Five Years Together… And He Gave the Ring to My Old Bully Chapter 01

Five Years Together… And He Gave the Ring to My Old Bully Chapter 01

I traveled with a friend to confront her boyfriend after she found out he was cheating.

Since I was already there, I planned to surprise my own boyfriend, Alex Thorne. We’d been doing long distance for four years.

Alex was supposed to be pulling another late night in the lab.

Instead, he was down on one knee in a restaurant, proposing to another girl.

A bunch of guys crowded around them, egging them on.

“You and Savannah have been together for five years. Took you long enough. Drinks are on you tonight.”

Alex laughed and kissed the girl on the cheek.

“Deal. When I get married, you guys are sitting at the head table.”

I went still.

Then a memory hit me.

Back in high school, there was a girl from the neighboring vocational school who kept chasing after Alex.

Her name was Savannah, too.

—

Junior year. The first time Savannah Rourke cornered Alex outside the school gates, she showed up in a leather jacket on a motorcycle.

After he rejected her, embarrassment turned into anger.

She pointed at me with a sneer.

“So this is your type? Some boring, straitlaced goody two-shoes? Wow, your standards are trash.”

That one sentence was enough.

Alex couldn’t stand her after that.

Later, she snuck into the freshman welcome assembly and confessed to him in front of the entire school.

He didn’t hold back. He called her shameless right to her face.

But Savannah never got the message.

Every night after school, she waited by the gate like clockwork.

“Hey, honor student. Hop on. I’ll give you a ride home.”

Alex walked beside me and didn’t even spare her a glance. “No, thanks.”

Three months later, she tricked me into the alley behind the school.

She brought a group of her friends with her.

She grabbed my chin and studied my face.

“Honestly, this pretty face is all you’ve got. If I ruin it, maybe Alex will finally get over you.”

After that day, I carried a four-inch scar across my face.

It was the first time in my life that I saw Alex completely lose control.

His eyes were bloodshot when he stormed into Ridgeway Technical Academy.

He dragged Savannah out of class and beat the hell out of her. He was expelled for it.

I stood outside the principal’s office for three straight days with stitches still on my face.

In the end, his expulsion was reduced to disciplinary probation.

Alex had always been proud. But that day, he stood in front of the whole class, fighting back tears as he apologized to me.

After that, Savannah transferred schools. I never saw her again.

The woman in front of me now had soft curls and a sky-blue dress.

She was bright, confident, and beautiful. Nothing like the red-haired girl in a leather jacket I remembered.

I couldn’t connect the two. But my gut knew. This was Savannah.

The girl who nearly scarred my face for life. The one who disappeared without so much as an apology.

The crowd started heading inside.

I hurried after them, only to have a server step in front of me.

“I’m sorry. The restaurant has been reserved for a private event tonight.”

Megan Frost had seen Alex’s picture on my phone before.

The moment she realized I’d been cheated on too, she looked ready to march in there and tear him apart herself.

“We’re not here to eat,” she snapped. “My friend’s boyfriend is cheating on her, and we’re going in.”

The server kept smiling.

“Then I definitely can’t let you in. One of our VIP guests is proposing tonight.”

Megan exploded. “That cheating piece of trash has the nerve to propose? I swear I’m gonna slap the hell out of both of them.”

A few more staff members came over and tried to usher us away.

“You must be mistaken. Mr. Thorne has booked our restaurant on this exact date every year for the past five years to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday.”

“This year, he finally proposed. They’re a match made in heaven.”

I stopped breathing for a second.

Five years ago, Alex and I were still in our senior year of high school.