THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER

THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER - CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 34:

CALEB'S POV:

Tonight is not going as planned. Gianna has managed to throw all of my words in my face. My idea of a committed relationship with no love involved hasn't turned out as planned either.

We're driving back to the hotel sitting on opposite sides of the backseat in our taxi. Gianna has her eyes closed and is leaning her head against the window. I stare at her for a whole minute and she just ignores my presence, "Quit pretending to sleep, Gianna."

"Caleb," she pauses, "It is in both of our best interests that I'm pretending to sleep."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I ask in an annoyed tone.

Her eyes are still closed, "Caleb, I don't want to be the drunk, crazy girlfriend. I think I've made enough of a fool of myself during this trip."

I grab her arm and yank her towards me, "Come here, princess."

She tries to pull away, "Just leave it alone, Caleb."

"Leave what alone? I still don't understand what is going on!" I notice the cabbie looking at us in his rearview mirror, so when she doesn't answer, I let it go. For now.

We walk in silence up to our hotel room. As I'm shutting the hotel room door and latching it, she goes into the bathroom. And doesn't come out. It's not like the shower is running or anything. I walk over to the door and listen. I can hear her crying. F*ck!

I knock on the door, "Baby?"

She doesn't answer.

I say calmly, but in a tone that lets her know that I'm serious, "Gianna, I will break this door down. I really don't want to have to pay for it, but I will."

She doesn't say anything, but I hear her turn on the water from the sink. She opens the door a couple minutes later, with her face freshly washed. She leans against the doorframe and asks quietly, "What?"

"Why were you crying?"

She looks down the floor, "I wasn't crying."

"I heard you," I say softly. I want to reach out and hold her, but something about her posture tells me that she'd prefer that I didn't.

"I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep," she walks away from me and leans over her suitcase to pull out some pajamas. Some past girlfriend experience would probably help me in this situation. Too bad I don't have any.

I reach down and wrap my arms around her waist from behind, then pull her onto my lap as I sit down on the bed. I lean my face into her neck from behind, "Please tell me what's wrong, baby. You're killing me."

"It's no use," she whispers.

"What is?"

She turns sideways on my lap to look me in the eyes, "Let's just f*ck, Caleb."

Her words leave something to be desired. I ignore her obvious ploy to distract me. "No."

He has a disbelieving expression on her face as her eyebrows raise, "No?"

I hold my hand up and stroke her cheek. She actually flinches. I hold her close to me, "Baby, please talk to me."

Her eyes well up with tears. It hurts to watch. She sniffles and says, "You had a hard on."

I have to choke back my laughter. She narrows her eyes suspiciously at me. "Gianna. If you don't want me to get a hard on for other girls, then don't throw naked str!ppers in my lap."