Page 56 of I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life

“Nobody’s going to,” I interrupted. “The band hasn’t made an album in years. Nobody’s interested in turning this place into the RaineFall theme park you think it should be. And most of all, Kam won’t thank you!” The blonde woman looked like I’d slapped her in the face with my last sentence, despite it being true. “He values privacy, which you keep not giving him. You make him uncomfortable to the point he pulled Cassidy out of your class. The more you push, the less he’s going to want to be around you.”

“You’re just saying that because he dumped you,” Maya scoffed, even though she didn’t sound like she fully believed it. “I moved here hoping one day he’d come back. What happened with Julia was sad, but he deserves to be with someone who actually cares about his art!”

“What happened to Julia was devastating! Not a chance for you to be with your celebrity crush!” Misty yelled, “That’s so messed up!”

“He also didn’t break up with me,” I admitted, “I’d figured out someone was spying on me in class, so I came today specifically to figure out who it was. Though, I should’ve guessed it was you the whole time.”

“You can’t prove it,” Maya insisted, even though if I mentioned it to anyone in town, they’d agree it fit how she’d been acting. “I’ll delete the voice note, and I’ve got a friend who will take care of me. She’ll make sure you see the truth.”

“Who, Stef Raine?” I asked, and scoffed as Maya immediately went pale. It looked like Kam’s theory had more weight than I’d expected. “Jack’s ex-wife who hates him?”

“She’s trying to get him back!” Maya exclaimed, “They’re perfect together. She planned to get the band back, show Jack she can…”

“You really can’t believe everything you read on the internet. And honestly, Maya, you might want to get some help,” I said, honestly feeling sorry for her. I never quite understood the way fans insisted they knew people they’d never met, but it was obvious Maya had been feeding into her imaginary relationship for so long, she’d created an alternate reality.

“Trust me, she…” Maya started.

“Are you really one of those people who thinks someone liking a social media post means you have a close, personal relationship with them?” Misty blurted out, “Because the more you talk, the more pathetic you sound.”

Maya grumbled something under her breath before storming out without grabbing her phone. I caught a glimpse of Cassidy giving her former teacher a weird look from the lobby, but from what I could tell, Maya at least was leaving her alone.

“I think at this point you could press charges,” Misty said, looking down at Maya’s phone on the floor. I knew Misty was right — between the spying and the stalking, it'd probably be easy to. But… I honestly thought at this point Maya had messed everything up enough she’d learned her lesson. Or, I at least hoped she had. Punishing her more felt more petty than I was willing to be.

“Just put the phone in the lost and found,” I said, shrugging, “I’m not saying she’s learned her lesson, but I don’t think she’s going to keep bothering me. Not when Kam’s working on the Stef angle right now.” I watched as Misty started to mop up the blood on the floor, leaning against the wall and enjoying the silence.

Today was terrible, but it’d at least been manageable. And it’d get easier and easier — that’s what I had to keep telling myself. I didn’t want everyone in my business; I didn’t want to be on the front page of gossip websites. But… I did want to be with Kam. And if our first day had everything I didn’t want happen — then it could only go up from here.

“Okay, how are you really?” Misty asked as she finished cleaning up. “I know this is worst-case scenario time, and I want to know if I need to go fight someone.”

“Not great,” I admitted, “My social media has always been super locked down, so I don’t have any hate messages. But it still took me two hours to convince myself to look. Kam’s backing me up, and trying to figure out how to protect me in all of this. It’s different, so it doesn’t feel like the end of the world, but it still sucks.”

“Well, I guess it's a start,” Misty smiled at me. “I was planning on going over and chewing him out if I heard any different.”

“Peri would’ve beaten you to it,” I laughed. “I’m just relieved it’s not necessary this time.”

“But you’re happy?” Misty asked, and I paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer the question. Was I happy about the situation? Of course not. But was I happy with Kam? Even with this happening, I realized I was.

“Yeah, I am,” I finally smiled, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before.” Misty squealed, dropping the mop long enough to hug me, and despite everything, I believed we could work it out.

I still wanted to puke, my anxiety was still spiraling, but my trust in Kam was constant. And it seemed like that was all I really needed after all.

Chapter forty-four

Kameron

Igot to the city in record time—even though I definitely should’ve been pulled over for speeding. It didn’t matter how much deep breathing I did; my anger felt like it was slowly taking me over. By the time I got to Jack’s penthouse, I wanted to get in, find his electronics, and get out. I’d be done with this, and be able to go back home and clean up the pieces of this mess.

But the moment I walked in, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Jack warned me how the place would be a mess, and I hadn’t been thrilled to see how bad rock bottom looked for my brother. But the place was perfectly clean. Suspiciously clean.

“Hello?” I called into the house, putting my coat on the hook by the door. The apartment was full of signs it was currently being lived in: from fresh groceries in the fridge, to the washing machine running a load of laundry. I’d expected to find Stef had stolen Jack’s stuff, but instead it looked like she’d taken advantage of his absence and moved back in. I wasn’t sure how she’d managed that when the locks had been changed, but it was the only explanation.

The second floor was as lived in as the first, though I clocked the sounds of a hookup happening in the master bedroom, and I immediately regretted coming. It explained why nobody’d noticed me come in, but I still had to suppress a gag as I loudly knocked on the door.

“Stef!” I yelled, “And I’m assuming Matt? You have about ten minutes to leave before I call the police!” I heard a loud scramble in the bedroom, the face of my ex-sister-in-law peaking out as she cracked the door open, thankfully having put on a t-shirt so I didn’t have to see her naked.

“What. Are. You. Doing. Here. Kameron?” Stef asked through gritted teeth, glaring at me with ice blue eyes that could probably freeze the sun.

“Could ask you the same thing,” I pointed out, “Jack asked me to pick up some of his things, and you’re not supposed to be here.”