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Prologue - Claire
July 5th, 2022
He hurt me. I hurt him back.
Those were the rules I played by, and I didn’t really care to explain them to anyone. Because no one else would understand.
This had been going on between the two of us ever since we were seven years old.
So, he may have won this battle, but I’d win the war.
And he’d rue thisfucking day for making me feel so stupid.
My hands tightened on the wheel of my car, trying to harness all my frustration. I breathed in through my nose slowly and evenly because there’s no way I was going to let myself cry. No fucking way. Claire Kessel didn’t cry over anyone– especially not a stupid boy.
But… a little part of me, the little girl inside, wanted to wallow in my self-pity. Because this was Duke, who I’d been secretly in love with my whole life… And he… He made me get all dressed up. I actually spent time on my hair, I actually asked my sister for help on what to wear, and I actually put on fuckinghigh heelsandlip gloss.
And the worst thing he did?
He made me excited.
Just so he could fucking–
“Claire!”
I slammed on the breaks, noticing the red light at the last second.
Shit. She must’ve been saying my name about ten times.
“Sorry, what?” I briefly glanced over at my older sister as traffic passed in front of us.
“Where are we going!?” she asked frantically with wide, stressed-out eyes.
I lifted my chin. “It’s your fault you got into this car, now you’re going wherever I choose. I did not ask you to come along, Addie,” I said in a warning tone.
She shook her head and looked at me completely exasperated. “You looked ready to murder or ready to cry, and I’ve never seen you so upset, so yes, as your older sister, I definitely did have to come.”
I turned up Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” and when the light turned green, I slammed on the gas. Forward was the only way to go; it was the only way to feel better.
His subdivision came into sight then and I made a sharp left turn, causing Addie to let out a screech and grab the side handles of the truck.
I whipped through the subdivision and grinded to a stop in front of their stupidly huge house at the end of their cul-de-sac.
Addie let out a sigh of relief but tensed again when she realized where we were. “What the hell are we doing here?” she asked in a low voice.
I promptly unbuckled my seatbelt and shoved my car door open. “Stealing Beau,” I returned matter-of-factly while jumping down from my dad’s truck.
I watched her face turn to panic as she tried to scramble out of her seatbelt. “Claire, are you out of your ever-loving mind? You cannot steal his dog!”
I ignored her voice and threw the car door shut behind me. I had to get this over with quickly.
The passenger’s side window rolled down as soon as my foot touched their grass. “Claire, you can’t–”
I whirled on her and gave her a hard stare. “Yes, I can. He hurt me, Addie.” I felt my voice almost crack, and my throat burned. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second. I couldn’t be sad yet. I had to hold onto my anger long enough to get him back. “Yes, I can,” I repeated to her firmly, “because he crushed my heart, so I’m going to crush his.”
1.Duke - May 25th, 2022
“Son of a bitch!” I grunted.
