bad idea

Chapter 57

"It was just a fling... gone too far," Camila replied, cooly, yet it was obvious she was embarrassed by the color of her cheeks.

"You mean an affair?" Shawn brought up, referring to Otto and Ariana's engagement.

Camila rolled her eyes at the man. "Yes Shawn, an affair."

"Camila, he's literally the enemy." He laughed, shaking his head.

"Yeah, and a good convincer,"

"When did this happen?" Zayn asked next.

"Um, over the summer after we graduated, I think." She shrugged while thinking. "It was after Kai and Ariana's fallout, it was a tough time for everyone."

"Damn, isn't it crazy how Ariana had no clue?" Shawn chuckled. "Camila's not as innocent as I thought."

"You're just now figuring that out?" I said, laughing alongside Zayn. "But everything seemed to work out."

"Not exactly, I'm still single," Camila said, holding her glass between her fingers.

"So is Shawn," Zayn added, with a smirk.

"Not going down that route again." She answered, and Shawn rolled his eyes playfully, "Maybe not our route, but what about hers?" He asked, referring to Lauren as she finally stepped through the door, in a tight green dress.

The three of us smirked as we saw Camila's jaw open at the sight. Lauren did look amazing and it was clear Camila was head over heels for the black-haired woman.

"I'm gonna go find Ari," I told the two men, before attempting to slide out of the kitchen when Lauren suddenly appeared in the doorframe.

"In a rush?" The green-eyed woman asked, with a smirk.

My eyes traveled down to her legs out of curiosity, noticing a bruise on the side of her calf, slightly covered by her dress. She slightly shifted at my action, while I wondered what could make a bruise that big.

"Looking for Ari," I answered with a sly smirk, as she rolled her eyes playfully.

"And why isn't she looking for you—"

"-Lauren," Ariana's voice revealed in front of me, causing me to look over at her. It was obvious to me, she was being sarcastic, but Lauren didn't say much and returned Ariana's smile. "Hey, you look nice,"

"Thank you, and so do you, Ariana,"

"Doesn't she?" I repeated, nudging Lauren, "She's gorgeous."

Ariana blushed, rolling her eyes, "Thank you, baby."

"Well, I'm gonna go grab a drink." Lauren said, starting to walk off, but before she could, Ariana added, "John and Alexa are looking for you."

Once we were all alone, she turned to me, as we were now standing more in the hallway than in the kitchen. "I'm sorry I've barely seen you, Victoria needed my help so I was with her."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she just needed an opinion on what to gift John."

"Yeah, she's horrible at gifts sometimes." I shrugged, with a small chuckle.

"Can I steal you for a bit?"

I smiled, seeing the suggestion in her eyes. "What can I do for you, Ms. Grande?"

"Follow me," She insisted, grabbing my hand and pulling me upstairs and away from the party. Ariana shut our bedroom door, and my curiosity only increased once she locked it.

"Your head, how has it been?" Ariana started, as I leaned against the glass of the window, while she was still by our bedroom door, a bit far from each other.

"My head? It's fine," My eyebrow raised, almost starting to panic internally, "Unless this is you telling me I forgot something... in that case, I don't know."

She shook her head, with a small smile, calming my nervousness. "No, you didn't forget anything today, it's just... the accident, have you remembered anything from it yet?"

I stood up straight, now growing worried. Ariana hadn't brought this topic up in a while, so whatever she was asking for now, couldn't be good. "Like what?"

"Anything."

"Baby, everything I do remember, I've told you and the rest of our friends, over and over again," I explained, noticing she was unsatisfied with my answer still. "I know you want answers, we all do, and I'm trying to give as many as I can to you, but I can't force my memory back. When I saw Devyn last week, she told me that either they come back on their own or they might not ever."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pressure or stress you out even more than you already are. I just need answers, I can't fully rest until I get them,"

"Why? What's going on?"

"It's nothing."

"Is someone blackmailing you?"

"No, don't worry, it's fine," She reassured, coming closer to me, but I wasn't buying it. I saw it in her demeanor that she wasn't settling until she got what she wanted and she wouldn't budge on telling me either. I was sure someone was blackmailing her, that was the only thing that seemed reasonable to me. But who would fuck with Ariana? Everyone knew that she was my girlfriend, who would be dumb enough to tempt me like that? They clearly had to have something on Ariana, otherwise, she would've told me, which posed a different problem.

"I thought we were done keeping secrets," I blurted, separating from my thoughts.

"We aren't-- Kai, I promise you I'm not being blackmailed."

"And I should believe your promises, while you're hiding things?"

"What? It's not like that, why are you getting so upset over this?" Ariana asked, slightly raising her voice as she got closer to me and I started backing away.

"Secrets always fucking backfire horribly, Ariana. The first time, I lost my mom because of one, most recent? Frankie, your brother, jeopardized everyone here."

"I'm sorry, do I fucking look like I'm Hazel Cameron or Frank Grande? Neither of those have anything to do with me, whatever they did to you, shouldn't reflect us. I've been with you since high school, through every up and down, you can't seriously be doubting my honesty and loyalty to you."

"Correction, you have been here since a couple of months ago, are you forgetting how you fucked me over in high school?"

"I fucked up once in high school, years ago! No, why the fuck are you still with me if you're not over that? If you don't trust me." She yelled, stepping back. "You know what? This, this is a lost cause. I've been trying to get you to let go and fully trust me, but you never will. A relationship isn't shit without trust."

My heart skipped a beat because everything had gone too far.

And it was my fault.

Yet I was so pissed while trying my best not to cry, I didn't know what to do.

"Whatever you're doing behind my back, tread carefully," I started, sliding past the girl. "'Cause I'll be right behind you, hell, breathing down your neck, waiting for you to fuck up,"