She had to choose fucking Jason.

I always hated that guy, mister “Runs the Debate Club Even Though He’s A Few Years Older than the High School Girls.” Bet he did it just to creep on Olive. My Olive, although right now she claims otherwise.

Fuck no.

I’m getting her back.

And the little girl … Lark.

I might be a father. I’m too exhausted to be angry. After all the time I’ve waited … here she is with another man—and a baby girl that could possibly be mine. The timing is right.

Olive needs to know that no matter what, I’ll take care of her. Both of them.

I have to get her back.

I hop on my motorcycle and drive. Before long I’m getting honked at by some small-dicked trucker behind me because I’m lost in thought, my mind on more important things than the goddamn fast lane.

Turning to the left quickly and circling back around, I go back to Olive’s.

She has to listen to me. She can’t be so indifferent, so hateful, when I’d been so in love. I refuse to believe it.

I turn and stop at a street somewhere before her house. I pull out my phone, wondering if I should call her again.

To my surprise, I have a text.

There’s no way of knowing how Selena got my number, but I don’t object. I open my phone again and look at the text, trying to make sure I am at the right place.

Based on the white gazebo and the flowers adorning the place, I’m pretty sure this is the right place, but there might be other chapels nearby.

Nope. The numbers on the door match up with the ones on my phone.

They are having a dress rehearsal today. The wedding is in two days.

So I have less than forty-eight hours to enact my plan. Fuck that. And fuck the fact that smug Jason and all those other dudes are wearing suits. I get on just fine without having to dress up, thank you very fucking much.

Walking the path feels weird, but I don’t let it show. I open the door, expecting to see groups of people all lined up in rows to see my beautiful girl prepare to marry the wrong man. But the place is empty.

This is weird. I don’t know how to feel about it. I need to chill out and stop assuming the worst, but, fuck …

It’s in my nature to be a jackass.

Olive would never consider marrying this fuck if I hadn’t run off to accept a boxing contract. And everything that has happened is my goddamn fault.

I knew I’d break her heart by leaving.

I knew I’d break it more if I kissed her before I left.

And in the end, I didn’t just kiss her. I slept with her. I took her virginity. And I disappeared the next day.

Nothing I do now will make that better. I’m such a jackass.

And while boxing has done well for me, it just doesn’t compare to her. Sure, the money’s great, and having women is nice, but I can do without the money, and the girls are just extras.

It’s Olive I need.

I have to restrain myself from punching the shitty walls as I walk past.

The room is large and airy, a sense of foreboding in the air. Like a storm is about to roll in, and only I can stop it. There’s an organ in the far corner, a sheet covering half of it, as if it was either just taken out or put away without a single fuck given. A stack of chairs and a few tables are scattered around, none of them set.

Good. I hope they never will be.

I make my way through the room looking for any sign of my beautiful bookish girl, my Olive.

Then I see it—skin on skin.

What the fuck?

I squint, taking in the scene before me. It’s a couple, and they are taking off each other’s clothes in a frenzy. I try to make out their features.

Jason?

I only recognize his face because of how hard I wanted to hit him the last time I saw him, kissing on Olive like she was his property or some shit. That etched his ugly mug in my brain.

And the girl …

It comes back to me in a flash.

I’d forgotten all about that party. The night that followed was enough memory for me.

But the flash of hair and the too-glossed lips now kissing Jason’s shoulder. I bet she still has the same bitchy tone when she talks down to people she deems unworthy of her presence.

Fucking Becky.

Well, actually, Jason fucking Becky.

I can’t see much from here, so I move closer. Might as well get the best view I can.

I’m so angry, I see red. And tones of pink. Flesh. They’re clinging to each other, their panting breaths and sex noises filling the room where seconds earlier there was only silence.

I want to break his douche face in, to defend Olive.

Instead, I clutch my fists at my side and breathe deeply. I have to be the better man. I have to leave, right the fuck now, before I do something I’ll regret.

Taking a step back, I pause for a second to think.

Olive needs to know he’s an unfaithful dickhead, but there’s no way she will believe me over Jason.

So I take out my phone, snap a picture of them, and stick my phone back in my pocket. Then I go searching.

Eventually, I find Selena, standing with her hair up in rows as she pins flowers to them.

“Selena,” I say darkly. “I have to talk to you. I just …”

And it is then that I see her—Olive’s daughter.

She’s standing behind Selena, peeking around her hip. She’s so cute, with an upturned nose and freckles all over her cheeks just like Olive.

Selena finally notices me and crosses her arms protectively in front of her body, shielding the little girl from my eyes. “What the hell, Axel?” she says. “You’re supposed to be with Olive by now. You’re late!”

“Wait.” I raise my hands in defense, wanting to tell her what I just saw.

“Don’t you dare say a word.” Selena ushers Lark aside and picks up a practice bouquet made of fake flowers.

“Jason’s cheating on her,” I hiss, trying to be casual about it but I’m so desperate, I just blurt it out. Before she can deny it, I yank my phone out of my pocket to show her. She covers her eyes, and I stop.

“I don’t want to see.” Her voice breaks.

So she knew.

“Selena, I just saw them together,” I finally manage to get out. “Doing it minutes before the goddamn rehearsal dinner.”

“Shut up!” Selena grabs me by my shirt and gives Lark a comforting look. “Auntie Selena will be right back, okay, darling?”

Lark nods doubtfully, and my heart screams at me to comfort the child, make her feel better. But Selena’s already dragged me outside, pressed me against a wall in the hallway and is shouting in my face.

“Of course I knew, jackass. Why’d you think I was so desperate for you to see Olive? She needs to know, but I can’t tell her.” She pushes on my chest then turns away, hiding her face in her hands. “I don’t know how to deal with this.”

“You have to tell her,” I insist. “Wouldn’t you want to know if your fiancé was screwing some random girl from high school behind your back?”

“What?” A choked whisper comes from behind us.

Selena and I stare at each other, and I can only assume all the color has drained from my face as it has from hers. Slowly, so fucking slowly, I turn around to find Olive standing in front of me.

Fuck. She heard everything.

And she looks beautiful, in a gorgeous floral dress that shows off her dainty features. Her hair’s up, and it makes me want to kiss her neck, mark it.

“Olive, you look …” I start with a shaky voice, but she holds out a hand to stop me, her bottom lip trembling. It hurts so fucking much to see her this way.

“Is it true?” she asks.

Selena and I are both quiet.

“Is it fucking true?” Olive repeats, her voice shrill.

Finally, Selena steps in front of me. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” she says. And Olive whimpers softly. Selena reaches for her, but Olive turns and runs out.

“Fuck,” I curse under my breath. “I’ve ruined everything again.”