Shifting Gears || cl16/ln4

Gear Fifty

A/N:
hey guys!! sorry that it took me so long to update again. I'm back from my holiday trip and hope to get back onto writing more frequently.
Enjoy <3

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(Start playing 'exile' by Taylor Swift)

The words hung in the air, each one like a knife twisting deeper into my gut. My stomach turned and twisted, tears threatening to well up in my eyes. Confusion overwhelmed me, rendering me speechless.

I could still see it so clearly in my mind — the way he had walked into the paddock, Camilla's hand firmly clasped in his, their fingers entwined as if they belonged together. The image of them like that, so close, so intimate, had burned itself into my memory. It had been weeks since I had heard from him, weeks of unanswered messages and phone calls that went straight to voicemail. And then, out of nowhere, there he was, parading her around like nothing had changed, like we had meant nothing.

A part of me had died that day, standing there in the paddock, watching them. It felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped out my heart, leaving a gaping, bleeding wound that I had no idea how to heal. I had tried to make sense of it, to rationalize what I was seeing, but nothing about it had been logical. Charles had always been distant with Camilla, cold even, his interactions with her more mechanical than affectionate. It had never made sense to me that they were together, that they were a couple. But I had tried to accept it, to push down the hurt and move on.

Now, as he stood before me, the truth finally came crashing down. None of it had been real. Every interaction between them, every carefully staged moment, had been nothing but a lie.

My mind raced, a whirlwind of emotions tearing through me — anger, sorrow, disbelief, all swirling together into a storm that I couldn't control. The world started to spin around me, the room closing in, my chest tightening with panic. It felt like the air was being sucked out of the room, leaving me gasping for breath, desperate for some kind of clarity, some kind of explanation that could make sense of this mess.

Through the haze of my emotions, I saw Charles reach out for me, his eyes filled with regret and desperation. His hand extended towards mine, a gesture that was meant to comfort, to bridge the gap between us, but all it did was ignite a deep-seated fear inside me. My body reacted instinctively, recoiling from his touch as if it burned. My heart pounded in my chest, fear and anger tightening like a vise around my ribs.

"Don't touch me!" I cried out, my voice sharp and trembling, laced with a mixture of fury and pain that I could no longer suppress.

Charles flinched at the intensity of my words, but he didn't stop. "Willow, please," he pleaded, his voice cracking with emotion. He took a hesitant step closer, his face etched with desperation, his eyes begging for understanding. "I need you to understand."

But all I could feel was panic rising within me, the sight of him coming closer only fueling the storm inside me. His presence now only brought back the bitter taste of betrayal. My pulse quickened, and every muscle in my body tensed, ready to bolt, to escape the situation before it could hurt me even more.

"Don't come closer!" I yelled, my voice echoing in the empty garage, bouncing off the cold, sterile walls. The sound of it surprised even me, so loud, so raw. Charles froze, his hand dropping to his side, eyes wide with pain. "I'm sorry," he murmured, the words almost lost in the echoing silence of the garage. "Willow, please listen. It was never supposed to be like this. Our PR managers... they made a deal. I couldn't risk you losing your seat. They thought if I was seen with Camilla, it would deflect attention from us. They thought it would protect you."

PR managers? For a moment, his words didn't register. They hovered in the air, distant and surreal, like they belonged to someone else's story, not mine. My mind struggled to connect the dots, to make sense of the betrayal that had cut so deeply into me. "Protect me?" I repeated, my voice trembling, each syllable laced with disbelief. "By lying to me? By making me feel like I was nothing? How is that protecting me, Charles?"