My Cop Ex-Boyfriend

4

My breakup with Leo Reid wasn't some high-drama scene out of a TV show. There was no cheating, no catching him in the act, no physical brawls or red-faced screaming matches.

In fact, there were no warning signs at all before it happened.

A simple text from him—"We're not a good fit. Let's break up."—was all it took to end our four-year relationship, a length of time that felt neither long nor short.

I immediately started typing out a long, incoherent jumble of questions, pleas, and raw emotion.

But then I deleted it all. I knew he wasn't the type to say things lightly, and once his mind was made up, a team of wild horses couldn't change it.

I deleted his phone number, his WeChat, every way I had of contacting him. It was the only way I could stop myself from reaching out, the only way to hold on to what little dignity I had left.

Vivi Willow had been a witness to our relationship from beginning to end. So, in the months after we broke up, she also witnessed my complete breakdown. She saw me living in a daze, crying my eyes out in the middle of the night, and pathetically throwing myself into work just for a distraction, numbing the pain a little more each day.

I don't hate him. He gave me a perfect relationship, four dazzling years of my life. Perhaps I was just too greedy. Having had something so wonderful, I couldn't accept that it wasn't meant to last forever.

...

I first met Leo Reid on a perfectly ordinary afternoon at the end of my sophomore year.

"There's a basketball game on campus this afternoon! Wanna go? I heard they're playing against the guys from the Police Academy next door!"

Vivi Willow was my best friend, my ride-or-die since childhood. By some bizarre twist of fate, we'd gone to the same kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school. We couldn't even escape each other in college. We'd gone from not being able to stand the sight of each other to being practically inseparable.

Vivi Willow's one and only hobby was scouting for cute, young pretty-boys. So there was no way she'd miss out on a basketball game—a place practically overflowing with testosterone.

"Plus, I heard the campus heartthrob from the Police Academy is on their team and he'll be playing today."

Vivi Willow's eyes held the glint of a predator stalking its prey. She was practically drooling.

"You have to come with me! We need to put that pretty face of yours to good use!"

"All you ever do is study, study, study! We're juniors already, and you don't have the slightest interest in dating! Don't you know you're missing out on the full college experience?!"

I frowned, noncommittal, but I couldn't stand her endless pestering. I gave in and agreed to go.