Chapter 8 "Shayne." I finally turned, locking on his bloodshot eyes. "Does explaining now even matter? "You had eight years-plenty of chances to love me right. Instead, you treated me like a dog you could whistle for or kick away. "And now that I'm done simping, suddenly you're the one freaking out?" He stumbled like the words knocked the air out of him. The Chat Feed exploded: [Holy crap! Ley just murdered him with that line!] [She's not wrong though. Where was Shay before all this?] [Still... he's clearly wrecked now. Couldn't she give him one more shot?] I didn't even glance his way. Just raised a hand and grabbed a cab. As the door shut, I caught one last glimpse through the window- the same guy who once strutted around like he owned the world, now crouched on the sidewalk, face buried in his hands, sobbing. *** Back home, I watched the Chat Feed spiral and let out a sharp laugh. [Ley-Bae, pls, reformed bad boys are literally endgame. Just give Shay-Shay another shot. You two are the official ship!] [You still love him, that's obvious. Why nuke it over one misunderstanding? Sure, he screwed up, but he's learned his lesson.] [Exactly! Relationships take compromise. Calling it simping is too much!] Annoyed, I killed the feed and shot a text to my childhood bestie-Kelly, who was in Selvora for work: [Wanna grab a drink, gorgeous?] Kelly: [On my way Half an hour later, we were tucked in a lounge corner, tequila in hand. Kelly's eyes went wide as she leaned in. "Leyla... isn't that Vanessa? Girl's basically mauling him in public." I followed her stare. Shayne was slouched at the bar, Vanessa glued to him, fingers drawing lazy spirals across his chest. He didn't push her off, didn't even glance at her-just kept sinking into his drink. 1/2 I snorted. So much for 'only ever loving me.' I turned back to Kelly, pretending I didn't notice, but that stare of his clung to me, crawling over my skin. The longer it burned, the more it got under my nerves. I told Kelly I was heading out and started to stand when a guy stepped up, grinning. "Excuse me-can I get your social? I'm the guy who owns this place." He was over six feet, sharp jaw, deep voice-definitely not hard to look at. "Sure." I grabbed my phone, about to pull up the app when- "Leyla!" Shayne stormed over, fingers clamping my wrist in a crushing grip. "What are you doing?" His voice was raw, eyes lit with fury. I yanked my hand free. "Why do you care? We've been done for six months. You don't get to police who I add on social." His face shadowed over, breathing uneven, like he was swallowing words he couldn't spit out. Then Vanessa clicked over in her heels, latching onto his arm, chin tilted high. "Leyla, why do you keep haunting us like some ghost? Why wedge yourself between me and Shayne? "Don't you think you've gone too far? It's been months, but you still stalk us-wherever we go, you're there. "We went to the amusement park, you appeared. Now we're in Selvora, and surprise, here you are again!" Shayne's eyes snapped wide. "Leyla... you were at the amusement park that day?" I tuned out Vanessa's warped version of reality.