The Hart Game

Chapter Forty-Two

CASSIE

I know something is wrong when I turn into my driveway. I've been trying to prepare myself for this moment since the day I made that stupid bet with Christian. But I wasn't prepared for the heartbroken look on Luke's face. That was the first thing I saw when I turned into the driveway. The second was Christian walking away from him . And I knew then that I was in the deepest shit I've ever been in.

Christian had just told Luke about the bet.

Shit.

I can't breathe. When I stop the car, I don't get out right away. If I did, I would have to endear the impending explosion I know is coming. But if I don't, that explosion would get bigger and bigger and uncontrollable, beyond the point of being catastrophic. So I take my chances, I ready myself and I get out of my car. And I walk to where Luke is standing, so still you'd think he was a statue. When I'm finally standing a good five feet away from him, afraid to get closer, he still doesn't move or say anything.

"Hey." I say, my voice sounding small and terrified, I don't even recognize it. I used to be this tough, no-nonsense, don't take shit from nobody, type of girl. I could stare down the barrel of a gun and don't blink. I could take down the biggest and strongest guy anyone throws at me without even breaking a sweat. But the dead silence of the guy I am completely in love with. That-I can't take.

A minute goes by. Two. Three. I know this because I'm counting every damn second it goes by without hearing his voice. And because every second feels like hours-days-years, all I want is for him to turn around and look at me the way he always did. The way he always does. With the love and respect and admiration I know I don't deserve.

"Luke." God, I hated sounding so small and broken. Like I want to hide under the blankets from the Big Dad Wolf. I wasn't that person. I was always the big bad wolf. The people I tortured had that voice when coming face to face with the legend they called, 'Little Wolf.'

"Is it true?" He finally says just as I was about to lift my hand to touch him. As if he felt me the moment I decided to move towards him. I flinch at hearing the pain in his voice. Pain. I put that pain there.

"Luke?"

"How can you do this?" He was now looking at me. The animosity he held in his eyes weren't something I was used to. It wasn't even there when he'd found out that I knew that his father was mafia just like mine.

"Do what?" I ask hearing my voice break, knowing full well what he was asking.

"You lied to me! Was this all just a joke to you?" His voice gets louder. I'm suddenly scared that Teddy and Bryan would hear. But I'm sure they can't. I don't need to worry about Christian, he wanted this.

"Luke-" I try to say but he interrupts. His anger coming off him in waves.

"The bet Cassie! This was all for a fucking bet?!" He gestures between us. I knew he didn't need an answer but my silence was a good enough answer for him. He cursed. "It's true then. You went out with me for a bet?"

"It wasn't like that!" I try to tell him the truth but he wasn't having it.

"It wasn't like you played me this whole time? I told you everything! I was being true to you!"

"So was I!" I scream at him just so he could see the truth. But what stared back at me was pure disbelief. I had broken his trust. I had broken his loyalty. And I was sent back to our first date. I had just made his greatest fear come life.

"Really?" He said quietly as if every fighting muscle in him was ripped away from him. He was defeated. "Didn't sound that way when Christian was telling me every footnote, every blueprint, every fucking manipulative idea, every little detail of your plan to make me fall in love with you by Christmas."

"Luke, please." I plead, tears running down my cheek, feeling as if someone was ripping my heart out of my chest with their bare hands, throwing it to the ground and started stomping unapologetically-crushing it into nothingness. Nonexistence. I couldn't breathe.

"You lied to me." he seethed. His voice not sounding like the Luke I love.

"No. Please, Luke just let me explain-"

"I never want to speak to you." And like that, the self destruct button was pushed on my heart. Ten.

"Luke" My voice was broken. So tiny. How can one person crush your heart so easily without even trying? Nine. Eight.

"I never want to see you!" Seven.

"Please-" Six,

"I never want to even think about you." Five.

"Luke" I couldn't stop it.

"I wish I never laid eyes on you." Four. It just kept going, no matter how many wires I tried to cut to stop it.

"I wish I never gave you the time of day, like my gut told me to." Three. I close my eyes, suddenly unable to witness the particular part of my life. Unable to see him pull away from me, second by second.

"I should've listened to the voice inside my head that told me to stay away from you." Two.

"Please, Luke." One.

"I hate you."

Like many explosions, nothing of my heart was left.

I don't know how long I was standing there but I was there long after Luke turned around without looking back and went to his car. The sound of his car door slamming making me flinch. I was there long after I heard the car engine turn on. And long after I stopped hearing his car going down the road and disappear. I was there long after Teddy came to see if I was okay. Long after he called Dean and asked him to try to talk to me.

Long before five SUV's come rolling into the driveway. Long before hearing the SUV doors open and close. Long before I felt a lot of people surrounding me.

"Cassiopeia," There's only one person that voice belongs to. "Why on Gods Earth are you standing here in the driveway in the middle of the night?"

Rodrick Pellegrino had just arrived at the place he hasn't stepped foot at since my mom died. This should be fun.

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Short Chapter I know.....

But let me tell you something, this chapter is the scene I first thought of the Hart Game. This chapter is what made the Hart Game, the Hart Game.

And it's short because I was crying the whole time..... Don't judge me.......

Anyways,

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