Page 85 of Consequences

Did she really just tell them she wants to fuck ColtandLex? Actually, I’m not really surprised, and I don’t know want specifics.

“I’m a little busy right now,” Gavin says when he realizes they both stare at him expectantly. “I’ll call you later.”

“Okay,” she says with a shrug and slips her shirt back on.

The front door shuts again, and he shakes his head. “How the fuck did she get in here?”

Hailey jumps up and begins to dress in haste. “You have a girlfriend?”

“No, Emme’s not my girlfriend. We just… send time together. It’s casual.”

The look of disgust on her face shocks him. “So much for only sleeping with women who mean something to you. It was just a line, wasn’t it? God, and here I thought I was special to you.”

She’sangry withhim? “Hold up, psycho woman. You don’t get to be pissed off here,” he says and stands to slip on his boxers. The last thing he needs is to be the one at a complete disadvantage by being naked.

“The hell I don’t!”

“What are you so pissed about, Hailey? That you slept with me and forgot to slip away in the middle of the night, or are you angry to find out that I’m finding comfort with someone else after you threw me away?”

“Threw you away? Yeah, okay. Whatever you have to tell yourself to make it okay for you. I can’t believe you. I never thought you’d be the one to play me.”

He grabs her arm and turns her to face him as she tries to storm out. “No, it’s normally you playing me. It’s your game, and I’m just a piece on the gameboard.”

“Whatever, Gavin.”

“You left me!” he shouts. “I was willing to find a way to make this work, but you decided—all on your own—that it would be better to have a clean break. But then you keep crawling back into my bed and leaving me all over again.”

Ripping her arm from his hand, she crosses her arms under her chest. “I thought it would be easier if we had a clean break. We talked about this.”

“What part of what’s happening here do you consider a clean break, Hailey?” Gavin cries, his arms out wide. “I love you, but you’re always fucking leaving me. You don’t have a right to be pissed at me right now.”

She doesn’t say a word and storms out. Even if Gavin doesn’t believe Hailey has a right to be angry, it doesn’t change the guilt he feels. Sitting on his bed, he puts his head in his hands. Of course, the one time Hailey actually stays the night is when Emme shows up.

Riverview

Hailey

“The nerve of him!” Hailey mutters as she parks in the dorm parking lot.

Last night, she drove to see Gavin after going to a party with Lindsey, her new roommate. Guys hit on her, but all she saw when she looked at any of them was Gavin. She knew she’d made a mistake, and she went to see him.

He answered the door drunk, and she wanted to wait until they were both sober to tell him she wanted to try to make things work. She even stayed the night to make sure she didn’t lose her nerve.

“Wait, did he fuck her last night before me?” she asks. “That’s what the waitress said. She said the two quickies they had didn’t tide her over. Asshole.”

Lucas calls, and even though she’s livid, she answers. She misses her little brother. “Hey.”

“Hey. Why was Gavin just here looking for you? Did you come home and not tell me?”

He sounds hurt, and it pains her. But then she reminds herself he chose to be adopted, and legally, they’re not related anymore. “I went to have sex with Gavin, and then I found out he’s dating another chick when she walked into his apartment with her shirt off talking about how she didn’t get enough the night before and was horny. Oh, she did comment how she’d like to have sex with ColtandLex.”

“Wait… woah. Back up. What?”

“Yeah, can you believe it? Of all the things he could do to hurt me, sleeping with someone else has to be the worst.”

Tears sting at her eyes, and it doesn’t help when Lucas pauses before responding. It means he’s about to tell her something she doesn’t want to hear, and now Hailey wishes she’d let the call go to voicemail.

“Hailey, you know you don’t have a right to be angry, right? I guess, maybe a little that he had sex with both of you in the same night, but he didn’t cheat.”

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