“My mom was wrong. You can’t marry out of this crazy family. They’re toxic. All of them.”
Is he calling me toxic? I tried to wipe away my tears. But I couldn’t stop crying. Because he was staring at me like I was a stranger. Like I was toxic. Like I was a Pruitt and not a soon-to-be Caldwell. Isabella’s a disease. Those were some of the first words he’d ever said to me. I’d known that’s what he thought. That the Pruitts were all toxic. I just prayed he didn’t lump me in with the rest of them.
“You’re not the person I thought you were.” He grabbed the doorknob.
“Yes I am. Please just stay and hear me out.”
“Like you heard me out when you believed I’d sleep with my best friend’s girl? You didn’t give me the time of day.”
Matt. My chest ached not just because he was angry. But because what he was saying was true. “I’m sorry…”
“I fought for you. For us. I tried to be patient and understanding about what you were up to all that time you weren’t speaking to me. But we’re together now and you still look me in the eye and lie and keep secrets and sneak around behind my back. How the hell am I supposed to be understanding about that? You don’t care about my opinion at all. You don’t care about me.”
“Of course I care about you.” My tears were falling so fast that he was blurring in front of me. How could he think I didn’t care? I loved him so much that it hurt. “Yes, I planned a stupid little prank to get back at Isabella, but I never meant for it to go this far. And I was doing it to fix your relationship with James and Rob.”
He shook his head. And he didn’t say it. But I knew what he was thinking. That I did it because I was a Pruitt. That their blood was in my veins. That I was a monster.
I couldn’t think straight. Nothing was coming out right. But I was crying too hard. And I could feel so many eyes on me from the dining room. I couldn’t breathe. “You have to believe me,” I choked.
“That’s the whole problem, Brooklyn. You haven’t given me any reason to believe a word you say.” He opened the door.
“Matt, you promised you wouldn’t walk away.”
“I guess we’re both liars.” The door slammed shut behind him.
Chapter 38
Friday
I guess we’re both liars. The words kept rolling around in my head as I stared up at the ceiling of my bedroom at the Pruitts’. I hadn’t slept at all. My whole body ached. My heart most of all. The prank was supposed to fix everything. But if anything, the Hunters and Caldwells just hated each other even more. And everyone hated me.
Matt wasn’t speaking to me. Kennedy still wasn’t answering my texts. I’d yelled at Rob and James, even though James swore he didn’t know about that part of the prank. They were probably mad at me now too. As far as I knew, Felix was still in jail because of me. And Mason was pissed at me too. He’d left shortly after Matt and told me not to bother to come back to the house.
Even Isabella had called me a monster. I didn’t care about her opinion. But that one did hurt. A monster had called me a monster.
Miller and Donnelley were both stationed outside my room to make sure Isabella didn’t make good on her promise of killing me in my sleep. But what would it have mattered if she had? No one would miss me. Everyone would be better off if I was gone.
I wiped away my stupid tears as I looked at my phone. I’d left dozens of calls and texts for both Matt and Kennedy. And my screen was still blank. I just stared at it, waiting for something to come through.
But why would it? I was a liar. They’d both said so.
I was a monster.
I was a Pruitt.
I sat up and pressed on Matt’s name on my phone again. I’d tried to explain it a million times already, but one more time wouldn’t hurt. It rang once and went to voicemail.
He’d rejected my call. He’d seen it was me and ignored it. Even though he had to know how much I was hurting too. His silence literally made my chest ache. I tried not to cry as the voicemail switched on.
“Matt, it’s me.” Of course it was me. Who else would leave him so many repetitive voicemails? “Can you please call me back? I know you’re mad. And I would be too. But you have to believe me. I never meant for it to go that far.” I ignored the tears rolling down my cheeks. How could he ignore me right now? He wasn’t supposed to cut me out. He was supposed to be by my side. Always. He promised me.
“How could you compare me to Isabella? How could you think that I’m like her when you know me better than anyone else? And how could you ignore me when I’m hurting?” I wiped away my tears with my fingertips. “I gave you so many second chances when we first got together. All I’m asking for is one. I think you owe me that after everything we’ve been through.” Didn’t he see that? How could he treat me this way? I was still crying, but they were angry tears now. And I didn’t bother to wipe them away. “You’re a hypocrite, Matt. You’re a fucking hypocrite.”
I hung up the phone and let myself cry. Because I was pretty sure yelling at him instead of apologizing was something that Isabella would have done too. I’m not like her. I’m not. God, maybe I am.
There was a knock on my bedroom door.
“Princess, can I come in?” My dad walked in. He gave me a small smile. “How are you feeling this morning?”
I felt my bottom lip start to tremble. “I messed everything up, Dad.”
He rushed over and put his arms around me. “Nonsense. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He was one of the only ones that believed me when I said I didn’t know about the whole prank. It was just supposed to be a stupid fake poop prank. I hadn’t meant to do any structural damage to the apartment. Or ruin Thanksgiving.
“Everyone hates me,” I sobbed into his chest.
“I don’t hate you.” He leaned back so he could look down at me. “You’re an angel, Brooklyn.” He cupped my face in his hands. “My angel.”
That was kind of him to say. But it wasn’t true. I was a freaking demon.