Chapter 2My Wife's Boyfriend

I blinked hard, confirming that I wasn’t, in fact, hallucinating.

Caleb was in love with me?

My future husband?

So this wasn’t the nineteen-year-old Caleb I saw. This was my husband from the future, trapped in his younger body?

My mind reeled, trying to process this impossible information. Another comment popped up.

【Tough luck. His baby Maeve is dating her childhood friend right now. All he can do is suffer.】

【Yeah, but I have a feeling this older version of him isn’t going to suffer in silence for long.】

…

Dating?

Right. I remembered now. Jackson, my childhood best friend, had been dating the most popular girl in his department and she’d dumped him. Then, to twist the knife, she’d invited him to her birthday party.

He had offered me his entire month’s allowance to pretend to be his girlfriend for one night, just to save face. I didn’t need the money, but Jackson could be relentlessly annoying. He whined and pleaded for days until I couldn't take it anymore and finally agreed.

Could Caleb have seen us that night?

Just as I was mentally cursing out my ridiculous best friend, a text from him lit up my phone.

【Maeve, CODE RED! I need a favor!!!】

Before I could type a reply, the back door of the lecture hall flew open.

Jackson, his features sharp and frantic, stormed in. He grabbed my backpack with one hand and yanked me out of my seat with the other, pulling me toward the exit.

“Jackson! What the—”

CRASH!

The chair I’d just been sitting in snapped back against the desk, the sound echoing through the emptying room. It cut me off, freezing both me and Jackson in our tracks.

I looked back.

Caleb was standing there, silhouetted against the light from the hallway. His jaw was clenched so tightly a muscle jumped in his cheek. His eyes were locked on the spot where Jackson’s hand gripped my arm, and his expression was a raw, unfiltered canvas of devastation, anguish, and a desperate, clawing hunger.

His throat worked. When he spoke, his voice was a rough, strangled whisper. “Sorry. I stood up too fast. Hope I didn’t scare you.”

Jackson, oblivious, just kept pulling me toward the door. “No worries, man,” he called back over his shoulder. “Eager to get out of class, I get it.”

The silent commentary in my head went wild.

【Okay, he can’t take it anymore. Forget being the top student. Forget his moral compass. Forget a slow, patient plan. To hell with all of it. I. Want. My. Wife.】

【Don’t do it! Don’t provoke this desperate husband any further! He’s really going to lose his mind!】

【Maeve, don’t go! Maeve!】

I replayed the scene in my head—the shattered look on Caleb’s face.

I had a sinking feeling I’d just made him feel like a man watching his wife abandon him for good.