Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes

Chapter 30

"Stop it," I growled, eyes fixed on the screen as her thumb hovered right above the call button. Panic started to creep to the forefront of my mind, but I was determined to force it down. She wouldn't go through with this. She couldn't. "You don't know what you're doing or what the consequences are-"

"I do," she said with a defiant jerk of her chin. "He'll be sent to Church Camp. And?"

It took all my willpower to keep my hands resting on my knees instead of reaching out to strangle her. "Do you really think it's all just singing Amazing Grace and reading fucking psalms by the campfire? We're talking about Jules' parents here. They're going to make sure that he'll go to a camp where they'll try everything in their power to convince him that he... that something he can't fucking change is wrong," I said, trying my hardest to stop my voice from trembling, only for it to break on the last word. "You can't possibly want that for him."

Victoria shrugged casually, contradicting the tight set of her jaw. "I couldn't care less about what happens to him. It's his parents' decision to make, not mine. I'm not the one sending him there, I'm just the one calling his father to tell him you've been snogging. The rest has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you," I snapped, my voice getting louder with every word. "If it weren't for you, his parents would have never found out about us and everything would be okay."

"And if it weren't for you, I would have never sent the video to his parents," she hissed. A flush was spreading across her cheeks, her eyes ablaze with pure, unfiltered hatred as they bored into mine. "This is your fucking fault, Hunter, all of it."

The words felt like a punch to the face. I wanted to leave, wanted to get up and walk out and forget them, but I knew that I couldn't, not without consequences.

"If you hadn't dropped me like I was nothing to you, none of this would be happening," she continued.

I exhaled slowly, suddenly feeling weary and exhausted and guilty guilty guilty. "Victoria, I didn't... I didn't think."

She only laughed, a pained, bitter sound. "Exactly. After weeks together, after everything I told you, after I laid myself bare to you, you didn't think for only a second that any of it meant anything, did you? You still thought it was nothing but a hook-up, no strings attached. Right?"

I didn't have anything to reply, nothing to justify any of it as the memories returned, of her in my bed, looking at me and speaking the words, quiet and tender. So I just nodded.

Victoria looked up at the ceiling; in the dim light I could see tears glistening in her eyes, threatening to spill while she tried to blink them away. "I loved you, Hunter. I loved you, and I told you so, and you still thought it was a game just because feelings were never part of your rules." She fell quiet and wiped a hand over her eyes. When she finally looked at me again, the tears were gone. "And then you left me like none of it meant anything and you expected me to be fine with it. You broke me and you didn't even realize. So don't you think for a second that I'm not going to do the same to your little boy toy if it means that I have a chance at getting you back."

"Why do you?" I quietly asked. "Want me back after I hurt you, I mean."

Victoria shook her head and shut her eyes. "I don't know. It's... it's so fucking wrong, but... somehow I think I still love you."

I suddenly couldn't stand looking at her anymore and stared down at my hands instead, knuckles white with how hard I was clasping them together.

Just for a few seconds everything was quiet except for the distant hum of the music from the party downstairs. Eventually, I could hear Victoria taking a deep breath before she leaned closer again. "One kiss," she softly said, her breath brushing my cheek. "Is that really too much to ask?"