The vibration in Layla's pocket felt like a physical sting against her leg. She pulled the phone out, her breath hitching, only to see Sarah's name on the screen.
Hey, you ran off so fast. Are you okay? Talk to me.
Layla stared at the words until they blurred. She didn't reply. She couldn't. Since the moment she stepped off the plane in Montreal, her life had been a series of high-stakes reactions she wasn't prepared for. She needed a break from the "be carefuls," the hidden histories, and the weight of being the new girl in a town full of old scars. She shoved the phone back into her coat and looked out at the grey, churning water of the park pond. She wasn't going to hide anymore. She needed the truth from the source.
"I thought we said no dates today," Jade said, his voice cutting through the evening chill.
They were back at the lake, the same one Liam had taken her to, the one Jade claimed as his sanctuary. Layla stood at the edge of the gravel, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She didn't look at him as he approached.
"Is that what this was?" she asked, her voice trembling. "A date? Or was I just a convenient way to get back at Sarah?"
Jade froze. The easy, confident stride he usually had vanished, replaced by a rigid, defensive posture. "What are you talking about?"
"Sarah told me, Jade. Everything. Why didn't you tell me she was your first everything? Why didn't you tell me that you're the reason Liam looks at you like he wants to break you?"
Jade let out a harsh, dry laugh, kicking at a loose stone. "Because it's in the past, Layla. It's ancient history. I don't know why Sarah brought it up now, she needs to get over it already. It's been years."
"Years or not, she's my best friend!" Layla finally turned to face him, her eyes bright with hurt. "Why did you break up with her? If it was so perfect, why did it end?"
Jade's expression shifted, the smoky shadows in his eyes deepening. He looked out at the lake, his jaw tight. "We were together for two years. And in those two years, I realized I wasn't the guy she deserved. I was a mess, Layla. My head wasn't right, and I didn't want to be in a relationship where I was just going to end up dragging her down. I tried to explain it to her. I tried to make her see that separating was the only way I wouldn't end up hurting her more. But she didn't want to hear it. And Liam? He decided I was the villain because I didn't want to play pretend anymore."
He stepped closer, reaching out as if to touch her arm, but Layla flinched back. "I'm not Sarah, Jade. But I'm not a blank slate, either. You lied by omission."
"I didn't lie," he snapped, his frustration finally boiling over. "I just wanted to be Jade the neighbor to you. Not Jade the ex-boyfriend. Not the 'bad guy' from Sarah's stories. I wanted a fresh start."
The conversation ended in a cold, ringing silence. Layla left him standing by the water, the same place where they had shared a sanctuary only days before.
Exhausted and emotionally drained, she pushed through her evening shift at Tim Hortons. Every coffee she poured felt like a heavy weight. When her shift finally ended, she found Liam waiting by the glass doors. He didn't look like the wreck from the week before; he looked steady, concerned, and perfectly put together.
"Can we talk?" he asked gently. "Just for a few minutes?"
They walked to a nearby bench, the city lights reflecting in the puddles on the pavement. Layla found herself telling him everything, the confusion, the hurt, the feeling of being caught between Sarah and Jade. She looked at Liam, the boy who had been her first "perfect" match, and felt a moment of weakness.
"I don't know how to feel, Liam," she whispered. "Jade says it's the past. Sarah says it's a warning. What do I do?"
Liam took a slow breath, leaning forward on the park bench. He didn't look at her with the fire Jade did; he looked at her with a calm, protective pity. "My advice? Look at the patterns, Layla. Jade has a way of making people feel like they're the only thing that matters, right up until he decides they aren't. I can't watch him do that to someone else I care about."
He reached over, taking her hand in his. His skin was warm, a sharp contrast to the biting wind. "Forget the lake. Forget the mess. Give me that redo, Layla. I can give you the honesty he's clearly incapable of."
Layla looked down at their joined hands. For a second, the safety of Liam's world felt like the only thing that could stop her from drowning. She opened her mouth to answer, to say yes, no or maybe when a shadow fell over them.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The voice was like a blade. Layla's head snapped up to see Jade standing a few feet away. He was still wearing his leather jacket, his hair windswept, looking like he'd run all the way from the lake. He had come to apologize, to fix the mess he'd made, but the sight of Liam holding her hand had turned his regret into pure, unfiltered venom.
Jade's eyes weren't smoky anymore, they were pitch black with rage. He looked at their joined hands, then up at Liam. "I guess I didn't have to worry about explaining myself," Jade spat, his voice trembling with hatred. "When one guy isn't good enough for you, you just move on to the next one on the list, right?"
The words hit Layla harder than the cold wind. He wasn't just hurt; he was insulting her integrity, acting like she was a prize being passed between them.
"Jade, stop it," she warned, her voice shaking.
"Why? It's the truth, isn't it?" Jade stepped closer, ignoring the public setting. He looked at Liam with a sneer. "You always were the vulture, weren't you, Liam? Waiting for my scraps."
Layla didn't think. The "quiet girl" was gone, replaced by a surge of white-hot fury. Before she even realized she was moving, her hand flew out.
CRACK.
The sound of her palm hitting Jade's cheek echoed in the quiet park. Jade's head snapped to the side. The silence that followed was deafening.
Jade slowly turned his face back to her. A red mark was already blooming on his skin. He didn't look at Layla with love anymore; he looked at her with a terrifying, cold distance. But it was Liam's smug, protective stance that finally snapped the last thread of his control.
"Don't touch her," Liam began, standing up to shield Layla.
He never finished the sentence. Jade's fist moved like lightning, catching Liam squarely in the jaw. The sound of the impact was sickening. Liam stumbled back, his glasses skidding across the pavement, and within seconds, they were a blur of flailing limbs and muffled grunts.
"Stop! Both of you, stop it!" Layla screamed, her voice cracking.
She stood there, paralyzed, watching the two boys she cared about destroy each other on the cold Montreal pavement. The chemistry had officially exploded, and the fallout was going to be radioactive.