How Living with the Bad Boy Saved My Life

Chapter Twenty Four

"Say something please, you've not spoken to me in nearly two hours" Hunter whispered.

I momentarily squeezed my eyes shut welcoming the darkness the action brought. When I opened my eyes again, Hunter was staring at me intently clearly waiting for some kind of response from me. What did he expect? Did he think I was going to be utterly delighted at the fact he was potentially leaving and moving to the other side of the world.

Heartbroken wasn't even the right term to use.

I felt like my whole world had been grabbed from underneath my feet and I came crashing down with it.

"What do you want me to say, Hunter?" I sighed.

"Come on, don't be like that. The decision isn't definite yet so we can't act like it is. Let's just enjoy tonight then we can talk about everything tomorrow."

I scoffed at his brazenness, "Are you being fucking serious? You've just told me you're moving across the world and you want me to have sex with you!"

"What? No! I didn't mean that, I...uh...fuck, Harper, why are you being so difficult tonight?" He accused.

"Me? Difficult?" I spat. "What if my mum never bailed me out, would you have just left for America and never told me?"

The guilt written on Hunter's face was evident. If I was still in prison by the time we was supposed to move he would have just left. The thought made me sick to my stomach. I felt like a total idiot for ever thinking that boy cared for me.

How could this happen in the same night that I told him I was in love with him?

I must have done something awful in a past life to have constant heartache after heartache in this life. It felt like the world had a vendetta against me - the world was taken everything in its stride and using all of its power to make sure I lived a sad, miserable life.

"Got it" I said with a nod before jumping off the bed and bolting for the door.

"Wait, Harper. Don't go" He begged.

I turned around so we were looking directly into each other's eyes. I took one step back so I was as close to the door as I needed to be when I wanted to make my escape. My hand was already tightly gripping the door handle so Hunter knew my escape was imminent regardless if he tried to stop me or not.

"I'm going to make this decision easier for you. The fact you even needed to think about it says it all really. You're a coward, Hunter Blake. See, I'm facing my problems...I'm dealing with my demons and trying to mend all the broken pieces that have been destroyed over the years.

But you, Hunter, you've spent your life time running away from your problems and here you are again, running. When the one person that needs you there truly needs you, you run. One day you're going to run so far that there's going to be no one behind you. Goodbye, Hunter Blake."

With that, I quickly exited the room running down the corridor ignoring his cries of my name. I wasn't going to let him hurt me anymore than he had and I knew if I had of stayed with him tonight my heart would end up shattered even more.

He would wait a while and follow me back to our apartment so I knew I couldn't stay there. My mum didn't want me with her tonight so staying with her wasn't an option either.

The prison cell was looking like a mighty comfortable choice again.

Sighing to myself, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialled the number of the only person I thought genuinely cared about me.

"Hello?"

"Sav, it's me" my voice broke the minute I spoke.

"Harp, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"I-I need somewhere to stay just for tonight, please" I begged.

"Of course, babe. Jamie is staying at his parents house this week anyways so it will be nice to have a girls night" she said softly as an attempt to try and cheer me up.

All she received was a weak chuckle and a sniffle in response.

The walk to Savannagh's flat was around twenty minutes from the hotel. On route, I ended up switching my phone off as the countless calls I had received of Hunter we're doing my head in. After the weekend I had, arguing with Hunter was the last thing I needed.

As I approached the building Savannagh lived in, it dawned on me I hadn't been here since the night Tom and Jamie exposed my "secret." I didn't know if either them received a type of punishment for what they did to me. Truthfully, the night they exposed me was a blessing in disguise to me. It resulted in me opening up and telling others my secret and as much as I didn't want to think about it right now, it's what gave me the kick to allow myself to fall in love with Hunter.

As I knocked on Savannagh's door all the memories of that night came rushing back. I felt embarrassed to be back here even though I knew from the bad came good. I couldn't help the rush of embarrassment that flooded my body head to toe as the door swung open.

My heart sank as Tom answered the door. He seemed to be spotting fresh bruises on his face...ones that were clearly not from Hunter a few weeks ago. Maybe he was getting into other fights about what he did to me and people were making him pay for it. Nonetheless, seeing him covered in bruises wasn't a pretty sight.

I tried to ignore him by pushing past him and heading to Savannagh's room but he grabbed my wrist pulling me back to him.

"Harper, no words can express how sorry I am for what I did to you. I-I didn't realise that's what was going on and I'm disgusted with myself for treating someone the way I treated you that night."

The sincerity was clear in his voice but I knew I wasn't ready to accept his apology yet. It was more than likely in due course that he would earn my forgiveness but right now it felt better to stay being mad at him for what he put me through.

"My dad, he found out what I did and he can't look at me without wanting to smash my face in. I've disappointed everyone and I've let you down big time."

"I'm not ready to forgive you, Tom but I appreciate the apology. I hope in time we can both heal and I can find it in my heart to forgive you for what you did."

After speaking my final words to him, I turned on my heels and entered Savannagh's room. She jumped up from her bed and pulled me into her warm, welcoming embrace. As she held me I let the tears that were threatening to spill fall. She rubbed my back soothingly trying to calm me down but I just clutches onto her tighter.

"Hunter and I broke up" I cried.

"What?" She shrieked.

"He's moving to America" I sobbed. "Or at least he thinks he is...he has until Friday to decide but I think the fact he even needed to think about it shows he was never that into me in the first place."

"Oh, Harper, I'm so sorry. I really didn't see this coming! I thought Hunter would be here to support you every step of the trial. What kind of person does that to their girlfriend? I'm so angry at him for treating you like this. You deserve so, so much better.

Harper, I wish you knew how strong you are. You're the bravest person I have ever met. No matter what you've always cared about others more than yourself so I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself today and walking away from something that I thought was life changing for you."

"I thought it was life changing too" I whispered. "I shared everything with him that I didn't get to experience as a teenager and now he's got everything he wanted just to get up and leave me here to suffer alone" I whined.

"That's not true, Harper. Yes, it may be true that he's leaving everything behind. But that's just because he's a big asshole that doesn't care about no one but himself. I promise you that you are not here to suffer alone. I know I'm not Hunter and I never will be but I assure you that I am going to be with you every single step of the way. You won't have to go through none of this alone. You'll have me standing by your side when you finally get the justice you deserve."

"That's more than enough" I whispered into her hug.

Yes, I was gutted at Hunter for planning to leave but I was beyond grateful that Savannagh was my best friend and promised to stick around through everything.