickly silenced the call and tried not to think about the person on the other end of the phone, wherever she may be.

"You know what?  A party sounds like a great idea to me."

I turned my phone off after the number called back a second time.

***

Thirty minutes into the frat party, and I already wanted to leave. 

In retrospect, I hadn't wanted to attend in the first place, but I felt obligated to give my best friend an actual college experience that wasn't steeped in studying and the tears of academic stress.

My best friend, who'd partied her way through high school and still managed a 3.5 GPA, however, was currently in a darkened corner with an upperclass girl hanging off her every word and I was left alone watching the train wreck in front of me with cold detachment billowing off of me. 

I could only imagine the 'stay away' vibes I was giving off considering each and every guy who'd even glanced my way had immediately turned the other way and walked off.

It probably didn't help that I was wearing jeans and a black long sleeved fitted shirt whereas everyone else was dressed as provocatively as possible.  

I couldn't have cared less about this party, however, so dressing up was not a priority for me. 

It also didn't help that I'd spotted Colby the moment we'd entered and he'd scooped me up into a bear hug right along with his little sister and had slithered away into the arms of the very same girl I'd caught him with in his room earlier that day. 

In that moment, two things happened simultaneously—Colby glanced over at me in the corner and waved, an ear-splitting grin that used to warm me from the inside out, so similar to his sister's smile that it had always brought me comfort when I needed a little familiarity in my life. 

I was just returning his wave when a presence washed over me, Colby's face pulling taut as his girlfriend tried to get his attention, but it was on me instead—or the person looming over me like a demon of my past.

"Can I help you?"

I knew it must've pissed him off to not even look up at him, instead choosing to glance over at Franny and, upon finding her tongue deep in the girl she was talking up earlier, deciding to avert my eyes to my water bottle in my hands.

"Yeah.  You're standing in front of the door to the bathroom."

His voice was still as caustic and unbothered as before, except in the pounding bass of the party, it had taken a deeper, louder, more authoritative tone.

Without looking back up, I slid a little to the left to give him access to the door that I was apparently standing in front of and hoped that he felt the hatred flowing off of me in waves. 

He chose instead to slide directly in front of me, standing in my line of sight and staring down at me while I refused to meet his eyes. 

"Gracie, isn't it?"

Huffing out a breath, I tilted my head back finally to find his piercing silvery grey gaze upon me. 

"Yes."

I only hoped my voice was as unaffected as I'd intended for it to come out, because his proximity was doing strange things to the pattern of my heartbeats. 

"Just a little advice," he began, leaning down enough so that my average height would be compensated for in comparison to his well over six-foot stature. 

"Colby over there?  He's got a new girl on his lap every other week, so I wouldn't take it personal."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion, actually, but thanks anyway."

The scent of his cologne was blocking out the stale beer and his face was shielding me from the view of gyrating frat boys and if I was being honest with myself, he really needed to get out of my space before I started feeling so bad about myself and my current love life that I'd do something very stupid and un-Gracie like. 

Like turn my phone back on and answer the unknown calls coming through and get the hell out of this college town, or call the admissions officer at the higher rated state school that I'd turned down so I could be with Colby.

And look how well that turned out for me...

"You didn't want my advice, but you needed it.  You were looking a little pathetic out here all by yourself, Williams."

"I don't remember giving you my last name, Rush."

The wolfish grin that pulled apart his features and stitched them back together like an ethereal thousand piece puzzle made the rest of the party fade away into the background, like I wasn't standing in a puddle of lukewarm beer and some unknown soda mixed in with it. 

Like Colby wasn't on the outskirts of the party with some new girl of the week, probably ignoring how his captain was towering over me for simply standing a little bit in front of a bathroom door. 

"Oh, so I wasn't the only one who went looking for information then, huh?  What else did you find out about me?"

"Enough to make me want to never speak to you again."

Angling his head to the side so that his midnight hair swept outwards, his mocking smirk was still on his face as he pointed to the cheek that I'd slapped earlier in the day, a faint pink print still there. 

My own cheeks flamed as I realized how hard I must've had to hit him in order for it to leave a lasting mark. 

Any guilt over the action, however, dissipated as he kept pointing to it with his finger and raised his eyebrows as if trying to tempt me to slap him again. 

"What, no slap this time?"

He leaned forward into my personal space, and I held my breath as his lips met my ear. 

"Try it again and I won't be so nice next time, got it jailbait?"

"Call me jailbait again, and we'll see how nice I'll be next time.  Got it, asshole?"

Pulling away quick as a cobra, Kalen Rush eyed me with a knowing gleam in his eye, laughing internally at a joke that I was somehow the punchline of even if I didn't know what the set-up was. 

"We'll see about that, Williams.  Have fun watching your little boyfriend make out with my ex over there."

He was gone as quickly as he appeared, and the asshole didn't even go to the bathroom, he'd just used that as an excuse to come up and bother me. 

Considering he got the last word, I would have to give him that battle, but the war was far from over between us. 

Glancing over at where Colby had been, I found his eyes on me but his hands buried in that girl's hair.  His captain's ex-girlfriend, apparently.

I'd suddenly decided frat parties were definitely not for me. 

Making a beeline for Franny, however, I found that she'd abandoned the last spot I'd seen her and the atmosphere of the party was doing strange things to my head.  Things that made me want to march up to Colby and demand things from him that I had no right to demand. 

We weren't anything, and we'd only ever been one spectacular, magical kiss.  Maybe to him, it was just something he'd given me out of pity.

I didn't want to be someone's charity case any longer.  I'd had enough of that growing up to last a lifetime.

Making a resolution to text Franny and have her meet me outside, I maneuvered through the sweaty crowd as the loneliness settled upon me so heavily it felt like I might've imploded from it if not from the fresh air that the outside gave me in reprieve. 

I pulled the phone out of my pocket and turned it back on. 

Opening it, I was just about to click on my best friend's contact when the number flashed across the screen again. 

Unknown caller. 

My fingers shook as I held the phone out, head darting back and forth to make sure Franny and Colby weren't anywhere near me somehow before I made my decision, but it was only a drunken girl puking on the driveway and her date holding her hair back outside with me, no sign of the two most important people in my life that I'd grown up with to stop me from making what was sure to be a monumental mistake. 

I suddenly felt like making a mistake was exactly what I should be doing in that moment.

Franny would hate me for doing this, but Colby?  He'd be absolutely livid, if the last time I'd done this was any indication—his big brother instincts forcing himself to try to protect me.

I didn't want protection this time, though.

Especially not if he was the one providing it.

I didn't ignore the call this time. 

***

Author's Note:

What did you think of this chapter?

This story will be updating once weekly from here on out, for the foreseeable future!

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on these two characters, their love story, and what's next to come for this story!

Until next time my lovely readers,
Kristen :)