“Nothing happened Chase, just let me go.”
“Like hell, you’re crying and walking through a dark neighborhood. Talk to me.”
“Why are you even out here?”
“I'm going in to work, now tell me what he did.”
I breathed a miserable sounding laugh, “Don't act like you don't know. You tried to warn me, you knew he would do this.” My phone rang and after a quick glance to confirm it was Brandon, I ignored the call and shoved it back in my pocket.
“Princess, I promise you I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll kill him for hurting you. Please tell me what happened.” He wrapped one arm around me, and tilted my chin up with his other hand, anger and worry etched in his face.
Another cry escaped my mouth and I crumpled into his arms. He held me and whispered soothing words into my ears until my phone rang again, I ignored it. “Can you take me to the dorms, please?”
“You sure you want to go there?”
I nodded into his chest and wiped at my cheeks again.
“Kay, get in the truck Princess.” He helped me in before running to the driver's side. “Is that him calling again?”
“Yep.”
“Are you going to answer it this time?”
“Nope.” I hit ignore for the third time.
He let go of the seat belt and scooted toward me. Cupping my face, he wiped away the remaining tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Tell me what happened.”
I opened my mouth to speak but my phone rang again, “What Brandon?!”
“What the hell Harper, what's wrong?”
“Seriously? You're really going to play that game with me?” I puffed and dropped my head into my other hand.
“Sweetheart, what are you talking about? Where did you go? And where's all your stuff?”
“I left.”
“I got that, but where are you going?”
Tears started streaming down my face again, “Please stop calling me Brandon.”
“Wha– Harper, why?”
“Why don't you ask Amanda?” I sneered, “I'm sure she'd be more than happy to show you why I left.”
He cursed away from the phone, “Harper, I swear –'
I hung up and turned my phone off.
After a few silent minutes, Chase grabbed my hand in his and spoke softly, “Who's Amanda?”
“Apparently she's some girl he's sleeping with. Bree and I saw her on Monday with him and a group of guys.” I wanted to smack myself. I thought he was incredible for trying to keep my innocence intact, but instead he'd just been holding off because he was sleeping with other women.
He glanced at my face, eyebrows furrowed, “Why do you think he's cheating on you?”
I told Chase about the texts and pictures I found on his phone, which brought on another round of tears. “I feel so stupid.”
“You shouldn't.” He paused for a second and gripped the steering wheel tighter, “I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think you're wrong Harper.”
“Excuse me? I know what I saw Chase!”
“I'm not saying that, but he wouldn't do that to you. That's not the kind of guy he is, but even if he were, he would have told one of us. We tend to brag about girls we're with.” He reasoned, “And as much as I hate him for it, all he does is talk about you.”
I shook my head and leaned against the door, “Do you realize how all over the place you are? A week ago you were telling me not to go on a date with him, and now you're defending him?”
“I'm not doing it for his benefit, trust me. I don't want you with him, that hasn't changed; I just hate seeing you hurt like this.”
We sat there for another minute before I reluctantly took my hand from his and opened the door, “Thanks for the ride Chase.”
“Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to stay with you?”
“I'll be fine, I'm tougher than you think.” I flashed an unconvincing smile, “Go to work, I'll see you around.”
He frowned, but didn't say anything else. After I got upstairs, I took a shower and put on clean pajamas before falling into bed. My eyes burned from crying so much and I desperately wished I had some eye drops. A knock sounded on my door but I didn't move. I had a feeling it would be Brandon and though I was surprised it took him so long to come here, I wasn't ready to face him. My heart hurt too much. After another soft knock, a key turned the lock and the door slowly pushed open.
“Sweetheart?”
I didn't answer, I just stared at his darkened figure through blurred eyes. He flipped on a lamp and I watched his shoulders slump when he finally saw me.
“Harper.” His deep voice was thick with emotion.
“Did Bree give you her key?”
His brow furrowed as he slowly nodded.
“Traitor.” Wasn't she supposed to be on my side?
“You have got to let me explain, I swear it's not how it looked.”
“I doubt that and it was all pretty self-explanatory, so don't bother.”
Brandon took a step toward me, but dropped his outstretched arm when I flinched away, “There is nothing happening with Amanda. She's just trying to get us to break up.”