CHAPTER ONE[Club Venux] “You were never in the picture, Jensen. You were only a mistake I was waiting to fix.” Those words would ruin Jensen’s night in exactly 7 minutes. But he didn’t know that yet. Instead, he wove through the dancing crowd the way he’d learned to after years of taking shifts: duck, pivot, and smile at whoever’s elbow catches his ribs. His phone read 11:53pm. Seven minutes to midnight. Seven minutes to twenty-two. To the only birthday that had ever actually mattered. He’d already decided how he’d spend the first ten minutes of being twenty-two: buying Rose, his girlfriend, those concert tickets before the presale closed. She’d been wanting them since spring. He could finally afford them tonight, barely, and the thought had kept him smiling through six hours on his feet. And shit, his feet hurt like hell. “Hey, College-boy! Look alive. VIP room two needs another bottle!” The Club manager yelled at Jensen. But the music was so loud that Jens

CHAPTER THREE“This isn’t fucking over!”Benjamin yelled and ran.Rose stumbled after him, one heel broken, with her hand pressed to her bleeding mouth.The pride she’d walked out of that club was completely gone. “Seth.” Geena started. “Go after them.”“Yes ma’am.” “No.” Jensen spoke.Geena turned to him.“Why, big brother?”“They’re not worth it,” he said. “Not tonight.”“But they-”“I haven’t seen you in four years, Geena.” He took her hands. His voice softened just enough. “I’m not letting those two ruin any more of our time.”She stared at him for a long moment. Then the fury slowly drained out of her face. She sighed.“Fine. But I’m not done with them.”“I know.” He smiled. “Neither am I. Let’s go.”He led her to the SUV. In the minutes that followed, they were already en route.Jensen leaned his head back against the seat while the city slid past the tinted windows.Geena glared at him nonstop. “You know I can see you, right?” Jensen said to her. She rolled her eyes.“You n

CHAPTER FIVEProfessor Rhys canceled his class. By ten, the entire final year class had nothing better to do than to argue about the dinner party. “Forget wherever we were going. I booked something better. The Meridian Room. Top floor of the Grand Valmont hotel.”Matthew announced, cutting through dozens of earlier suggestions.Some of the guys cheered him on.A few low whistles followed. Matthew beamed with pride. But Jensen wasn’t impressed.“Isn’t that place too expensive? Let’s try something else,” Coleman countered, a little worried about Jensen.They all had to contribute to cover the cost. This would only put a bigger burden on Jensen.“Worried about your boyfriend again?” Matthew said and the class laughed at Coleman. Coleman flushed, head dropping low.“Seriously, does Jensen even own a second shirt?”“I doubt he does. Ugh! He gives me the yikes!”Some girls gossiped behind them, not even bothering to be discreet.Jensen heard it, all of it. He simply smiled.“Don’t sweat

CHAPTER SEVENThe waiter’s expression cracked.Genuine respect passed over his face while the rest of the classmates remained confused.“Is that a real drink?”“The name sounds made up” Whispers filled the room. The waiter gave Jensen a small, deliberate bow. “An excellent choice, sir. I’ll have it brought up immediately.”Eyes blinked. Matthew didn’t understand what he’d just witnessed, but he understood the silence that followed it. He’d never heard the name before in his life, and from the way the entire room had gone still, that ignorance was now written all over his face.Charlotte leaned toward Matthew. Her voice was deceptively sweet.“Actually, would you mind if I ordered something else? I’m not really used to that one.” “Erm… well…” Matthew hesitated, the request cut against everything he’d just tried to stage. But before he could answer, Charlotte was twisting her neck toward Jensen.Anger rushed through him. There was no way Jensen would ruin his shot.Matthew’s prid

CHAPTER NINE“Damn! This is better than the porn out there!” A boy whispered.The lecture hall was packed that morning. Jensen noticed it the second he walked in. A room that normally sat a dozen bored students scattered across the back rows now had nearly two hundred crammed into every seat, almost all of them male.All of them oddly alert for nine in the morning.Something was off. He just didn’t know what yet.He found a seat near the middle, ignoring the way a few heads turned to track him.Matthew didn’t come home last night. Coleman was still asleep.Rose sat in the back row, pale and hollow-eyed, staring at him without blinking. Her best friend Lana elbowed her out of the daze, not bothering to lower her voice. “Why are you staring at the broke loser like he’s still relevant? Forget him. You’ve got Benjamin now. Actual money and class.” Lana shot Jensen a glare. “Funny how the smell of poverty follows some people into a lecture hall.” She gagged before focusing on Rose a