CONSUME

[48] exposed

***

kameron springfield

As soon as those words left his mouth, every single cell in my body went still. The blood inside of me went ice cold, and I couldn't feel the beating of my heart behind my chest. As if I was dead for a second.

"T-The what?" I whispered, looking at Axel. It took every bit of courage within me to even speak.

"Kam, come on. I didn't send anyone the video," Axel defended himself. "Brad took my phone, and he went through it like a total asshole, and I beat his ass for it."

So that's why Bradley's got bruises and cut marks all over his face. Clearly Axel didn't spare him. But that doesn't change anything.

He could kill Bradley and I'd still be disgustingly upset about this. Chilly, uncomfortable bumps rose on my skin, and I started to feel nauseated by the thoughts of the video being seen by Brad.

"Hey, it's your fault for giving your phone to me unlocked. Of course I was going to go through your camera roll," Brad spoke smugly. "If you have a sex-tape, do you expect me not to send it in our group chat?"

"Sex-tape?!" Noah said, baffled.

"Group chat?" I could feel my body literally giving out with shame and betrayal. "Y-You sent that in a group chat?"

"It was just us," Brad was talking as if none of this matters. Like it's not a big deal. "Me, Jake, the triplets. Don't sweat it."

"You both knew?" I snapped my neck to look at Aidan and Austin. Neither of them held eye contact with me. I feel totally exposed, as if I'm standing here naked. Even though I'm not, everybody here has still seen me in that state. And now that we're talking about it, it seems like everyone's thinking about me in that way. "You fucking knew, and you saw that video, and you didn't tell me?" I asked Aidan and Austin once more.

"Kameron," Axel said but I cringed at his voice even saying my name. "I would never show that to anyone. It wasn't my fault, okay? Brad took my phone--"

"You're a fucking piece of shit, Axel, and I hope you die." I said with zero hesitation. "You're standing here and blaming me for the stupid list, and claiming that I'm using you, and all of that other bullshit, meanwhile that video--" I stopped, feeling myself about to cry. I held back my tears though, because if I cried in front of all of these losers on top of all of this, I might just truly be permanently humiliated.

"I just told you it wasn't my fault!"

"It is your fault!" I screamed. "You should've been more careful with the video! Or here's an idea: Maybe you should hang around people that you can actually trust! You shouldn't be friends with assholes who sexualize and disrespect your girlfriend! You can't say that you love me, and then just allow me to be humiliated like this!" I bit my lip to stop it from shaking and crying.

"You fucked up too, you know!" Axel shouted back. I turned around, and Noah held my arm as we started to walk away but Axel followed. The other guys stood by the car as we started to leave. "You can't act like everything I just said doesn't matter," Axel said, referring to the list.

"Fuck you!" I pushed Noah away and walked up to Axel.

I can see in his eyes that he's remorseful. They're filled with guilt, and pain. He knows that he fucked up. I can see it. I can read him. I always can read him. He tries to hide his emotions from me but he can't.

They're too strong to conceal.

But his words always collide and contradict his truth.

"Fuck you," He repeated. "I thought what we had was real! I guess I'm just an idiot!"