Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

This is not the first time I'm pretending to be a girl's boyfriend, things didn't turn out so well the last time I did this but that's mostly because I was stoned and the girl's parents decided to say shit about my tattoos.

Here's the thing, I know I'm only eighteen and people regret certain decisions as they grow but I don't think I'll ever regret the tattoos, they're a part of my grown and they somehow feel like... Therapy.

Having people say stupid things about them pisses me off, so yeah, of course I pulled out a couple of curse words which left them slack jawed and no, I have no regrets.

I know something dramatic is gonna happen at this meet up too but I still pass through the gates.

I slow down my bike, taking in the large estate.

Fucking hell.

I reach the circular driveway, parking my bike next to a black Bugatti Veyron.

This fucking driveway is like a luxury car collection.

There's that Tesla Luke Richardson drove last year, a red Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Cassandra's pink BMW i8, two black Range Rover SUVs that could escort the president, a yellow Porsche and a white Maserati MC20.

I take out my phone to snap a picture of the Maserati.

Diego would practically sell his soul for this car.

I take the picture, sending it to Diego as I walk towards the entrance which is guarded by two large men in Black suits.

A message pops up on my screen from an unknown number.

"Hey."

My first thought is that it's from Diego but he never texts shit like 'hey' and he definitely wouldn't use another number.

"Who's this?" I respond, standing in front of the two large men at the door.

"Olivia."

I flex my jaw at the name.

The fucking audacity.

My thumb lingers on the keyboard, a thousand replies swimming around in my head.

Honestly, I don't know what to say to her and I definitely don't want her to explain herself cause her explanation would make me feel so much more stupid than I already do.

"Sorry. Wrong number." I replay, shoving my phone back in my front pocket and facing the two men.

"Hey, I'm here for Cassandra?" I look between them.

"Name?" Asks the one on the left as he tilts his head to his side and eyes me with narrowed eyes.

"Jace Rodriguez." I sigh at my own name, he jerks his head towards the entrance in response, signaling me to go in.

I enter the gigantic house, taking everything in at once.

The checkered floors, chandelier hanging in the ceiling, east and west wing and the furniture is either black or white.

Sometimes, I sit alone in silence, smoking a joint and I think about how the fuck I'm gonna get rich.

Now, I'm gonna think about how I'm gonna get this rich.

"Pretty lips!" Cassandra shouts excitedly at the top of the stairs.

I look up at her as she rushes down the stairs and a warm smile spreads on my face.

She's wearing a short Yellow sundress, barefoot, her golden hair straightened.

She gets to the bottom of the stairs and launches to me, wrapping her arms around my neck while I close mine around her waist.

She smells so fucking nice though.

"God, I thought you were gonna bail on me." She pulls away, looking relieved.

"We had a deal, Cassie, I would never." I stare at her everywhere.

"Cass, not Cassie." She corrects me.

"I think I prefer Cassie." I say.

I hear the door open behind me, Cass looks over my shoulder and scrunches her face in disgust.

I turn around, standing next to her.

My eyes land on a guy in a very expensive looking suit with a flashy smile and well combed blond hair. He has a tall, skinny, model looking brunette woman walking beside him and they look like they just jumped out of a spy movie.

"Cassandra." He eyes her in a rather disinterested manner.

"Wesley." She responds in the same tone, "Always a pleasure to see you." She forces a smile, clearly lying, he doesn't respond, he and his friend just march passed us and climb the stairs.

"Who's the asshole?" I whisper to her.

"That's my older brother Wesley, if you think he's an asshole then you should meet Luke." She links her arm through mine and leads me somewhere.

"This place makes me nervous, man, it's too fucking huge." I look around us as we go.

"This is nothing, we were once invited to a governor's house in Washington and I had to text Luke to come and find me when I went to the bathroom." She tells me as we walk through the glass doors to the backyard.

There's a table full of different kind of food placed bedside the kidney shaped pool and there are only two people sitting there, chatting and laughing.

Coincidentally, I know the two people.

"No fucking way." I half laugh as we approach the table.

Reign is the first one to notice us, she nudges Luke's shoulder, jutting her chin in our direction. He turns his head to look and... let's just say he's never liked me and I've never cared.

"What's up, motherfuckers." I pull the chair across them, sitting down and pulling Cass to sit on my lap cause I know that will piss him off a little bit more.

"Cass, what the fuck?" He ignores me completely, Cass shrugs her shoulders in response.

"Hi, Jace, you look taller." Reign smiles at me.

"And you still look fuckable even after getting a boyfriend." I say, winking at her. Luke glares at me. "Relax, man, geez, I got my princess right here." I kiss Cassandra's shoulder.

He rolls his eyes before standing up, walking around the table, grabbing his sister's arm and dragging her inside the house.

I'm guessing to lecture her about why she's going out with someone like me.

He needs to take a chill pill.

I move to sit where he was sitting next to Reign.

"Still got the pink hair, huh." I touch a strand of her hair.

"Jace, why are you here?" She asks with a sigh, knowing pretty well that my reason is fucking crazy.

Reign and I weren't all that close but we talked at times and our conversations were somewhat real compared to any conversation I had with my close friends. I liked rambling stuff to her and she liked listening.

"I'm dating a Richardson." I shrug.

"You broke up with Sandra again, didn't you?" She rolls her eyes at me.

"Yes, but it's for good this time."

"Man, you always say that and I don't think you've noticed but that's Luke's little sister, he's gonna fucking kill you if you break her heart," she says, "Remember the Damian incident from last year?" She says that like what I'm supposed to know.

"What Damian incident?" My brows snap together in confusion.

"Luke found-" she cuts herself off then she sighs, "Nevermind, just don't fuck with her feelings, she's a little sensitive."

"I'm not going to, she just asked me to be here so her Mom won't ask questions about her ex boyfriend." I say honestly.

"Oh."

"Yep."

"So if not Cass, then who?" She questions.

"No one, there was this girl, a Junior, but she played me." I tap the golden fork on the table.

"The breaker of hearts got played by a fucking junior?" She releases a hysterical laughter, "What's her name?" She grips my shoulder, still laughing.

"Doesn't matter." I shrug off her hand.

"Oh, c'mon, say it." She pokes my cheek, trying to annoy me even more.

I sigh.

"Olivia." I roll my eyes at the name, "Conner." I emphasize.

She quits laughing and widens her eyes at me.

"Dude, no, I told you not to go there." Her tone turns serious.

"Go where?" I wrinkle my face, staring at her.

"Olivia? You promised me you wouldn't try anything with her." She says.

"The fuck are you talking about?"

"Oh my God," She groans, throwing her head back in frustration. "You worthless piece of shit, don't tell me you don't remember."

"Don't remember what?" I scratch my head, trying to keep up with this conversation.

"Last year, Ariana's costume party, I asked you to look after a girl who was wearing a Sabrina costume, you called her Sabrina the entire night and you told me you regretted doing that and wanted to apologise but I didn't want you anywhere near her so I declined." She reminds me.

I remember that night.

I held that girl's hand the entire night, she barely said anything which was a little satisfying cause most girls are always trying to chat me up but she just looked like she wanted to go home and never attend a party ever again.

I remember telling myself I liked how I caught her blue eyes staring at me when I wasn't looking.

Blue eyes.

"No." I rub my forehead.

"Yes." Reign nods.

"That was Olivia?" I ask.

"No, it was Sabrina." She snorts a laugh.

"Shit." I utter, "Why didn't she say anything." I ask myself.

"Probably because you have a shit memory and she didn't wanna waste her breath, I don't wanna know how she played you but you fucking deserved it." She leans back in her chair, I scoff, feeling speechless.

She can be really mean sometimes.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not the one marrying into this fucking high class family." I fire back lamely.

"Luke and I are dating, we're not engaged. I don't even wanna be here, I'm just here cause the only person I give a shit about had to be here." She points out, "Dad would be so proud." She mutters underneath her tone, I turn my head to look at her with furrowed brows.

"What?"

"Nothing." She huffs, I blink twice, trying not to think anything of it.

Cassandra and Luke walk out the back door, she's laughing while talking but he still looks pissed off, he looks even more pissed off when he sees me sitting next to his girlfriend.

"Fuck off." He grits out when they reach the table.

"You fuck off." I respond.

"I'm sorry, what'd you say?" He asks like he wants me to say it again, I glance at Cassandra, she shakes her head, telling me not to.

I raise to my feet, standing in front of him, looking him in the eye as he glares back into mine.

I 'accidentally' bump into his shoulder as I walk around the table to sit beside Cass.

He takes his seat, still glaring at me. Reign leans in to whisper something in his ear, he averts his eyes from me to stare at her face the way guys stare at girls in romcoms, fucking clichés, then he puts on this big grin and she kisses him on the lips.

Oh for fucks sake.

I roll my eyes, twisting my head to Cass who's smiling at them.

"You know they used to hate the shit out of each other?" I shift in my seat, she brings her attention to me with that smile still on her face.

"Well, there's a thin line between love and hate." She tells me, "I just hate that he found the love of his life before me." She looks back at them.

I'm about to respond to her when I hear voices approaching, we all turn heads to look.

Cassandra's brother and his model friend and another woman who looks ridiculously fabulous make their way to the table.

The woman is blonde, slim, beautiful and stylish.

I'm guessing she's the Mom.

Should we stand and bow?

God, I've been watching too much Game of thrones.

"Luke, sweetheart, I'm so glad you made it." She says as pulls a chair at the far end of the table and takes a seat.

"Reign actually forced me to come but yeah, whatever." He responds in a blunt tone, his Mom looks between them with a fake smile before shifting her gaze to me.

"Cassandra, who's your friend?" She tilts her head, staring at me, specifically at the tattoos scattered on my arm.

"My boyfriend's name is Jace, mom." Cass places her hand on the back of my chair.

"Boyfriend? You broke up with Jake?" She doesn't sound surprised.

"This is not the time." Cass shakes her head at her Mom, basically shutting her up.

Wow, I wish I had that kind of power.

"Okay, then, let's eat." The woman puts on that annoying fake smile again as she rubs her hands together.

Reign and I exchange a glance, she bites her lip, stifling a laugh while I actually let out a small chuckle.

I stare at all the unnecessary food at the table.

Pancakes, french toast, cinnamon rolls, fruits, salads, pastries, donuts, muffins, turkey, three champagne bottles, orange juice, water and I don't know what those other dishes are but they look weird as fuck, either way, this brunch thing is fire.

There's this awkward tension going on and people choose to engage in small talk rather than the amazing food.

Don't mind if I do.

I start putting all the familiar stuff on my plate.

"Hey, is it true that you quit football because of an injury?" I hear Cass ask in a low tone.

People have to stop bringing that up.

"Yeah, why?" I bite on a donut with a lot of sprinkles on it.

"Hallways say you were one of the best players on the field, it's so fucked up that no one planned a fairwell party or something." She says, I half laugh.

"What fairwell? I'm not fucking transferring schools." I chew slowly.

"You left the team, Jace, you deserve to be celebrated." She says.

I cringe.

"Is this the part where we kiss?" I take another bite, smiling at her.

"Don't change the subject," she brings her hand to my face, wiping something from the corner of my lip with her thumb.

"What'd you want me to say?" I raise my shoulders.

"I want you to let me throw you a massive party before I leave for New York." She leans her elbow on the table, letting her hand support the side of her head.

"New York?" I place the donut on the plate, leaning back and staring at her face with curiosity.

"Runway thing." She informs, I nod in understanding.

"Cassie, if you want to throw a party then throw a party, don't do it on my account." I shake my head.

"Oh c'mon, it'll be a good opportunity to show your ex that you won me over." She wiggles her brows playfully, I smile from ear to ear.

"I hate that you know the right buttons to press." I laugh, she giggles.

"Is it just me or is there like a big fucking elephant in the room." Her asshole brother in the expensive suit speaks.

"We're outside, dummy." Cass remarks sarcastically.

"Metaphor, princess." He says in a mocking tone.

"Humor, fuck face." She shows him the finger.

"Cassandra." The mom warns.

"You wanna tell Wesley what the big fucking elephant is or should I?" She's literally threatening her Mother.

"Please, fill me in." Wesley gets comfortable in his seat.

"Don't." The mom raises her index finger in Cassandra's direction.

"Grandpa left sixty something million dollars and a bunch of hotels in Luke's name but daddy hid them from him and Luke found out and claimed those things so Daddy got mad and cut him off for life." She explains with a sweet smile, "Oh and Mom doesn't like Luke's girlfriend for some fucked up reason." She adds, tossing a grape in her mouth.

"Sixty million dollars? How do I not know about this?" Wesley's eyes pop out of their sockets.

I don't even know what the shit they're talking about but it's so entertaining.

"I have a flight to Washington," The mom wipes her mouth before standing up even though she didn't eat anything, "Cassandra, please don't forget about the New York show your father got you into." She pleads with her daughter.

"Nepotism at its best." Luke mumbles.

"Where would you all be without it?" The mom looks amongst her children then she leaves the table.

Is this what rich people do? Talk about money and power and fake smile at each other and act all jealous at other people's success?

Luke looks at his brother and plasters a villainous smirk.

"C'mon, baby, let's get out of here." Wesley literally knocks over his chair when he stands up and stomps off the same way my little sister Luna does when I don't give her ice cream.

Fucking immature.

"Wow, and here I was, thinking my family was fucking extra." I say with a laugh.

"Right?" Reign bursts out laughing.