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Chapter One

“Why did I come? Why am I here? I should have said no,” Michelle muttered under her breath as she pushed open the double doors and stepped into her old high school’s gymnasium

She brushed her dalanced around looking for direction

She already wished she had followed her first instinct and avoided this event as if it were a contagious disease She no longer had anything in common with these people She still wasn’t sure how her once best friend, Dee Peterson, had talked her into attending their ten-year high school reunion In her ten-year-old for senior proain She felt like a fool She was pretty sure she was a fool Why else would she have agreed to this?

The entire gym was decorated the way it had been ten years before—from the purple and silver balloons to the copious white strealing fro The thee white banner above the stage One Starry Night Who had thought this was a good idea? A proled to keep her eyes fro

She had been glad to leave the cliques of high school behind She hadn’t knoho she was back then, but she had a pretty good handle on what she stood for now And she was no longer the scared little folloho’d done anything and everything Dee Peterson asked of her Well sort of She was here at Dee’s whim after all Apparently, old habits died hard But maybe she hadn’t come because Dee had pleaded with her Maybe she’d coh school had becoroup of mean bitches she’d allowed to rule her social life all those years ago

Michelle walked up to the reception table and hunted for her nanized several na to the collection of jocks and cheerleaders who she’d once considered her best friends One name in particular jumped out at her He’d been soh school and, therefore, recruited by an enthusiastic football coach—but he’d spent eeks than his teauessed he hadn’t had the sah school

Sedric Lionheart She was surprised he’d even consider attending Michelle glanced up at the attendant The s woman looked fae didn’t ring any real bells

“Is Sedric Lionheart really attending?” He happened to be the er of the metal band Sinners

“He’s on thewith Jake Tremaine”

Michelle’s cheeks went hot She wasn’t sure how Claudia knew that she’d be interested in seeing Jake Or inity, her sanity, her hold on propriety Jake—the guy who’d fucked her body right and done her heart wrong No one knew that she’d ht or how hot that guy had once made her Did they? How could they know? Neither she nor Jake had wanted their secret out She was too goodie goodie to run with his crowd and he was toowith hers, but dear Lord when they’d been alone together… There had been more than sparks between them Their tryst had been an insatiable inferno And she had definitely gotten burned in the end

Michelle hadn’t seen Jake since graduation, when he’d pretty s to do than her And she wasn’t sure she wanted to see him now Part of her wanted to knohat he’d done with his life Another part was afraid those old wounds would reopen and burn her again She’d been over him for a while now, but it hadn’t been easy Their breakup had likely changed the entire course of her life And, unfortunately, she’d yet to find a lover that made her burn the way he had, so she still couy And, she couldn’t lie, that really ticked her off

“Oh, I figured everyone already knew about the connection,” Claudia said

Connection? That was a nice way to put it Shit Maybe Michelle should flee now before she uy she had never ad

“Jake’s a roadie for Sed’s band,” Claudia continued “So they’ll probably co in Europe now”

Michelle’s breath came out in a whoosh So Claudia didn’t know about her affair with Jake Not that it mattered much now, but in her popular-crowd teen years, she hadn’t wanted anyone to kno a troublehs And all the while she’d shainal cheerleaders She re kicked off the squad and so that preppy cheerleading uniform all the hotter

She found Jake’s badge in the lineup right below hers, but it was the badge resting above hers that she touched with bitter regret Devlin McAllister The sweetest boy she’d ever known He’d asked her to prom in front of all her friends and she’d had to turn hiently, she recalled If he’d have asked her in private, she’d have been ht have even asked hio with the football tealy done her duty as vice squad leader and Dee’s fuckingthe scene and had heard Devlin ask her, she’d shredded hi so When she’d tried to apologize to him later, he’d avoided her Not that she blamed him She would have avoided seventeen-year-old-Michelle too She’d been horrible to people And not just to Devlin It made her sick to her stomach to think of how mean she’d been to sooddamned spine and stand up for what she believed in? She doubted she’d ever figure out the answer to that question

“Was I ever h school?” she asked Claudia