That Girl (A Derek Hale Love Story)

Chapter 40

EDITED 

Haylie waited until she was sure everyone was asleep.

Then she pulled her coat on over her dress that she hadn't even bothered to take off since she got home and she opened her bedroom window. She climbed out and hit the floor with the same amount of grace she always had.

She didn't walk far. Knew she wouldn't need to.

Derek climbed out of his car the second he saw her turn the corner onto the next street over. "I didn't know if you wanted to see me." He confessed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he let the car door shut. Realising she wouldn't be climbing in with him.

She stared at him for a moment. Trying to picture the man she had fallen in love with but being stuck with all the bad things he had done instead.

In the silence he took a step forward. "What I said in the cell. That wasn't about us. I said that because I was angry with Scott." She still said nothing as she stared at him. "I never should have gone with Peter. I did it because I believed him." She could have laughed at that. That he was also fooled because he trusted the wrong person. "Maybe I didn't believe him. Maybe I just wanted it to be true." His confession didn't do anything to make her feel guilty. She didn't try to see his side. She was done doing that. "He said he would help me keep you safe. Everything I have done, is to keep you safe. You know that."

"I won Formal Fairy tonight." She suddenly said. Her voice unrecognisable to him.

He didn't take any more steps closer, just frowned. "What the hell is that?"

"I won and it made me happy." She whispered the confession. "Because for the first time in what feels like forever, I felt like me again." The first tear fell but she didn't wipe it away. She wanted him to see it. "And I realised I only stopped feeling like me, when you came into my life."

The fact her voice was so unfamiliar to him terrified him. "That's not fair." He suddenly said. "We were happy, you can't pretend like we weren't." She didn't respond. She just stared at him, wiling him to see the damage he had caused. And he did. "So, you won some stupid high school formal crown." He suddenly spoke with anger but she didn't flinch. "That isn't real." He urged. "You're telling me I ruined your life because for five minutes you won some stupid popularity contest."

"You ruined it." She suddenly said, not being able to stand him belittling her. "And you ruined me!" He froze. "You ruined me. You promised that you loved me and you wouldn't leave me. You promised that it was real. That without a doubt I was yours and you were mine and you lied! You chose Peter over me. You took Scott life away from him so you could be the alpha. It was supposed to be you and me against the world and you didn't even give me a choice. You chose for me."

He nodded. "I need you to trust me." He took another step but she stepped back with a laugh he had never heard from her. It was cruel.

"Trust you? I'll never trust you again." He tried to keep his emotions in check as she stared at him. He didn't want her to see what her words were doing to him. "You ruin things Derek and for what? You always said you didn't deserve me and I think that's why you did this. It had nothing to do with protecting me, keeping me safe, loving me. It was about you. Well, I'm not going to let you turn me into the kind of girl that you think you deserve. Because I'm better." He flinched at that. "I'm better than this, and I'm better than you."

He wasn't strong enough to stop her as she turned away. Because she was so wrong about his reasons, but she had gotten the last bit right. She was better than him.