Chapter 3

I forced a smile. "Congratulations, you two. I wish you all the best."

My voice sounded surprisingly steady.

Jax looked relieved. Chloe' s smile tightened, just a fraction.

Then Mark and Lee, Jax' s bandmates, swaggered over, beers in hand.

"Hey, Savvy! Remember all those cookies you used to bake for us?" Mark jeered.

"And those posters? 'The Night Howlers conquer Austin!'" Lee added, mimicking a dramatic voice.

They laughed, loud and obnoxious.

"She was our number one fan girl, weren't you, Savvy?"

"Such an adorable crush," Mark said, winking at Chloe. "Good thing our Jax is all grown up now."

The industry types nearby chuckled.

I felt my face burn. Utterly, completely humiliated.

Jax just stood there, a faint, uncomfortable smirk on his face. He didn't say a word to stop them.

He didn't care.

It hit me then. All those years, his tolerance of my presence, my constant orbiting around him and the band, it was because of Ben.

Ben was his best friend, his bandmate. He put up with the little sister.

Now, he had Chloe. He didn't need to put up with me anymore.

He wanted me gone. This whole charade was to make sure of it.

I mumbled an excuse and turned away, needing to escape.

The sadness was a heavy weight in my chest, making it hard to breathe.

I found a quiet corner by a large window overlooking the city.

"Rough night?"

Chloe Davenport was beside me, holding two glasses of champagne. She offered one to me.

I shook my head. "No, thank you."

"Look," she said, her voice softer now, almost conspiratorial. "Jax can be a bit of an idiot. Those guys are jerks. Don't let them get to you."

I just looked at her.

"I meant what I said, Chloe. I'm happy for you both. I'm moving on with my life."

She took a sip of her champagne, her eyes appraising me.

"Are you? You know, Jax talks in his sleep sometimes. He used to mumble your name. A lot."

My breath hitched. What was she playing at?

"He felt guilty, I think. Leading you on with that 'wait till you're twenty-two' crap."

She shrugged. "Or maybe he actually liked the attention from the sweet little art girl."

Her smile was back, sharp and knowing.

Before I could respond, there was a sudden, loud creaking sound from above.

We both looked up.

A massive art installation, a heavy metal sculpture, was suspended from the ceiling.

It was swaying.

Dangerously.

People started to scream.

Instinctively, Jax, who had appeared from nowhere, grabbed Chloe, pulling her roughly out of the sculpture's direct path.

He didn't even glance my way.

The sculpture crashed down with a deafening roar of tortured metal and shattering plaster.

I wasn't directly under it, but a large, jagged piece broke off, spinning through the air.

Pain exploded in my leg, a searing, blinding agony.

Another blow near my collarbone.

Then, darkness.

I woke up in a hospital room.

The smell of antiseptic and fear.

Ben was there, his face pale, eyes red-rimmed.

"Savvy? Oh, God, Savvy, I'm so sorry." He looked like he was about to cry.

"What happened?" My voice was a croak.

"The sculpture... it fell. You got hit. Your leg is broken, pretty badly. And you have a deep cut here." He gently touched his own collarbone.

He looked furious. "Jax... he just stood there with Chloe. Didn't even look back after he pulled her clear."

I processed that. Jax saved Chloe. Of course, he did. She was his fiancée, his future.

I was just... Savvy.

It didn't even hurt anymore, that realization. It was just a fact.

"It's okay, Ben," I whispered. "He chose. It's fine."

It solidified everything. My decision to leave.

Ben looked at me, his eyes full of a pain that mirrored my own, but also a simmering anger.

"It's not fine, Sav. None of this is fine."

But I knew, with a chilling certainty, that it was over. Whatever I thought I had with Jax, whatever future I had dreamed of, was gone.

And I was strangely calm.

I was going to Florence. I would heal. I would build a new life.

Secretly, I started making the real plans, the ones that involved plane tickets and a one-way journey.