109 - The chapter with Amber's advice

Christian

My lips moved urgently over Alicia's as my free hand danced nonchalantly across her body. I could hear the commotion around us, but I couldn't focus on anything. In my mind it was as if I heard Rose repeatedly calling me pathetic, and scoffing about how she only approached me out of pity.

I turned away from the girl, turning to look for Rose, watching her walk away quickly, making a tiny smile appear on my lips as I knew I had achieved my goal. Yes, I knew it had been low of me and that Rose had probably said it out of her mouth, but at that moment I could only focus on hurting her as much as she had hurt me in the last few days!

Part of me was screaming that that wasn't a smart move, especially seeing the look on Van Derr Waal's face as he came towards me. But I couldn't think straight. Not when Rose's words kept resonating in my mind.

" I thought this would never happen,” Allie whispered in my ear, reminding me of her presence.

" Sometimes fate surprises us," I murmured to her, not looking away from Rose, who had been approached by someone.

That guy is our tattoo artist!

" You can forget about her for good, you're not missing much. In fact, you're getting rid of her to get something better " Allie raised her hand to my face, trying to get my attention, stretching for another kiss that I didn't reciprocate, still with my gaze on Rose and Joshua, who was very close, smoothing her back while whispering something in her ear.

Allie grabbed my hand, bringing it to her hip, in an attempt to make me match her advances, but at that minute, all I wanted was to go to Rose and get that guy away from her!

And he knew exactly what my desire was, since he kept looking at me while whispering things in my girl's ear, smoothing her body in an unpretentious way.

I shook Alicia off, not bothering to pay attention to her complaints as I walked away, determined to get him away from her, but before I could approach them both, Liam intercepted me.

" Don't even think about it," he growled, stopping me from walking any further.

" That guy is our tattoo artist, he's much older than her," I pointed out the obvious.

Why isn't he taking action himself to stop that asshole from taking advantage of his girl, as he liked to call her?

" I know, Rose knows too, and guess what, she doesn't give a shit. And after that ridiculous little show you put on, you'd better not make it worse!”

I felt the despair of helplessness in the face of the situation begin to mix with the hurt and resentment I felt towards her at that moment. How can he just expect me to do nothing while that bastard takes advantage of her!

" I only reacted to her words, you see..." I started to defend myself without looking away from that horror show in front of me.

" And she's reacting to your reaction. So you two managed to cross the limits of stupidity when it comes to relationships, and the one who's telling you this is the guy who's always screwed everything up," he complained, "Come on, I told Sky to get her out of there, let's see if I can work things out for both of you!"

We started to approach, but before Liam could do his thing I froze in my place at the next scene. My gaze was caught when Josh's tattooed fingers, which had previously strolled nonchalantly down Rose's back, made their way to her ass, squeezing it shamelessly as he held her in a lust-filled kiss.

Time stood still around me, I could only focus on the two of them and as much as part of me screamed that I should rip him away from her immediately, I knew I couldn't do that. So, while Liam tried to resolve the situation, I did my best to ignore all the teasing and walked away, leaving the bar afterwards.

My mind was burning with anger at the whole scene, and I knew it was my fault, I should have known. That damn competitive spirit of Rose's would make her cross every line to get to me. And at that moment, I hated her for it.

My bike was parked a few meters from the entrance of the bar, next to others, and it didn't take long for me to reach it, starting to put on the helmet I had left next to the Harley.

" Chris, wait! " I heard Sky's voice calling me.

I turned in her direction, expecting to see Rose with them, but she wasn't there, making my frustration grow.

" I'm leaving, this whole thing was a bad idea,” I muttered, getting on the bike.

" No, it was a bad idea when you decided to stick your tongue in my cousin's mouth in front of everyone," Liam glared at me, "And now we all have to deal with the consequences.”

" I don't see how you're going to deal with any consequences," I threw him an annoyed look.

" Really? Because I can…”

" That's not important now! " Sky glared angrily at her boyfriend who seemed particularly out of patience at that moment " You're not fit to ride, Chris…”

That's when my gaze was drawn to the door of the bar from where Rose came out hugging Joshua.

I'm not staying here anymore

" I'm leaving! " I started the bike, then took off, not giving Sky a chance to retort.

A strong light blinded me for a moment and I heard my friend's voice screaming something in despair as a car came at a considerable speed towards me. I managed to swerve at the last second, feeling the icy wind of a near-accident blow past me as the car horn sounded insistently and I left it behind, not giving anyone a second glance before going on my way.

I didn't have a destination mapped out in my mind, but I knew I didn't want to be bothered, so for a while I just drove around the area, until I ended up at an old abandoned cabin on the edge of a lake partially frozen by the snow days we had.

The scenery itself wasn't very nice, but it seemed like a good place just to be alone, so I decided to stop there and just enjoy my own company for a bit to get my head around it. I walked to the edge of the moonlit lake and sat there, ignoring the hut that looked like a good trap for the unwary. In fact, if Rose was there with me, she would tell me that it was the perfect place to find tormented spirits.

Normally that thought would make me smile, but at that moment I was the only tormented spirit in that place. My cell phone surprised me with its ring and I saw Liam's face on the screen, rejecting the call afterwards. The last thing I expected was to have a cell phone signal in that little end of the world I had found. The icy wind hit me, calming all the storm inside me, making the anger start to dissipate, allowing me to clearly analyze everything that had happened since Monday.

I knew that after what Rose saw, all she wanted was to get her comeuppance and make me feel the same way she did, and the only person who stopped her from acting before was Liam, who accompanied her whenever she wanted to go out. And I knew that for sure, because we are the same and that would be exactly what I would do!

I closed my eyes, seeing the image of Rose kissing Joshua pop into my mind, but what did I expect? It was at that moment that the realization of the size of the shit I had committed hit me.

What did I expect? I was so pissed off by all her mistrust and in the end, the words she used to hit me that in the heat of the moment made things untenable.

And the worst part was knowing that I broke a promise I made to her on Halloween.

How am I going to fix that?

In search of some solution to that damn situation I got myself into, I decided to look for the one who always helped me in everything and seemed to know all the answers.

"Chris, did something happen? " Beebee's sleepy voice sounded after a few rings, making me remember that it was already dawn.

" Sorry to wake you up, but I needed to talk to someone," I took a deep breath.

" Okay, hold on," she whispered before pushing the phone away, "it's just Chris, honey. Go back to sleep.”

It took her a few seconds before she spoke again, her voice now in a natural tone.

" What's the matter, Chris?”

" I think I've ruined everything” I blurted out.

" You can start talking,” she sighed.

I spent the next few minutes detailing everything that had happened, including our relationship with Alicia and everything she had ever done to us.

" I've tried everything, but she just won't even listen to my explanation," I finished my account, hiding the big mistake I made that night. I knew I was wrong, I didn't need anyone else to tell me that.

" Damn it, Chris!”

" I swear I didn't do anything, I kicked her out as fast as I could! "I tried to justify myself.

" Chris, I love you and I believe in you. I know you wouldn't lie to me and you wouldn't have this desperation in your voice if you were lying " Beebee reassured me.

I took a deep breath, waiting for my sister to finish that thought, already knowing that I probably wouldn't like what she would say next.

" But?”

" Christian, I believe you, don't get me wrong. But I don't blame her for her reaction. I would never believe it myself if Vihn told me that story,' she sighed.

I allowed that sentence to take effect in my mind, it wasn't what I expected to hear from my sister, especially since she always seemed to have a magic solution for everything.

" Never?”

" Never," she emphasized.

I remained silent for a few seconds, before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, asking the question that had been on my mind for the past few days, as if I needed a verbal confirmation for the hypothesis that was circling me.

" She won't forgive me, will she?”

" I can't answer for her, Chris. But I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't hold out much hope that she'll believe your story," she returned.

I opened my eyes again, watching the moonlight reflected on the lake in front of me. It had been clear to me from the beginning, but the passionate and less rational part of my mind wanted to convince me that we would somehow get through this.

But now it was time to put the fantasy aside and face reality.

" I'm so sorry, Chris...

" I'm going to hang up, sorry to wake you up " I sighed goodbye.

And at that moment I decided it was time to go back to the villa and do what I should have done days ago, before it was too late.