I got closer, pressed my body against hers as I caged her with my arms. "Tell me you love me, princess."
She shook her head again, refusing to look me in the eye.
"Tell me."
"Caleb, let"s go," my dad said from somewhere behind me.
"Tell me!" I screamed in her face.
"Caleb, now!" My dad"s hand gripped my shoulder roughly, urging me to leave with him.
I wanted to take my girl with me.
"I-I don"t love you anymore, Caleb." Her sweet voice was strained but the ugly words were clear.
In a daze of disbelief, I let my dad drag me away with Dante"s help. "Some of those parents looked p.i.s.sed," my dad said. "Let"s get you out of here before the cops show up. Hopefully that boy won"t press charges or you"ll be right back in youth corrections."
"I"ll take him, Mr. Morrison," Dante offered, likely guessing I wouldn"t want to be around my dad right now.
"Give me your keys." My dad waited until I"d dug in my pocket and handed them to him. "Your mom can drive your car home. Call if you need us."
Dante ushered me to his car and I numbly got into the pa.s.senger side, burying my head in my hands. Seated behind the wheel, he messed with his phone. Cece showed up a couple minutes later, climbing into the backseat. "I"m so sorry, Caleb! I had no idea that was going on!"
"s.h.i.t, me either," Dante muttered.
My head snapped up. "I have to go back!"
"No!" they shouted in unison.
Reaching for the handle, I was stopped when Cece said, "She already left with Gage."
"Well, I"ll f.u.c.king find her."
Dante put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot. "Not a good idea, man. She made her choice."
And it wasn"t me.
"I liked Gage," Cece said in a shocked tone. "But I did not see this coming at all."
"Wait till I find that girlfriend-stealing f.u.c.ker." I rubbed my chest, surprised it wasn"t oozing blood like my knuckles were. It felt like my heart was bleeding to death and I was sure I"d throw up at any second.
"I thought Gianna was crazy in love with you," Cece said in a shocked tone.
"Not now, Cece!" Dante snapped.
"Sorry," Cece mumbled.
"I need to talk to her," I told Dante. "Help me find her."
"No way. You can talk to her tomorrow." Dante drove into a fast food parking lot, cutting the engine.
"I"ll f.u.c.king kill him. He was paid a lot of money to watch out for her, not make her fall in love with him."
"What are you talking about?" Cece leaned forward to peer at me with big brown eyes.
"I was worried about her. I set it up with Kara, but Ian had his lawyer get the money to Gage. He enrolled in her school to make friends with her and watch out for her."
"So that"s what your comment was about earlier. That"s crazy." Dante stroked Cece"s face. "Baby, is it okay if I drop you off at home so I can hang out with Caleb?"
"Yeah," she said softly and I turned away from the pity in her eyes. She would be on the phone with Gianna the moment she stepped inside her house.
Dante dropped Cece off ten minutes later. She hugged me awkwardly around the neck from behind before jumping out of the car. "I"m sorry, Caleb." Words I was beginning to hate. "I just want you to know I"m still Team Caleb."
Dante walked her to the front door and spent a minute talking to her. I rolled down my window, wanting to hear if Cece said anything about Gianna. I pulled my new phone out, scrolling to Gianna"s number.
This is Caleb. I need to talk to you.
As Dante got back into the car, I stared down at the screen waiting for a reply. "Do you want to go to my house?" he asked, tapping the steering wheel.
"No."
Still no response from Gianna.
"I texted her."
Dante winced and I imagined he thought me pathetic. "She and Gage are together all the time, but I thought they were just friends."
"I guess f.u.c.king not."
"He always seemed cool, but I would"ve kicked his a.s.s for you if I"d know he was moving in on her."
She still hadn"t texted back.
"Where to then?" he asked, driving away from Cece"s house.
I sighed, closing my eyes as I leaned my head back. "Right now I just want to get s.h.i.t-faced."
"Party it is," Dante muttered grimly.
"Kiss me again, Caleb," the girl moaned against my ear.
I complied, our mouths colliding in a haze of alcohol. She was a sloppy kisser, but her t.i.ts were f.u.c.king spectacular. I palmed one, squeezing roughly as she wrapped long legs around me.
"f.u.c.k me, Caleb."
I was going to do it this time. This was the second party and the third girl I"d made out with. As h.o.r.n.y as I was after months of going without, I needed p.u.s.s.y p.r.o.nto. I hadn"t been drunk enough before with the other chicks to forget blue eyes in a gorgeous face.
I would"ve eased Gianna back into s.e.x, but with this s.l.u.t I"d be able to f.u.c.k her as hard as I wanted. "Take your clothes off," I told her, pulling away to find the condom Dante had given me earlier.
The girl stumbled as she peeled off skintight jeans. Her pink halter top was next, baring those spectacular t.i.ts. A tiny hot pink g-string covered almost nothing. I unzipped my pants and tore open the condom packet. Losing the panties, the redhead laid spread eagle on the bed.
My head felt dizzy from all the liquor I"d downed. I hadn"t been this wasted since I was fifteen. Concentrating on my d.i.c.k, I rolled the condom on slowly.
The text alert on my phone beeped. I fumbled to get my phone out of my pants pocket.
"Ignore it," the girl slurred, playing with her nipples.
"Hold on," I mumbled, unlocking the screen.
It was after one in the morning, but Gianna had finally texted back.
If you need to talk, call me tomorrow.
I dialed her right then.
She answered sounding tired. "h.e.l.lo?"
"Did you let him f.u.c.k you?" I snapped.
"Jeez, Caleb," Gianna said with a sigh.
I sat down on the edge of the bed when my stomach roiled. The girl on the bed sat up to nibble on my ear. "How about you f.u.c.k me?" the chick said, giggling drunkenly.
"Who is that?" Gianna asked, her volume increasing on each word.
"This s.l.u.t I"m about to f.u.c.k," I said unapologetically, drunkenly.
"Where are you?" she asked, her voice tight.
"In a bedroom at some party."
The redhead"s hands rubbed over my chest, venturing down. When Gianna didn"t say anything, I thought she"d hung up.
"Gianna?"
"I want this c.o.c.k in me," the girl purred.
My phone beeped as Gianna hung up.
I got to my feet, the chick"s hand slipping from my d.i.c.k. She slid off the bed to her knees in front of me, her lips aimed for my c.o.c.k. "Wait." I grabbed onto her shoulder. "I need to think."
"I"m going to blow you."
"Hold on." I pushed away from her, my head beginning to pound. "I don"t know if this is a good idea."
She returned to the bed, spreading her legs again. "Then just f.u.c.k me."
My phone beeped in hand.
Obviously there is nothing to talk about.
Ignoring what was on display, I typed back, You f.u.c.k him?
She didn"t answer. Was she upset? Jealous? I couldn"t think straight!
It didn"t matter. She loved Gage now, not me. Instead of hunting down Gage, I crawled onto the bed over the hot s.l.u.t waiting for me to screw her.
And barely moved in time to throw up on the floor instead of the girl"s naked body.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
"A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever."
-Jessamyn West CALEB.
"We"re going to be late if you don"t hurry, Caleb!" my mom called out from the living room.
I"d barely been out of juvie for two days and I already had an appointment to meet with the director of the art gallery about the show. He"d decided to exhibit my work in the same show as the urban realist painter. I didn"t mind, less pressure on me that way.
Shoving my shoes on, I met my mom by the front door. "Let"s go."
My mom drove while I texted Gianna for the millionth time. She hadn"t answered me since my drunken fiasco the other night. Cece had heard the story from Gianna and told Dante, so he"d filled the gaps in my memory.
I was alternately horrified and pleased that Gianna knew I"d been messing around with another girl. How dare she fall for another guy while I was in juvie? I loved her and she broke my heart. She had no right to be upset about me hooking up with some chick, or almost hooking up as the case was.
As p.i.s.sed as I was at her, I still f.u.c.king loved her. I still needed to talk to her. If she didn"t answer me soon, I"d show up at her dad"s house.
I don"t love you anymore, Caleb, she"d said.
It was impossible to convince my heart her words were true.
Gage and I have fallen in love, she"d said.
If she loved him, then she couldn"t have ever really loved me. It didn"t work that way. I couldn"t imagine falling out of love with Gianna in the first place, much less falling in love with another girl.
Impossible.
We were supposed to be forever.