I knew Declan better than anyone. I knew he was a person of high morals, convictions. If he was cheating on me, it’d be eating away at him. He’d know it was wrong. If he had even one tiny bit of love left for me, he wouldn’t be able to look at me without needing to confess. Eventually, he’d have to tell me everything. That was what I’d been counting on from the start.

And yet, he didn’t.

The next two weeks went on, and it was like living in a fun-house mirror—normal, but distorted in so many ways. We spent time together, watching movies, studying together, doing the things we’d done before, but the mood was off. He’d hold my hand but wouldn’t stroke my palm. He’d kiss me, but never with as much passion as before, as if his lips were there but his mind was somewhere else. He’d tell me he was busy, and I’d compare notes with Kane, and he’d say Luisa had bailed on him then too.

It was maddening.

It was a Saturday night, the first night we’d had alone. His parents were on a date night. Kane and Luisa were having dinner with her parents at their country club, so Declan and I were hanging out in his room. We kissed, hot and heavy, almost like before, but I couldn’t stop think of Luisa being in that very spot. When I reached for his jeans and started to tug the button open, he stopped me.

And I lost it.

Because of course, he hadn’t stopped her.

My hand froze in his. At that moment, I realized the folly of my plan. He was punishing me, playing with me, and I loved him so much that I could do nothing but let him twist me this way and that. I scooted away from him, toward the headboard of the bed, and started to sob.

“Hey,” he said to me, almost back to the old, caring Declan I’d missed so much. He leaned back, watching me cry on his pillow. “What’s wrong?”

I swabbed at my eyes. “You love me, right?”

“Of course,” he said, but was there conviction in those words? It didn’t seem so.

My fingers found the necklace, nestled in the hollow of my throat. I touched it whenever I needed the assurance that Declan and I still meant something. I was doing it constantly now. The skin underneath was red and irritated. “And we’re still going to be together. Forever?”

He just nodded and wiped a tear off my cheek. I wanted more reassurance. I needed it. But even if he had sworn up and down, any comfort he gave me wouldn’t be enough. “What’s the problem?”

I shrugged. “Nothing. I’m stressed, I guess. College worries, you know.”