Running Away With The Bad Boy

Arriving

Maddox POV 

Finally, Charli got better, and the next day we arrived in LA. 

We reached the final hotel that we were going to stay at before we got to my apartment. We all parked our motorcycles together in the parking lot, and Clayton put his arm around Larie. 

"Well," he said, "I guess this is where we part." 

Charli's eyes got big, and she looked from me to Larie. Oops. I realized I hadn't told her what had gone down between Larie and Blake. 

"I'm going to take care of my girl from now on," Clayton continued. "She's told me all of the crap that you guys have put her through, and she's going to come live with me in my apartment. I'm already an established artist in this city, so I'll be able to take good care of her, unlike some people." He looked pointedly at Blake.

Blake smiled sarcastically at him. "Good luck with that," he said. He turned to me and added, "Good riddance. I don't need a b*tch like that dragging me down. Let him deal with her drama."

Charli was still staring in disbelief. "Wait, what?" she said, looking at Blake. "But—but—Larie told me that she was in love with you! She told me that that was why she was coming to LA with us! To be with you, Blake!" 

I laughed a little. "So she lied to you to, huh?" 

"What?" said Charli. 

"Listen," I said, turning away from Blake and cupping her face. "You don't understand the world, you're too naive. You can't trust anybody." 

Charli looked kind of scared, but I stroked the side of her face and she relaxed a bit. "But I thought Blake promised to take care of her once we got here." 

"Yeah, so?" 

"So he's just going back on his promise, now?" 

"He's allowed to," I said. "Larie was a bad girlfriend. Blake shouldn't stay with her after what she did to him." I was annoyed that she would take Larie's side after Larie cheated on Blake. 

Charli's voice trembled. "But if Blake just left Larie like that, then..." 

She didn't finish her sentence, but her eyes welled up, and I knew what she had been about to say. She had been going to say, "then you might leave me too." 

I knew I should comfort her and tell her that that would never happen, but something in my head said, If she's taking Larie's side, then maybe Charli will cheat on you too. 

No. I couldn't go through that, not again. I'd been cheated on before, and my heart couldn't take that pain again. I looked into Charli's tear-filled eyes and saw the girl I loved crying...but I steeled my heart. 

I had fallen too fast for this girl. She could hurt me. 

"Let's go," was all I said, and I hurried into the hotel.