Karma's Kiss

Chapter One: Dreams & Memories

**This is my original copyrighted work. I will only post on Wattpad. Do not copy or repost to any other apps. If you find this story on another app, please let me know so I can have it taken down. Whoever is stealing my stories, please kindly get a life. There are plenty of AI chatbots out there that can write stories for you if you aren't creative enough to come up with your own.**

Seventeen-year-old Antonia Daley stared at her nineteen-year-old boyfriend, Maverick Silva, in disbelief. "What do you mean you're moving to New York?"

"I got into John Jay College. I'm leaving at the end of the month." He nervously drummed his fingers on his desk. "You know you're gonna get into Juilliard next year; they've already offered you a place when you graduate. We'll get a place together when you come to NYC, like we planned." He finally met her eyes, and she swallowed, trying to hide her feelings, but as always, he saw right through her. "Come on, Toni, it's only a year of long-distance, and we'll be together all the time again. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah, Mave. I know; I just thought you were gonna wait for me like we planned." Toni allowed herself to be hugged but returned it half-heartedly.

"I know." He pulled back and ran his fingers through her chin-length honey-blonde hair. "But Dad is pushing for me to go, says two years out of school is too long. I don't have a lot of choice if I want it paid for."

"Promise me you'll come home and see me as much as you can." She pouted, knowing there was no way to change his plans.

"I promise. And you can come to see me in NYC. It's just a five-hour train ride or an hour-and-a-half flight." He smiled, and Toni felt herself melt. Those dimples and the way his gray eyes crinkled at the corners always did her in. She rubbed her hands through his sandy brown curls, messing them up and smiled back at him, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach.

Toni came awake with a gasp. Her fiance, Dallas McCoy, grunted in his sleep, and his arm slid off her waist as he rolled over and faced away from her. A deep sense of loss filled her, and she looked at the clock. It was only four in the morning, but she knew she wasn't going to get back to sleep. She pushed the blankets off and slid out of bed, tiptoeing; she went over to the dresser, got her pyjamas and pulled them on. Grabbing her tablet and wedding binder, she let herself out of the room quietly, leaving Dallas to sleep and went to put on the kettle.

After she had made her tea, she went out onto the balcony of the condo and tried to concentrate on finalizing a few plans for her wedding in late December, but Maverick's face on the day they broke up kept interfering. She had gone down to New York after several weeks of feeling something was off and to talk to him in person about her change of plans. But when she unlocked the apartment, she found it in a mess from a party the night before and walked into his bedroom to find him in bed with a girl. She took a picture of it and left, texting him the picture from the train and telling him never to contact her again before blocking him. He hadn't listened and showed up at her house early the next morning, looking like he never slept and begging for a chance to explain. She reluctantly went for a walk with him and listened to what he had to say.

"I swear nothing happened, Toni." He ran his hands anxiously through his hair. "I would never hurt you like that."

"Then why was she in your bed naked?" Antonia was proud of how she held it together in the moment because she had been falling apart since leaving the apartment.

"I don't know, I wasn't naked. I woke up with her there when I got your text." He reached out and gripped her arm tightly. "I love you. I would have never let her sleep over if I knew she meant in my bed."