Chapter 3 Going viral

I can't answer.

The words won't come. My throat is too tight and my brain has stopped working completely.

Kai watches me for another long moment. Then he pulls out his phone again and turns away, already making calls like my answer doesn't matter. 

I sit on my bed in complete shock while he paces my small dorm room. His voice is cold as he talks to people I can't see. Arranging things I don't understand.

"Tonight at six... No, I'll handle it... Just make sure everything's ready..."

My phone buzzes on the nightstand. I reach for it with shaking hands.

The screen is full of notifications. Text messages. Instagram tags. Missed calls. The numbers keep climbing as I watch.

Fifty-three unread messages.

Seventy-two notifications.

Fifteen missed calls.

What the hell?

I unlock my phone and open Instagram. My hands are trembling so badly I almost dropped it.

I'm tagged in dozens of posts on the Northwood University student pages.

My stomach drops straight through the floor.

The first post is a photo from last night. Grainy and dark but unmistakable. Kai carrying me out of the party. My head against his chest. His arms around me. The caption reads: "Kai Donovan leaving Delta Sig with some girl. Anyoneknow who she is???"

The comments underneath are exploding. Hundreds of them.

"That's Aria Bennett. She's in my bio class."

"Wait THE Kai Donovan? The hockey captain?"

"Why would he be with HER?"

I scroll down with numb fingers. There are more posts. More photos. Someone caught Kai loading me into his car. Someone else got a shot of us driving away.

And then I see another post that's trending at the top of every campus page.

"CONFIRMED: Kai Donovan is ENGAGED. Source says his dad's guys were at THE girl's dorm this morning and Kai introduced her as his FIANCÉE. Overhead it over the phone to his Dad. This is wild.

The post has over three hundred comments already and they're vicious.

"Who the fuck is this Aria Bennett?"

"Scholarship student. Nobody special."

"Gold digger much?"

"She probably got pregnant and trapped him."

"I've had classes with her. She's so quiet and boring. What does KAI DONOVAN see in HER?"

"Slut."

"Social climber."

"She's not even that pretty."

My hands shake harder. I keep scrolling but it just gets worse.

Girls I've never spoken to are sending me direct messages. Calling me names. Asking how I seduced him. Telling me I don't deserve him. That I should know my place.

Guys are worse. Comments about my body, what I must have done to land someone like Kai. Crude suggestions about what they'd do if given the chance.

I'm going to be sick.

"Aria."

I look up. Kai is standing in front of me, phone still in his hand.

"You need to..." He stops when he sees my face. His eyes dropped to my phone. "What?"

I can't speak. Just hand him my phone with the Instagram feed still open.

He takes it. Scrolls through silently. His expression doesn't change.

"You ignore it. All of it." he says, handing it back.

"Ignore it? Everyone thinks, they're saying I'm a..."

"Let them say whatever they want. Doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything!" I'm close to crying now. "My entire life just, everyone knows..."

My phone buzzes in my hand. An incoming call.

Maya.

Oh god. Maya.

I stare at the screen, paralyzed.

"Answer it. You'll have to eventually."

I swipe to accept with shaking fingers. "Hello?"

"ARIA." Maya's voice explodes through the speaker. "What the HELL is going on? I've been calling you for a minute now! Please tell me the engagement rumors aren't true. Please tell me you didn't..."

"Maya..."

"Because I'm seeing your name everywhere. EVERYWHERE. People are saying you're engaged to Kai Donovan. Asher's brother. The Kai Donovan who..."

"I know who he is," I manage.

"Then tell me it's not true. It's some crazy mistake, right?"

I look at Kai. He's watching me with those dark, unreadable eyes.

"It's not a mistake," I hear myself say. "We've been seeing each other. It just... became public."

Silence on the other end.

"You've been seeing each other," Maya repeats slowly. "Even though we both know you've been in love with Asher? You've then been seeing Kai Donovan. Asher's brother."

"Yes."

"For how long?" Maya demands. "How long have you been seeing him?"

I don't know what to say. Kai hasn't given me a timeline. What story was I supposed to tell?

"A few months," I improvise. "We kept it quiet because..."

"Because of Asher?"

"Yeah," I grabbed onto that. "Exactly."

"Aria. Are you okay? Because this seems really sudden and you sound really strange and..."

There's a knock at my door.

Kai moves toward it immediately. I hold up a hand to stop him.

"Maya, I have to go."

"Wait, don't..."

I hung up. 

The knock comes again. Louder this time.

I stand up, walk to the door and put my hand on the knob.

Please don't be campus security. Please don't be someone who saw the posts.

I open the door.

My heart shatters into a thousand pieces.

Asher is standing there.

He looks terrible. Red eyes like he's been crying. Hair a mess like he's been running his hands through it. Still in the same clothes from yesterday when he showed up at my door heartbroken over Vanessa.

"Aria." 

I can't speak. 

"Is it true?" Asher asks. "Please tell me it's not true."

"Asher..."

"Everyone's talking about it. About you and—" He can't seem to say the name. "About you being engaged. To my brother."

I open my mouth. No words come out.

"It's not true, right? You would've told me. We tell each other everything. You're my best friend. You would've..."

"It's true."

Kai's voice comes from behind me. Cold and flat.

I feel his arm slide around my waist, pulling me against his side. 

Asher's eyes go to where Kai is touching me and something in his face breaks.

"How long?" 

I still can't speak. My throat is locked tight.

"A few months," Kai answered for me. "We kept it quiet because of complications. You understand."

"NO I DON'T!!" He screams then turns and runs out.

"Asher, wait..." I try to move toward him but Kai's arm is tight around my waist, keeping me in place.

"Let. Me. Go. You goddamn motherfucker.”