Just Love Me Once Again

Page 30

I stood up shakily, pulled my bag over my head, and hurried out of the room. The laughs and taunts behind me were like white noises.

I held my stomach, trying to hold back the cries, wails, and screams that I wanted to let loose.

The video was everywhere, and by tonight, there wouldn't be one person who hadn't heard or seen of it.

Caleb. My head was splitting, trying to take in the betrayal of what he'd done.

And I loved him. How could he do something like this? My heartfelt like it was tearing in two.

Oh, God. My stomach hollowed out, and I couldn't hold back the sobs anymore.

"Trixie," a voice panted.

I stopped and looked up, my tear-filled eyes meeting Cisco.

"Trixie, Jesus." He reached for me.

"Stay away from me!" I hurled at him angrily. Cisco would be just like Caleb.

"Trixie." He reached for me again, slower, like he was approaching an animal.

I wanted him away from me.

"Just let me get you out of here, okay?" Cisco inched towards me.

"No!" I cried, the tears blurring, my vision. I slapped his hands away.

He quickly stepped in front of me and wrapped his arms around my body, holding me tight as I struggled and cried.

"Stop it." He jerked me a couple of times. "Just calm down." His voice was clear and honest. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"They saw everything," I sobbed, my chest heaving from the heavy breaths. "Why did he do that to me?"

"I don't know. For once, I don't know what the hell's going on. We need to talk to him."

Talking, I was fucking done with talking.

Somehow I'd been wrong when I thought somebody cared. When I thought he loved me. I believed every stupid lie he spewed.

He'd pushed me so far down that I only wanted to escape now. Escape into something other than hope, love, and all that other bullshit.

My anger and pain were moulding into something else, something harder.

Numbness.

Coldness.

Whatever it was, it felt better than what I felt a minute ago.

I took a deep breath and sniffled. "Let me go. I'm going home." My voice was hoarse but steady when I pulled away from Cisco.

He released me, and I walked away slowly.

"I don't think you should drive, " Cisco called out behind me.

I just wiped my eyes and kept walking. Down the stairs, through the empty hallways, and out of the front doors.

I'd parked next to Caleb that morning, and when I saw his car, I let out a hard laugh. Not from amusement, but from the look on his face, when he came outside to see what I'd done.

I grabbed the crowbar out of the back of my car and ran the sharp-cornered end along the side of his car as I walked to the front of the vehicle. The shrill screeching of metal on metal sent a warming high right to my veins, and I smiled.

And brought the crowbar down dead centre on his windshield, the impact splintered the glass into a hundred different cracks. It sounded like a fat roll of bubble wrap popping all at once.