Danger! Bad Boy(29)

CHAPTER EIGHT




“The greater your capacity to love, the greater your capacity to feel the pain.”

-Jennifer Aniston



GIANNA



Climbing up the stairs, once out of sight, I ran to my room. Slamming the door shut, I belatedly worried about waking up Chance. My chest felt like it was about to explode.

I couldn’t breathe.

Was this what hyperventilating was?

I still wasn’t crying. Shouldn't I be crying? Didn't people cry when they had a broken heart?

Maybe it was shock. That was it, I was in shock.

What just happened? Did that just happen? Maybe I was still at the hotel in Las Vegas.

Asleep.

Dreaming.

Oh god! Please let this have been a nightmare.

I heard yelling downstairs. I cracked open my door to listen to my mom yelling at Caleb to leave the house.

Please don’t leave.

Seconds later¸ the front door slammed shut. I rushed to my bedroom window to look down at the driveway below.

Caleb got into his car.

Please come back.

Please tell me you love me.

Please tell me it was all a lie.

His car started. I held my breath.

The red Camaro pulled out of the driveway. I gripped the windowsill tightly.

The pain told me I wasn’t dreaming. This wasn’t an awful nightmare.

He drove down the street, stopping at the stop sign before turning around the corner and out of sight.

My body started shaking with the emotions I was now trying to hold back. It was getting even harder to breathe. I turned away from the window, away from the sight of the empty street.

I looked frantically around my room. Something had to fix this. How did I fix this? How did I stop feeling this horrible pain?

I caught sight of my antique 1980s boombox on my dresser. One of my prized possessions.

As I threw it through my bedroom window, glass shattering, the tight hold I had on my emotions shattered too.

Bastard!

I dropped to the floor, sobbing.



CALEB



Driving from Gianna's house to my dad's old condo a suburb away in Northglenn, I was doing what I’d thought was impossible.

Crying over a girl.

Shit.

Had all that just happened?

Could I have handled it any differently? If only Julie hadn't given me a deadline to get her home. I had no doubt the crazy bitch would’ve had her on the next plane to Houston had I not gotten Gianna home by tonight.

If only I'd had more time. Even now, I couldn’t think of any way out of Julie's ultimatum. I’d had no other choice. If I hadn't broken up with Gianna, then she would’ve sent her away. If I'd followed Gianna to Houston, she would have sent her further away until she was out of my reach.

Gianna wouldn’t turn eighteen for almost two years. Julie could act like a tyrant until then.

Maybe I should’ve told Gianna. No, that would’ve been a mistake. She wouldn't have accepted what must be done. She would have tried to hold on to our relationship and fight her mom. Her mom was determined as hell.

Her mom would’ve won and Gianna would’ve been on the next plane to Houston. Gianna’s entire life would change as she was forced to start over. I just hoped those friends, the crew that were so important to her, were there for her through this.

She loved me just as much as I loved her, I had no doubt. This wouldn't be easy on her. In fact, it’d probably be harder. At least I knew she loved me. For her, I was just an asshole who used her for a good time.

That douche Jared would be happy to hear about what happened.

The lie Julie forced me to spit out was eating me up inside. For Gianna to think I didn't love her made me sick.

Not as bad, but still bad, were the things Julie told her about my past. About the guy I put in the hospital.

About Claudette.

I tried not to think about that part of my past. I’d definitely never wanted Gianna to find out about it. Now I wasn’t only the asshole who used her, I was the scumbag who used her.

Dammit.

Gianna.

She mostly likely despised me now. I knew she had to. She told me she never wanted to see me again.

With the way things just ended, I didn’t blame her.

I’d never regret one second of being with her, though. She was my first love. My only love. My true love. With or without her, she was my everything.

When she turned eighteen, nothing would stop me from winning her back.

Of all the horrible things I'd done to chicks, this was the worst. Whether it was my fault or not, whether I had a choice or not, I’d hurt her badly.



GIANNA



After what seemed like hours of crying and ignoring my mom's knocking on the door, I literally picked myself up off the floor.

Everyone had been right.

Caleb was and always would be a player.

He didn't love me, told me he never would.

He took my virginity and my love so easily only to throw me away. I trusted him too much. I gave him too much of me. Told him things I'd never told anyone else and opened myself up to him.