Shaded ✔️

CHAPTER 15

My head was flooded with memories. Me and Anastasia as little girls in our ballet outfits, our first day of high school, the first time we snuck into a club party, the night she bailed me out of jail because I was too scared to call Nate.  I remembered all the nights we spent on the back of a motorcycle, our hands in the air, laughing as we looked at each other from across the road.  I remember all the trouble we got ourselves in, the nights we stared at the ceiling of my bedroom, talking about the day we would finally leave this town.  I remembered all the times I had wished she would come back after she left, now she was finally here and I barely recognized her. She looked the same, but I was seeing her differently. I no longer saw my best friend, the girl who was basically my sister. Now all I saw when I looked at her was the person that betrayed me in the worst possible way.

Both their eyes flew to where I was standing in the doorway. I met the once familiar honey coloured eyes of my former best friend and felt the rage run through my body. They were sitting at the table, Val's hand dropping hers as he realized I was standing there. He was in front of me in a second.

"Jesus Christ Scar your face.  Are you okay?" He reached out to me but I pulled away. He saw the anger in my eyes.

"Scar, please don't freak out. This isn't what it looks like." I looked at him, feeling my anger fade into betrayal.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I could hear the disbelief in my voice.

"Please, let me explain." It wasn't Val. It was her. The sound of her voice used to be comforting to me, but now it left me seeing red. 

"Don't fucking speak to me. If you wanted to explain, you would have answered one of the 500 goddamn voicemails I left you before you changed your number. I have nothing to say to you." I looked her dead in the eye, watching the hope in them fade away. Before she could say anything else I was being dragged outside by Val.

"Get your fucking hands off me."

"Look I know this is a shock-"

"That's what you think this is? A shock? Shocked is not getting a call or even a fucking text message from you after I was kidnapped.  Shocked is hearing Jax talking on the phone, keeping secrets from me for the only person I thought I could actually trust. Not coming home to see you playing fucking house with the person who basically left me for dead." I saw the pain in his eyes as he remembered what happened the night she left. He reached out to me but I pulled away.

"There is a reason for all of this Scar, if you just let me explain." I felt my hands start to shake. My vision flashed with red. I didn't know what I was doing until I felt my fist collide with the wall beside Val's head, the skin around my knuckles cracking. I barely felt it.

"I don't want to hear it. I'm done with her. If you stick around with her then I'm done with you too." I regretted saying those words the second they left my mouth. I knew I didn't really mean it, and even though I couldn't stand the idea of her coming back into my life, I would do it for Val. I saw the hurt cross his face, before it turned to anger.

"It would be that easy for you to just drop me? No explanation, nothing?" I wanted to tell him that I would never, that I couldn't lose him too, but the words were stuck in my throat. So I did what I always do, I pushed him away.

"I'm not going to sit around and watch while you fuck around with the person that fucking ruined me. Don't try to turn this around and make me look like the bad guy when you're the one sneaking around behind my back, lying to me and sleeping with the goddamn enemy."

"It wasn't the right time to tell you, you were all messed up. But you're doing so much better now, and I was going to tell you everything Scarlett I swear. I didn't want to sneak around or lie to you, but it was the best thing for you at the time. I didn't have a choice." I laughed darkly, a telltale sign that I was about to lose my shit.  I barked out an angry laugh.  

"You really believe that don't you? That not telling me was in my best interest and not your own." I shook my head, turning to walk away.

"She's pregnant, Scarlett." I paused, but I didn't turn around to face him. My mind forced me back to all the times me and Anastasia had talked about what would happen if we got married and had kids. The way she held out her pinky and made me promise that I would make her my maid of honor and the godmother of my kid. My heart hurt at the memory, but I forced it away.

"So what? You're going to make her your old lady and I'm going to have to see her fucking face everyday? It doesn't change anything, Val. I meant what I said. I'm done with her."

"The kid isn't mine, Scar." I turned around to look at him. He was looking at the floor. He only avoided eye contact if shit was bad. I walked up to him, grabbing his chin roughly and making him look at me. His eyes were watery. He looked fucking broken.

"I'm going to say it one more time, Val. Tell me what the fuck is going on."

"The kid...it's Nate's."