Page 106 of Hate To Love You

My Rebel

Leave me alone.

My blood boils. She’s so damn stubborn, and I knew she wouldn’t give in that easy but part of me was hoping she’d just let me explain.

Me

Not until you let me explain.

My Rebel

I don’t want to hear it.

Me

Please. Just call me.

My Rebel

Don’t contact me again.

I growl in frustration. How the hell am I supposed to explain that everything she was told is a lie if she won’t even let me talk to her?

I try to call her one more time, but it beeps and hangs up immediately. She blocked me. She seriously blocked my number. She’s really done with me.

For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a plan. I feel defeated, and a strange feeling overtakes my chest as I let reality sink in.

She’s gone.

Chapter 48

Guinevere

The sound of my cell phone vibrating against my nightstand fills my ears as I sit at my desk in my childhood bedroom, staring out the window. I watch as snowflakes fall to the ground in a light flurry.

I’ve been ignoring everyone since I packed up my car and left Ellington three days ago. Damian is slightly pissed that I left without him, but he has a car, so I wasn’t too worried about him getting home.

Lainey, Ellie, and Haley have been blowing up our group chat with questions about why I left without saying goodbye. They assume it had something to do with Ryker, which they’d be correct in their assumptions.

The night I got home, I’d received several phone calls and texts from Ryker. I ignored them until he threatened to show up at my house. I know he’s not far, and I know he’d do it. So I answered him. I told him to leave me alone and to never talk to me again, and then I blocked his number.

I don’t know what he wants to explain, but I don’t want to hear it. I knew better. I did this to myself. I can’t even blame him, really.

I knew what I was getting myself into. Ryker Steele doesn’t do relationships. That’s what everyone told me, and I chose to let myself believe I was the exception.

He’d opened up to me, telling me things about himself and his family that he’d never told anyone. I told him things about me that not many people knew. He said I could trust him, and I believed him. Stupid, naïve little girl.

Ryker betrayed me. He betrayed my trust, and that is something I don’t give easily. And now, Ryker Steele is dead to me.

That bitch Amy knew what she was doing. She was trying to stake her claim, show me that I’m not capable of giving Ryker what he needs. And when she told me they’d slept together just the night before, it was like a slap in the face.

Just a night after what I’d considered the best sex I’d ever had, and Ryker went off and fucked someone else. God, I’m such an idiot. How could I think that I was any different than any other girl he’s screwed?

His words were pretty, and the way held me made me feel like I was the only girl in his orbit. Meanwhile, he was laughing at me the whole time, probably thinking how easy I was to fool.

My eyes flood with another bout of tears, and I hate myself for crying. I’m pathetic, crying over a guy that clearly never cared about me at all.

Using the back of my hand, I wipe away the tears and take a deep, shaky breath. That’s enough, Gwen. You are stronger than this.

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