Anger wasn’t a foreign emotion to Sebastian. He’d been close friends with the feeling since the age of two when he first realized that he didn’t need a good reason to throw a tantrum. But over the years, the simple temper tantrums had morphed into something closer to rages that often left him wondering what it would be like to simply punch the next person who crossed him.

He toyed with the idea of doing just that as he watched Jude and Taliana scramble into Jude’s car, but it all came to a halt when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. Without thinking, he moved to push away whoever had the nerve to touch him, but was stopped when his wrist was caught between familiar fingers.

Michael didn’t flinch when Sebastian’s stormy gaze landed on him, though it was easy to see he was wary of what was going to happen next. Marcus stood behind Michael wearing a quizzical expression, Jacob by his side. Apparently all three had just witnessed his latest blowup thanks to a stick-thin girl and a certain cousin of his. He was sure plenty of others had seen it as well.

“What’s going on?” Michael asked, an uncharacteristic note of concern in his voice.

Sebastian opened his mouth to speak, but words failed him. Instead, he shook his head and strode back toward the house, waving a hand over his shoulder as a signal for the others to follow. As he reentered, previously loud conversations dropped to whispers, and wide eyes followed as he went up the stairs. By the time he made it to his room, his anger had been replaced by a mix of exhaustion and disbelief.

A few seconds after he collapsed on his bed, the three other boys slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Michael questioned, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Sebastian gritted his teeth and sat up as a surge of anger came rushing back. “Taliana Avilla.”

Michael simply raised an eyebrow, his expression failing to betray his thoughts. “What about her?” he replied after a few beats, obviously not having put two and two together yet.

“Did you not see me run her out of the house a minute ago with Jude in tow?”

Jacob’s head snapped up abruptly. “Wait, that was Stick Girl?”

“I would have never guessed,” Marcus said, running a hand through his already disheveled mop of curls. “I mean...wow.”

“There is no way that girl was Taliana.” Michael shook his head. “Absolutely no way. She was too good-looking to be Stick Girl.”

“See!” Sebastian groaned, throwing his hands up for emphasis. “If you all didn’t recognize her, how the hell was I supposed to?”

Jacob’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Scowling, Sebastian rose to his feet and shot a pointed look at all three of them. “What I mean is that you all weren’t the only ones who didn’t realize it was her.” He paused and sucked in a breath, trying to figure out how to phrase what he needed to say. “She’s the mystery girl. She’s the one I slept with.”

The reveal was met with a deafening silence. Marcus looked at Jacob, who looked at Michael, who looked at Sebastian with a stare that clearly expressed what he was about to say next.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I wish,” Sebastian grumbled, running a hand over his face. “You have no idea how much I wish this was some sort of joke.”

Michael still looked as if he couldn’t believe it. “You slept with her,” he repeated. “You, Sebastian James Phillips the Third, slept with Taliana fucking Avilla, the girl who broke your arm in three places and was the reason you had the nickname Cry Baby until freshman year.”

“Yes, I think we’ve established that, Michael,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But how the hell was I supposed to realize who she was?”

“Maybe by asking for her name?” Marcus suggested dryly.

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed, but he bit back a caustic comment. Maybe he’d asked her name, but with as loud as it had been in the club, he probably hadn’t heard it correctly. He’d been drunk enough that he hadn’t even cared.

Michael seemed to be slowly getting over the shock. “I guess I can I can understand it,” he offered. “She’s pretty hot. Who cares what her name is?”

“She is not hot,” Sebastian scoffed, though he knew his words were a complete lie. The girl was attractive, even if he did hate her guts.

Jacob, however, saw through his lie. “Bro, if she wasn’t, you wouldn’t have wasted your time on her.”

Though he hated to admit it, Jacob was right. Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t completely disgusted with himself.

Just as he made to continue defending himself, the sound of a phone ringing made him close his mouth again. Four sets of eyes went to the flashing device resting next to him on the bed, and with a soft sigh, Sebastian grabbed his phone, glancing at the name on the screen. When he realized who it was, his heart dropped into his stomach.

“I don’t believe this,” he breathed out, turning his phone so the other three could see the cause for his newfound distress.

Michael looked as if he’d just seen a ghost. “I’m gonna head out,” he said, quickly backing toward the door. “I'll see you tomorrow.” He barely got the words out before darting into the hallway.

“Us, too,” Marcus blurted, grabbing Jacob’s wrist and dragging him toward the door. “See you.”

Sebastian barely noticed when his three friends stumbled out, too caught up in debating whether to answer the call. In the end, curiosity won out, and he answered with a dull, “What?”

“Hi, baby,” a familiar voice greeted. “It’s been a while.”

He’d thought there was no way this night could get any worse, but this phone call had already proven him wrong. Just like Taliana, this was yet another girl he thought he’d never hear from again. However, instead of breaking his arm, this one had broken his heart.

Sebastian paused for a moment, not knowing what to say. So he settled with murmuring a name that hadn’t escaped his lips in a very long time.

“Blair.”

Her chuckle floated over the line, and he could practically envision her tossing her head back, dark hair falling over her shoulders.

“Perfect, you still remember my name. Anything else you remember?”

“I remember telling you I never wanted to speak to you again.”

“Ah, yeah, I remember that too,” she said softly, a hint of amusement in her voice. “But you know me. I’ve never been one for actually obeying.”

That was definitely the truth. Blair Bakhtiar was the type of girl who lived life by her own set of rules and got away with it every time. Sebastian knew from experience that it had a little to do with her personality and a lot to do with her looks. The girl was gorgeous, there was no doubt about it. With wide gray-blue eyes, delicate features, and curves for days, Blair was the epitome of stunning. It didn’t help that she knew it too.

Hand in hand with her striking good looks was her ice-princess mentality. Before she was shipped off to boarding school, she’d been the reigning queen of Georgetown Trinity. There hadn’t been a queen after she’d left; everyone knew it was impossible to fill her shoes.

Blair had been the only girl at Georgetown Trinity that Sebastian had ever considered an equal. There were plenty of others who had vied for his attention over the years, but he’d only had eyes for Blair. They’d been friends since preschool and had grown closer as they got older. He always found it a little surprising that they hadn’t become a couple until their sophomore year, even though he’d secretly loved her for ages. In the end, loving her turned out to be a mistake, because less than a year later, she ripped his heart out of his chest and served it to him on a silver platter.

Most people didn't know the real reason behind their breakup, especially the part about what had caused it. The rumor that swirled was that the two had been a happy couple until her father decided boarding school in France would be a better choice for his daughter.

That wasn’t anywhere near the truth.

It was true they’d been a happy couple once, but it had all ended suddenly when Sebastian caught her with his older brother, William. If that hadn’t hurt enough, the fact that she left town the next day without explaining made the whole thing hurt worse. Not even William had spoken to him about what had gone down, and before Sebastian could confront him, he was on a plane back to Yale. He hadn’t heard from Blair since that day.

But this phone call changed that.

“What do you want?” he asked, a new anger simmering in his chest.

“I’m hurt, Seb,” she said. “You always assume I want something whenever I call.”

“You never call, Blair. I told you not to.”

“I guess I just couldn’t resist.” There was a brief pause, and when she spoke again her voice had changed. “I miss you.”

That part took him by surprise, but there was no way he was going to let her know that. “I’d say likewise, but I’d be lying.”

“Ouch,” she laughed. Everything always seemed to roll off of Blair’s back with ease. “But it’s okay, I know the truth.”

Sebastian sighed. This conversation was going nowhere. “Really, Blair, what do you want?”

“I just wanted to say hi. Is that a crime?”

“It is when it’s coming from you.”

“Mm, well, since you obviously don’t want to keep this conversation up, I’ll get straight to the point: I’m coming back to town soon.”

At that moment, the world seemed to freeze. There was no way this was happening. She wasn’t supposed to come back. Ever. She was supposed to stay away for the rest of her miserable existence, but apparently that wasn’t happening. Just like it hadn’t happened with Stick Girl.

“How soon is soon?” he hedged.

“My flight gets in on Monday. I’ll be back at Trinity on Tuesday.”

“Maybe I should consider leaving the country.”

“There’s no use avoiding me, Sebastian. I’m sure we’re bound to run into each other eventually.” The sound of voices calling her name and a few words in French that Sebastian couldn’t translate drifted over the line. “I better go. But one last thing.”

“What?” he asked impatiently.

There was a quick pause, and then, “I still love you, Sebastian.”

But he wasn’t going to let that get to him. Not again. “You don’t love anyone but yourself, Blair.”

The girl laughed. “See you soon.”

The line went dead with a soft click, and Sebastian lowered his phone in a state of disbelief for the second time that evening.

The odds of both the girls he hated more than anything coming back into his life at the same time had to be astronomical. And yet there he was, stuck in a triangle of hate he’d never asked for.

He couldn’t believe his luck.