The Bet (Book 1 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 28: light and dark

Garrett

~~~~~~~

"ghost boy"- Lil Peep

When I was a kid, I picked up a hockey stick for the first time. I completely fell in love with it. It was the one thing I had in life, it was my way of getting out of that house, away from him. It was my escape. My brother, on the other hand, hated it. He saw it as another thing my father could control. My father was the one who wanted him to play hockey, Connie was good at it but he didn't love it the way I did. I knew my father wanted control over my hockey career but I didn't want to give it to him.

I couldn't let him take the one thing I had away from me the way he took my brother. Hockey and my brother was all I had growing up. But he ruined it, so I made sure to protect my love for hockey. I did a pretty good job of it, he never got a chance to ruin it for me.

But now, I have Taylor. She was beyond this world. She was like a bright light, saving me from the dark tunnel I was lost in. I knew I couldn't keep the bet a secret any longer, she was gonna have to find out. I couldn't hide something this big like this from her.

It's been a couple of days since I saw her, it was Christmas, it was her favorite holiday. I haven't talked to her at all, I've just been ignoring her texts and calls because the guilt was eating me inside.

I sit across from Carson at a table in McDonalds, staring at my barely touched food. I don't have an appetite right now. Carson and I always meet up when I'm back in town, it was like a tradition to meet up at McDonalds. When we were in highschool we'd come here all the time, especially after fights with my dad.

"You're wasting good food, man." He says as he stuffs a chicken nugget in his mouth.

"I feel too sick to eat right now." I tell him, keeping my gaze on my food.

He sighs as he leans back in his chair. I finally look at him and see him giving me a look I was familiar with. He wanted me to tell him what the hell was going on with me.

"I think I'm falling for her, man. And it's killing me because I'm hiding such a big secret." I explain to him.

He chuckles and shakes his head as I frown at him.

"Glad you find my misery entertaining." I snap at him.

"I'm just laughing because last time we talked about this. You said that you'd never fall for her." He reminds me.

I sigh as I run my hand through my hair, "Yeah, well... I fucked up. I was done for the second I met her."

He smiles, "I'm glad you realized."

"I don't know what to do. I'm losing my mind. You should've seen the way she hit my father that night. The second I saw her screaming and hitting him... I just... I don't even know how to explain it." I tell him as I try to figure out what I was trying to say.

"You fell in love with her." He speaks for me.

I looked at him, it felt so weird hearing someone say that to me. I've never been in love with anyone before. I didn't think I'd even make this far in life.

"Yeah, I love her." I admit.

"So, what are you going to do about it? Keep ignoring her?" He asks.

I shrug, "How could someone like her be in love with someone like me?"

He sighs, "Because you're not your father, Garrett. You need to stop telling yourself that. You are not him."

"How could anyone love me if my own father couldn't?" I whisper.

"Because your father doesn't know how to love someone. But you do. You love this girl, I know this because for once you actually don't want to hurt a girl's feelings." He explains.

"I don't want to lose her. I can't go back to my life before her. I just can't." I say as I shake my head.

"Well, you will if you don't fucking text her right now." He snaps at me.

I sigh before looking at my phone that was sitting on the table, taunting me. He was right, if I didn't want to lose her I needed to fight for her. The way she fought for me against my father.