The Bet (Book 1 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 33: don't leave, Garrett

Taylor

~~~~~~~

I stare at the door I just slammed in Garrett's voice. My heart was beating so fucking fast, he showed up. He came.

"Taylor?" I hear Lily's voice.

I turn around and see her looking at me.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"No." I say before I walk to my room, closing the door behind me.

I fall onto my bed and sigh as I run my fingers through my hair. What the fuck? God, he needs to get out of my head.

I needed help.

I laid in my room, staring at my ceiling for an hour or two, it was pouring outside. It was one of those rainy, depressing nights. I looked out of my window before I heard Jake's voice from outside.

"I need to talk to Taylor!" He yells before my bedroom door bursts open.

I quickly sit up and see Jake soaking wet with a worried look on his face.

"Garrett got into an accident." He says.

And just like that everything around me stopped. It went quiet.

I stared at Jake in shock.

I get up and push him out of the way before I run out to see Brennen talking to Lily.

They both look at me.

"Taylor." He says.

I ignore him before I grab my purse and keys.

"Taylor, wait." Brennen says as he grabs my arm.

"Let go of me, Brennen." I snap.

"I'll take you to the hospital." He says.

"I said let go of me." I told him again.

"Brennen." Jake warnt.

Brennen looks at Jake before letting go of my arm.

I turn and walk out of the apartment. I run down the stairs and run into the pouring rain as I get into my car.

I speed down the road to the hospital. Praying that he was okay.

Please. Please don't leave, Garrett.

Once I reach the hospital, I park and get out, I don't waste a second before I start sprinting to the entrance. I ran inside, soaking wet. I go up to the front desk and the lady looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Garrett Gray, I need to see him." I say.

"Who are you?" She asks.

"Taylor Perez. His girlfriend." I tell her.

She nods before typing at her keyboard.

"Oh my god, just tell me where the fuck he is!" I snap.

She looks up at me.

"Ma'm, I will not allow you to see him if you use that kind of language." She says.

"Yeah, alright. I'd like to see you calm when the love of your life is in the fucking hospital!" I yell at her.

She goes to speak but gets cut off by another voice.

"Tay-Tay!"

I turn my head and see Chris running up to me.

"Chris." I say as he reaches me and hugs me.

We pull away and he looks at the front desk lady.

"She's with me." He says.

The lady rolls her eyes before grabbing the visitor sticker and handing it to me. I take it and put it on my shirt before Chris leads me Garretts room.

"He was drunk and he was crossing the street but there was a drunk driver who hit him." Chris explains.

I feel an ache in my body.

It was my fault, I said put all that shit into his head and now he's in the hospital.

We stop outside of a room and Chris looks at me.

"He loves you, Taylor. He's never been like this because of a girl." He says.

I look down at my feet, not sure what to say.

"Go in, I'll stay out here." He says.

I nod before I suck in my lips and walk in.

He was asleep on the bed, I walked closer to him and noticed all the cuts and bruises on his face and that's when I broke. Tears run down my face like a waterfall as I sit at the edge of the bed.

He slowly opens his eyes and focuses his gaze on me.

"Tay-Tay?" He whispers.

Sobs leave my mouth.

"Don't cry." He mutters.

"What were you thinking, Garrett?" I cry as I stand up and look down at him.

He doesn't say anything.

"What if I lost you?" I ask.

He stares at me.

"You hate me." He says.

I shake my head.

"Yeah, I hate you but I love you more." I say as I cry harder.

"You still love me?" he asks.

I sob.

"Of course I do." I tell him.

I watch a smile appear on his busted up lip.

"Tay-Tay has a crush on me." He sneers.

I let out a small laugh as I wiped my tears.

"I hate seeing you cry." He says as he takes my hand into his.

I feel goosebumps the second our skin touches. It was like my skin had been waiting for him.

The door opens and I quickly pull my hand away from him as the rest of the roommates plus Lily walk in. Brennen looks back and forth between Garrett and I, but I just play it off like it was nothing.

I pull a chair up and sit next to Garrett and everyone starts to lighten up again as we start to talk again.
We stayed there for a while, just catching up, it's been weeks since we last hung out like this. It was nice to be here with these people.