Page 81 of Shapes of Love
My stomach flops when my feed updates and Kai’s profile appears at the top. It’s the anonymous page he created to post his art. It was doing really well, and no one knew itbelonged to him. But someone must have found out, because it’s flooded with hate comments.
werideatdawnforsassyCHEATER
kai_you_should_kystrash art from a trash person.
sassyapologist09sassy’s next album is going to be a banger, so thanks.
kaiistheworstyou suck, hope this helps.
The fuck? My lips twist into a scowl. People are eating this up.My fansare eating this up. At least some of them. I know they want to defend me, but they don’t have any context. Others only care about what music is going to come out of this.
Kai’s not even defending himself. I kind of wish he would. I wish he’d just tell everyone that I’m to blame, that we weren’t actually dating. Then all of this would be over.
I want to call him, but I don’t know how to face him after our last conversation. I can’t keep popping in and out of his life. Every time I do, I make it worse.
I’m the one who started this. I need to be the one to fix it.
“I feel guilty,” Mia tells me. She frowns as she eyes the comment section of Kai’s latest art video. “That picture of Kai and Asher, it was taken somewhere in my building when Kai visited me. Someone must have caught them kissing after he spoke to me.”
“Asher wouldn’t let anyone catch him doing something he’s not ready for people to see.”
Asher is meticulous. He would know it was career suicide to let himself be caught kissing Kai so soon after our breakup.
Mia shrugs. “Love makes you stupid.”
“Not this stupid.”
Asher’s too much of a pro to slip up like this, no matter how in love he is. The only way he’d kiss Kai in public is if he was absolutely sure that no one was watching.
“This looks like a hidden camera.” Mia points at the blurry picture. It was taken from an angle. “Maybe they hid a phone somewhere. There is a trash can in that corner. Is that even legal?”
“But who would do that?” I ask. “And why?”
Something doesn’t make sense. It could be that someone was after Asher, or his family, and they wanted to out him. But the timing is strange. It got out right after Kai and I broke up. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But…
“You’re the famous one. You tell me,” Mia says.
I’m the famous one.
A shiver slithers down my spine at the realization. What if this was never about Asher? What if this was always about me?
CHAPTER 18
I decide to call Asher, unable to muster the courage to talk to Kai yet. I huddle against the pillows on my bed as I let the phone ring. Part of me hopes he won’t pick up. The other part of me really misses his stupid, handsome face.
“Hey.” A hint of surprise flickers in his eyes as he materializes on the other side of the screen, as if he wasn’t expecting to see me. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just wanted to talk.”
“Okay… Are you somewhere we can talk?” There’s a weariness to his voice, but surprisingly, he doesn’t look as tired as he did a few weeks ago, and the purple bags under his eyes have dimmed.
“Yeah. In my room,” I say. “Are you somewhere safe?”
Behind him, a skylight illuminates a lush expanse of woods. I don’t know where he is exactly, but it looks somewhere off the radar.
“We’re at one of my dad’s houses. Mum’s making soup, which is bound to poison someone, and Dad’s organized achess match between us five. Kai’s grandpa insisted on coming with us.”
His gaze shifts, as if acknowledging someone off-screen. A hint of relief washes over me. When the news broke about him and Kai, death threats followed. Asher’s parents came out in full support of their son, which surprised me. They’ve spent so long trying to look like the perfect family, I had never seen them actually acting as parents. Perfect Asher is gone, and now he’s just Asher, the guy who got between theperfect couple. And yet, there’s something different about him when I look at him, like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.
