“Ah hell,” Robbie blurts.

“What? What is it?” I grab his phone, too nervous to care about manners.

Then I wish I hadn’t been so abrupt and let Robbie prepare me for the image on his screen.

Alistair and Nadine kissing.

“What the hell!” I say.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, sweetie. Not everything is as it seems in this town.”

“How is that viper shoving her tongue down Alistair’s throat not what it seems?” I shriek.

“If you look closely at his expression, he doesn’t seem into it. Maybe she jumped him.”

I return his phone, not wanting to look at the picture for another second. My eyes are already tearing up anyway.

“I can’t believe this,” I say.

A moment later, Robbie touches my lower back. “Don’t cry, Chiara.”

“I’m not crying,” I reply through a choke. “You must think I’m an idiot, huh?”

“Why would I think that?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe because a relationship between a teacher and a student never ends well.”

“I’m sure there’s an explanation. Check your phone. Maybe he called.”

“Help me find my purse.”

A minute later, I’m looking at the black screen of my phone. It died sometime last night. Robbie has a different phone than mine, so I can’t use his charger, which means I won’t know for sure if Alistair tried to contact me until I get back home.

For now, I have to deal with the heartache that won’t go away.

ALISTAIR

I’m in front of Chiara’s apartment first thing in the morning. Apparently, I haven’t learned my lesson. I stay in my truck though, waiting for her to appear. She has to go to school. I didn’t try calling her again because by now, she must have seen the pictures of Nadine kissing me. It’s all over the internet, which surprises me, to be honest, as I’m no longer a hot commodity in Hollywood, and Nadine was never a star.

The ping of an incoming text makes me look down at my phone.

ENZO: You’d better not be stalking your girlfriend.

I groan and toss the phone aside. Fuck off, Enzo.

Movement ahead catches my attention. I recognize Phillip’s truck. Then the surprise comes. Chiara climbs out of the vehicle wearing yesterday’s clothes.

Fuck me. Did she spend the night with him?

I’m out of the truck before I can put my thoughts in order, blind jealousy coursing through my veins.

Phillip drives off before I finish crossing the street. It’s for the best. In my current mood, I could have very well committed another insane act.

Chiara freezes by the curb when she sees me coming over. There’s an initial shock on her part, right before her gaze turns murderous.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you.”

She crosses her arms and glowers harder. “I’m not sure I’m interested in what you have to say.”

I glance at the front of the building, knowing it’s only a matter of time until a student from DuBose walks out and catches us having a heated argument.

“Can we please go somewhere so we can talk?”

“Fine.”

I maintain a safe distance from her as we walk over to my truck. It’s bad enough that we’re once again going somewhere together in my vehicle, but I can’t leave all our unresolved issues alone to fester and become worse.

Inside the car, the silence feels like a third passenger. It’s heavy, uncomfortable, almost tangible. I don’t break it, not while I’m parked in front of Chiara’s apartment in broad daylight. I drive off, putting the pedal to the metal.

“Where are you taking me? I have class in an hour,” she says.

“Nowhere specifically. I’ll bring you back in time.” I sigh, preparing myself. “Listen, about the picture you must have seen already. That was a setup.”

She scoffs. “Convenient excuse.”

“It’s the truth. Nadine is trying to get on a reality TV show, and she thinks dragging the divorce out will give her a better shot at it. She had the paparazzi waiting for us outside the restaurant and jumped me.”

“You could have pushed her off.”

“I did, in the next second. I tried calling you last night. I didn’t want you to find out via the tabloids, but your phone was switched off.”

“Yeah, it died at Robbie’s.”

“Oh, you spent the night at Robbie’s, then.”

“Yeah. You saw Phillip drop me off, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

She sighs heavily. “Alistair, there’s nothing going on between Phillip and me. What you saw yesterday was me trying to help a friend. Jillian suspects that Phillip is gay, and he’s not ready to come out yet.”

“I’m sorry, Chiara. I’m a hot-blooded male. I’m not going to be happy to see you kiss another guy, even if it’s just pretense.”

“It’s the same for me.”