The Fault (Book 3 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 27: goes black

Chris

~~~~~~~~~~~

I sit in the living room of my parent's house and try my best to be as happy as I can. But it was so fucking hard to keep up the act. I just kept thinking about Dakota's face when she saw Brooke in my room. It was the most painful experience of my life.

How could I fuck so bad? What was I thinking? What's wrong with me?

"You alright, Christopher?" My dad asks me, breaking me away from my thoughts.

I force a smile and nod, "Yeah, I'm just tired." I tell him.

"Uncle Chris, can you take me to the park?" Olivia asks.

I didn't feel like doing anything but I didn't want to let down Olivia.

"Sure." I say as I get up.

"Yay!" She cheers as she runs up to me.

I smile as I pick her up in my arms.

"I'll come with you." Jonah says.

"Alright." I say.

"Be back before dinner." Mom says.

"I don't need a curfew, Mom." I joke.

She laughs and shakes her hand before me and Jonah make our way out of the house. The park was only a few blocks away. So it only took a few minutes to get there.

Once we get there Liv doesn't waste a second, she goes running to the play set while me and Jonah sit on the bench nearby, watching her.

I stare at her as she slides down the slide, laughing. I hope no guy ever treats that little girl the way I treated Dakota. I hated myself for what I did to her, it made me sick even thinking about it.

"What's going on with you, man?" Jonah asks.

"Nothing." I say.

"I know you well enough to know when something is up." He says.

I sigh as I look over at him, he gives me a sad look. I didn't want to tell him what happened. I just hoped that if I never talked about it, then it never happened.

"I fucked up." I say.

He frowns, waiting for me to go on.

"That girl, the one I liked. I think I was in love with her but I messed things up with her, Jonah. Like big time." I tell him as I look back at Olivia.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad." He says.

I shake my head, "I slept with her friend." I admit.

He doesn't say anything, I didn't expect him to.

"She ended things with me so I got drunk and slept with her friend. She came to my house the next day to explain herself, but instead, she came to see her friend half-naked in my room." I explain.

"Jesus." he sighs.

"What made it even worse was the fact that she told me she should've known that I'd done something like that. She told me that she was glad that we never slept together." I say as the tears form in my eyes, "It was like she wasn't surprised, she was just mad that she let herself believe that I wouldn't do that." I go on.

"She didn't mean it like that, man." Jonah says.

"Yeah, she did. She's right, I'm a terrible person, Jonah. I'm known for sleeping around, it's who I am. And she knew that that's why she said that. She didn't want to be another girl I fucked." I explain.

"You aren't a bad person, Chris." He says.

I lean down and place my arms on my knees and sigh.

"I hurt her. I promised her that I would never hurt her the way her ex hurt her. But I hurt her even more." I say.

"It was a mistake, Chris. We all make them." He says.

"Why did I do it? Why did I sleep with someone else the same night?" I say, "When Taylor found out that Garrett made a bet on her, he didn't go fuck someone else. And he used to sleep around too, but he didn't sleep with anyone else after all of that." I tell him.

"You can't compare Taylor and Garrett to you and this girl." He says.

"I just don't understand why I did it." I say.

"You did it because you didn't know how else to react." He says.

"I could've easily just gone up to my room and slept. But no, I had to bring another girl with me." I say.

"Chris, stop being so hard on yourself. It's over now, you have to move on." He tells me.

I don't say anything as I look at Olivia laughing as she plays on the playground. She found a friend, another boy. He looked around her age, he was pushing her on the swing.

"I hope Olivia never has to deal with someone like me when she's older." I say.

Jonah sighs as he pats my back.

I lost the one girl I truly cared about. The one girl who excited me, the one girl who invaded my thoughts, who made me see life outside of partying and hockey. I lost all of it. And I don't think I'll ever get it back.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I skate across the ice and slip past my dad and Jonah before I hit the puck straight into the goal.

"Wooo!" I cheer.

I turn around and see Jonah and my dad groan.

"Ha, told ya. I still got it. It." I brag.

My dad laughs, "Yes, you do, son." He smiles.

"That's because you play hockey in your free time, you have way more experience." Jonah says.

I shrug as I spin in a circle. I quickly stop spinning because it was making my head pound, I breathe heavily as I stop spinning. I was already tired and we didn't even play much, it was just a quick round. I probably didn't drink enough water today.

We were at my old highschool hockey rink, it was so nostalgic being here. This is where my whole hockey journey began. In this exact rink.

"Uncle Chris, look!" I hear Olivia's voice.

I turn my head and watch her and Jess step onto the ice, Jess was holding her daughter's hand as Olivia tries to balance.

I laugh before I skate over to them.

"This is scary." Olivia says.

"No, it's not. Here, I'll help you." I tell her as I bend down and take her hands into mine.

Jess smiles at me before she skates over to Jonah.

"One foot at a time, Liv. Just slide it right and then left." I tell her as I slowly slide backwards.

She grabs my hand tightly, I didn't know a 4 year old could have such a strong grip. Damn.

She slowly moves her feet and I smile at her.

"Am I doing it?" She asks.

"You're a natural." I tell her.

I don't think she knew the difference between left and right, because she just kept moving her right foot. But I just pulled her forward as I moved backwards so she'd think she was doing it.

"Olivia, you're doing great." My dad cheers her on.

I laugh as I continue to move her across the ice. I continue to move backwards before I feel everything start to spin. My head felt heavy for some reason. I look at Olivia and see her smiling at me but I couldn't focus my eyes on her face. I could feel so many things but also nothing at the same time.

"Chris?" I hear a faint voice.

I let go of Olivia's hands and try to stand up straight but everything goes black.