Chapter 5 CHAPTER FIVE

The bass thumped through the club like a second heartbeat. Strobe lights flashed across the crowd, illuminating glistening skin, barely-there dresses, and sweat-slicked ambition. Chase Maddox leaned back into the leather booth, a model on each side, their laughter high-pitched and eager.

He should’ve been having a good time.

He always had a good time.

Tonight felt...off.

"Babe", one of the girls– Lana or Layla, he didn’t particularly care, leaned into his ear, her perfume chokingly sweet.

"You’re not even listening", she said coyly.

"Mm", Chase muttered, eyes on his phone. "Just checking something."

He scrolled through Instagram absently, the algorithm delivering exactly what he didn’t want to see: #CoupleGoals, #TeamNova, #BasketballRoyalty. The thumbnails were everywhere, Ava in her Ravens jersey, sweaty and grinning. Noah at her side, laughing like he’d been in love with her since birth.

Because maybe he had.

Chase tapped one of the clips. It started playing without sound, but it didn’t need it. Ava had just scored a buzzer-beater. Noah ran to her, lifted her off the ground, spun her in a circle like she was everything.

The crowd behind them went wild.

Ava’s smile in that moment? It seemed unreal, and purer than anything she'd shown him in the months leading up to their break-up and Chase’s stomach turned.

"You’re frowning", one of the girls pouted, tracing her finger over his knuckles. "Who do we need to hate, hmm?", she asked.

Chase didn’t answer.

Another clip auto-played. Ava on a podcast with Noah. They were sitting close. Too close. She bumped her shoulder into his, and he gave her this look, soft, almost reverent.

The comments were even worse.

"They’re so real omg I can’t breathe."

"Noah’s always loved her I’m crying."

"Chase who??"

"THIS is what love looks like. Not that toxic ex crap."

Toxic?

Chase clenched his jaw, flipping the phone face-down on the table. It didn’t help.

"Bro", Liam, one of his teammates, leaned over with a drunken smirk. "You seeing this Noah and Ava shit? Man, that’s gotta sting."

Chase stared at him.

"What the fuck are you even talking about?"

"You haven’t seen the way they look at each other? Damn. Gotta say bro, thought you were the main character, turns out you were the lesson."

The guys laughed, hollering like they’d just watched someone get dunked on.

Chase forced a chuckle.

"Cute. But she’s playing a part. They’re both eating up the PR right now", he said.

Liam shrugged. "Looks real to me."

"It’s not!", Chase snapped, and the girls flinched slightly. He forced his tone lower. "You don’t know her like I do."

"Right", Liam smirked. "Except she never looked at you like that, huh?"

Chase downed his drink in one gulp.

His phone buzzed again. A DM from someone he didn’t follow.

"Crazy how fast she moved on. Can’t believe you fumbled THAT."

He scowled and stood. "I’m heading out."

"What?", one of the models asked, reaching for him. "But we just got bottle service—"

"Keep it", he muttered, grabbing his jacket and storming out into the warm Los Angeles night.

He didn’t remember driving home. He just remembered Ava’s laugh echoing in his ears.

His apartment was all sleek glass and concrete, top floor, ocean view, enough square footage to feel like a king. But it felt empty. Ava used to say it lacked soul. At 2 a.m., Chase paced the living room, phone in hand, scrolling through Twitter and TikTok.

The fans were feral.

"Noah’s been in love with Ava for YEARS and we just watched him finally get her."

"The way he looks at her >>>>>"

"Their chemistry is so natural, like they didn’t have to fake a thing."

Chase threw his phone onto the couch and ran a hand through his hair.

He was not jealous.

He wasn’t.

Ava was free to date whoever she wanted, sure. But this? Going viral for some soft-glow, fake-fiance act with her little childhood friend? That wasn’t just tacky. It was a media stunt. It had to be.

He dialed his manager.

"Chase?", Dan answered groggily. "It’s two in the damn morning."

"I need a press push", Chase said immediately. "I want interviews, magazine spreads. Something to change the narrative."

Dan groaned. "What narrative?", he asked.

"The one that’s turning me into a footnote. Noah Lark is getting more likes in a week than I did in our entire relationship."

"Are you seriously still hung up on Ava?"

"I’m not hung up!", Chase snapped. "I’m getting smeared. I dumped her, and now suddenly I’m the villain while she plays house with some benchwarmer-turned-boyfriend."

Dan sighed. "Look, whatever’s happening with them, it’s good PR. People like a romance arc. Let it run its course. You jumping into the drama makes you look bitter."

"I’m not bitter."

"You sound bitter."

Silence.

Dan softened his voice. "Let it go, Chase. Focus on your brand. This will die down."

But Chase couldn’t. He could still see Ava’s eyes, sparkling like he’d never seen before. He knew her tells. The way her shoulders relaxed around Noah, the comfort in her laugh. That wasn’t acting.

But it couldn’t be real either.

Could it?

He picked up his phone again. Opened her contact. He stared at it for a long minute. The last time they’d spoken, it was ugly. Words you can’t take back, knives thrown in the heat of ego and pain.

But maybe...

He exhaled slowly.

Typed:

"Hey. Can we talk?"

He hit send.

Across the city, Ava’s phone buzzed on her nightstand. She’d just gotten out of the shower, towel-wrapped, hair damp, scrolling through comments on the latest post Carrie tagged her in.

Noah had just fallen asleep on the couch outside, claiming he wanted to watch a game with her like old times. He hadn’t even made it through the first quarter of the game replay on mute.

She smiled at the thought.

Then her screen lit up, she looked at it, Chase Maddox.

"Hey. Can we talk?"

Ava froze.

Her hand tightened around the phone. Her heart didn’t just skip, it lurched.