The Bet (Book 1 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 40: defending and mistakes

Garrett

~~~~~~~

"I Love You, I'm Sorry"- Gracie Abrams

I stand outside of Taylor's apartment contemplating whether I should knock or not.

I wasn't drunk. I was sober but I still ended up at her doorstep. I just wanted to see her. One more time.

I try to stay quiet, hoping maybe I'd at least hear her voice or her laugh. Anything.

I sigh before I sit down on the floor, leaning my back on the wall next to the door. I fidget with the bandage wrapped around my fucked up knuckles. I glance at the door every few seconds, hoping she'd walk out of that door. I stare at the door and think about the time I showed up here after my father beat me up. She held me in her arms and took care of me. Right here, in this exact hallway was where I fell into her arms seeking help.

I smile to myself as I think back to that day. The day I realized I was falling for her.

I sit there for a while before the door opens, my head jolts in the direction of the door and see Lily walk out.

She jumps when she sees me. I quickly get up to my feet and see her sigh in disappointment when I look at her.

"Go home, Garrett." She says as she locks the door.

"I just want to see her, Lily." I tell her.

"She's not here right now." She replies as she begins to make her way to the elevator at the end of the hallway.

"Lily, I love her. Please, believe me, I didn't want any of this to happen like this." I try to explain as I follow her down the hall.

She stops in her tracks and turns to face me. I study her angry face and get ready to get slapping in the face. But she doesn't.

"You fucking humiliated her, Garrett. She was in love with you, she trusted you. But you made her feel like a fool." She snaps at me.

I sigh, I wish she slapped me instead of saying the truth. It hurt me too much.

"She means everything to me." I choke out.

"If that were true, you wouldn't have used her as a bet." She says as she walks away.

I stand there and want to die. She was right. I should've told her the second I realized I wasn't faking anything but I didn't. I deserved everything that was happening to me right now.

I make my way to campus, hoping she'd be around here somewhere. I wandered aimlessly around the entire campus, I looked like an idiot but I didn't care.

"Yo! Gray!" I hear someone yell.

I turn around and see Eli running up to me. I haven't talked to him in a while, he wasn't as close to me.

"Hey." I say as he reaches me.

"What's up, man? How have you been? I haven't seen you in a minute." He smiles.

"I've been alright, I guess. What about you?" I ask as I stuff my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

"I'm good, man. Hey, you should come to the party tonight at my place. It's nothing too crazy but it'd be nice to see you there." He explains.

I think about it for a moment. I knew I should probably just go home because I wasn't in the right state of mind to be going to parties right now. But parties equal booze and weed. I can work with that

"Sure, why not?" I say

He smiles, "Great, see ya tonight." He says before he walks off.

~~~~~~