09

09

Bella Reyes

It was stupid of me to think I could escape him that easily. “Bella, please wait!”

I sidestepped students, almost breaking into a full run. I was so focused on getting away that I didn't realize how fast he was gaining on me until he grabbed me by my shirt, bringing all my movement to a sudden stop.

“Bella, please.”

“Please what?” I whipped my head around so fast my vision shattered into a dizzying spell. The muscles in my arms gave out, causing my bag to slip from my hands and hit the ground. My vision cleared just as Tyler dropped to his knees to pick up my scattered things.

Standing up, he held my bag out to me. I hesitated to take it, wishing with everything inside me that he would just go to hell and never come back.

“Are you okay?” His voice sounded soft and full of concern, and the absolute absurdity of it made me want to laugh.

“I'm fine,” I said coldly, snatching my bag from his hands and clutching it tight against my chest as I turned on my heel.

“No, Bella, please wait.” He grabbed my shirt again, and this time, it made my blood boil. “I want us to talk.”

I turned back to face him, glaring at him with a look he didn't even seem to care about.

“Are you sure... that you're okay?” He asked, concerned taking all of his features.

I went quiet for a second, genuinely wondering if I looked like an idiot. The reason I wasn't okay, the reason I looked like a ghost, was standing right in front of me, and he had the audacity to ask me that.

“I'm fine,” I gritted out. “Don't touch me again, Tyler. I'm really not in the mood.”

“But—” He grabbed my arm again, and I spun around, using every ounce of strength left in my body to slap his hand away.

“I said don't fucking touch me! Are you deaf?”

His jaw clenched hard as he pulled his hand back, looking around at the small crowd of students who had stopped to watch us. I had warned him. The last thing I needed after finally gathering the courage to come to class was for him to draw more attention to my crumbling life with his pathetic drama.

I turned around to actually walk away. Taking a few steps without him grabbing at me felt light, almost peaceful. But I had held Tyler on too high of a pedestal to realize he was about to snap.

“Why?” he shouted, his voice ringing through the hallway.

My footsteps faltered. The students in front of me froze too, looking past my shoulder toward Tyler.

“Is it because I'm not him? Is that why I'm suddenly not allowed to touch my own girlfriend anymore over one stupid mistake? A mistake you went ahead and made anyway!”

My body temperature shot up so fast it felt like a medical emergency. “Just walk away, Bella. He is only doing this to get under your skin.” My intuition warned thoughtfully.

He had said so much at once, and a part of me wanted nothing more than to turn around and tear every single lie apart.

First of all, it wasn't some silly, stupid mistake like he was labeling it. He sold me. He fucking traded me for money.

Secondly, what gave him the right to act like anyone else was touching me? It had always been him. Tyler was the only one I had ever wanted, and he knew that. So why act like a complete idiot making up fake scenarios?

And thirdly, I went ahead with it anyway? Sure, maybe I did, but it was a horrifying mistake that had been eating me alive for weeks. How dare he throw my own trauma back in my face when he was the villain who set it up?

Before I could stop myself, my legs carried me right back toward him, my eyes burning into his. “I am not your girlfriend anymore, Tyler. We were over the second you put a price tag on me.”

Tyler let out a dark, mocking laugh that held zero humor. “Why? Because he did it better than you think I could?” His eyebrows shot up, and I knew exactly what kind of cheap trap he was setting, but my anger was moving faster than my brain. “Does he satisfy that wide hole of yours, you cheap, cheating whore? Huh? Tell me!” he sneered loudly.

“I am not a whore, and you fucking know it, Tyler!” I yelled back, acutely aware of the crowd that had grown around us like an audience at a theater. “I didn't cheat on you! I never slept with anyone! I loved you with everything I had, but...” My voice broke, and I pulled one hand off my bag to swipe at the tears spilling over my lashes.

Why was I crying in front of all these people? Hadn't I been humiliated enough?

“And I... I—”

“And you what, you pity-party princess? Looking for some sympathy now?”

I needed to turn around. I needed to keep my head down and just run. I had never needed Angel more than I did right at this moment. I needed someone to hold my hand and help me carry this crushing weight. I was going to explode holding it all in, especially after being betrayed by the one person I thought I could trust with my life.

“You slept with him, didn't you? Why are you tearing up so bad? The guilt is killing you, isn't it?”

I sniffled, my eyes dropping to the floor as a sudden urge to run away swept over me. Somewhere far, far away where no one could ever find me.

“Answer me, Bella! Did you fuck him or not?”

“Yeah. She did.”

The cold voice cut through the hallway like a blade. Gasps broke out from every direction as my head snapped up, meeting a pair of piercing silver-gray eyes staring at me from down the corridor.

Tyler whipped around toward Aries, his body language going rigid as Aries shifted his gaze from me to Tyler.

“Yeah, I fucked her. So what?” Aries said, his tone infuriatingly calm and casual. “Do you have any problem with that, Tyler Morgan?”

It completely destroyed me.

As if my world hadn't already spun out of control, Aries fucking Hadid, the cold, notorious hockey captain, had just announced to the entire school that he fucked me.

Oh, holy fuck.

I spun on my heel and bolted down the hallway as fast as my legs could carry me.

“Bella!”

I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me, but it sounded like Aries' voice calling out after me.