No Shame

Twenty-Eight

CiCi startles awake as something soft yet weighted lands against her stomach. Looking up to see Calum clearly irritated, his brows pulled together and jaw set tightly as if his teeth are clenched.

"Is everything okay?" She mumbles as she stretches out in his overly comfortable bed, sliding the bag of her clothes from last night off of her stomach.

"Your Uber will be here in five. Be ready." His voice is like ice as he responds, not even giving her the courtesy of looking at her.

"My Uber?"

"Yes. You can see yourself out of my house and my life, CiCi. I should have fucking known." He laughs humorlessly, running a hand through his messy curls.

CiCi..? The simple sound of her name falling off his lips more than enough to split her heart in two.

"What did I do, Cal?" She asks, her lip trembling.

"You know exactly what you did. Don't act like you don't. I should have fucking known!" He suddenly yells before stoping to breathe a moment. "I'm getting in a shower, you better not be in my house when I'm done. And do not even try to follow me. I'm done. So fucking done. You've played me enough for a lifetime." He spits before slamming the en-suite door shut.

"What the fuck?" She mumbles, trying to figure out what the hell he is talking about. How had so much changed since he picked her up from that party the night before? What happened to being her support and helping her. What could have possibly happened in the last ten hours.

"CiCi! Your car is here." Roy's voice comes from outside the door, and despite not wanting to leave, she knows it's probably safer if she does... whatever Calum is mad about must be a misunderstanding, and she will figure it out, but being here when he comes back out is not going to help.

Pulling herself from the bed, she slides on her heels from the night before, taking the bag of ruined clothes with her as she grabs her bag and leaves. Tears threatening to spill as she climbs into the car. Calum had called her CiCi... that hurt more than anything.

***

Calum waits with the water running but not getting in, watching the front camera on his phone until she's in the car and leaving. Once sure she's left he strips and climbs into the hot water, letting his body shake as his tears mix with the water running down the drain. How could he have been so stupid, how could he have not realized... it was always a game, she was always in control, and he had fallen victim. And even more than that, his heart had fully swan dived into it, he was in love, attached, and 100% gone for the act she had performed.

Maybe he should have given her a chance to explain, to defend herself, but that would have been falling right back into the game she was so clearly playing. It all made sense after all, she was CiCi Moore, queen bitch of LA... Ashton had sent him the article, and despite being annoyed with his friend for sending it, the headline had caught his attention so he looked, and he broke. There were too many details for it not to be true, Brit outlining the whole plan for the reporter, things Calum knew were private to CiCi. He knew that Brit sharing it all meant it was true, meant that she and CiCi had planned every last detail of this boss round to her game. And he was the victim and the damaged piece to the game.

Shutting the water off after a while he towels off before crawling into his bed still naked, burying himself in the blankets, more tears falling as CiCi's scent permeates his nose off the pillow she'd slept on last night.

***

Shutting the front door behind her CiCi collapses against it on the floor, tears pouring from her eyes as she lets go of the emotions from last night and this morning. Unsure when her life started revolving around Calum and when she decided to let him have the power to hurt her so much.