Chapter 1

After my seven-year anniversary proposal went down in flames, complete with a knock-down, drag-out fight with my girlfriend, I caught her shopping for wedding rings with a marriage license.

Her friend, totally oblivious, piped up, "Aren't you worried that Dylan will flip out and leave you?"

She glanced at the marriage license in her hand. The bubbly happiness that was all over her face just kinda faded, replaced with this look, I can't even describe.

"He dated someone else for five years, it's basically like being with a divorced dude, you know? So gross. I am not marrying a guy with baggage."

"Besides, I'm Brad's first love. Gotta give him the real deal, the whole package."

"Dylan won't get mad. He'd rather be the side piece than lose me."

That night, I went back to our place alone. I torched everything, every single memory, every shared possession. Just a bonfire of broken dreams.

Then I cut her out of my life, cold turkey.

...

When Ashley's name flashed across my phone screen, I had a picture of a marriage certificate staring back at me from my computer.

"Dylan, can you just stop being so unreasonable?"

"I told you, my parents want me to focus on my career before we get married. Why are you pushing this so hard?"

"Does marriage even matter that much?"

In the picture, the right hand clutching the marriage license had a braided hemp bracelet around the wrist. I could see, clear as day, the faint scar hiding beneath it.

Ashley got that seven years ago, when she took a knife for me.

My heart ached. I choked out, "Guess it doesn't."

"So, we're done. Let's not talk anymore."

Before she could even get a word in, I hung up. I started gathering up every single thing that reminded me of us.

Seeing the pile of stuff out in the backyard, I felt a pang of sadness, I'm not going to lie.

Seven years with Ashley. I really thought we were ready to tie the knot.

But every time I brought it up, it turned into a fight.

Then, yesterday, I walked in on her buying a diamond ring with that marriage license and her ID. That's when I finally understood why she was so against getting married.

She's been hung up on the fact that I dated someone else for five years, back in college.

In her eyes, that makes me some kind of "used goods." My purity or whatever, gone.

So, she found some guy who's only ever been with her. She even made sure they got the marriage license on our freaking anniversary.

The most messed-up part? I went down the rabbit hole and found this Brad guy's Instagram.

Brad Something-or-other. He's got like, half a million followers because he posts all these pictures of their "perfect" relationship.

He went to the same college as me, majored in the same thing. His advisor was the same guy that I worked with.

To top it off, he looks kinda like me. Maybe that was the plan?

I wasn't good enough for her 'cause I had a past.

But she couldn't let me go, so she married my doppelganger.

Seven years, and I never knew this was going on in her head.

She could have just told me she had a problem with my past, any time in the last seven years.

I'd be bummed, sure, but I wouldn't have turned into some clingy weirdo begging her to stay.