Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(32)

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.”

“Well, it looks like she's getting what she wanted.”

A horrified expression passed over his face, “No. Don't – don't say that. Please Harper.”

“Just go Brandon, I'm not going to do this with you.” I turned to face the wall so he couldn't see how much this was killing me. First boyfriend, first kiss, I fell too hard too fast, and now I'm getting hurt. Him being here was just dragging it out. “Go home Brandon. We’re done. Goodbye.”

“God, please don’t say that.” He said softly to himself. Leaning over onto the bed, he ran his fingers down my arm, and continued to my back when I flinched away, “I can't leave until you hear me out. She's mad that I kept turning her down, she's seen me with you this week and she told me this morning that she would make sure I ended up with her. Right after lunch I started getting these pictures, she's just been sending the same messages over and over all day.”

“And you didn't see any reason to tell me this?” I asked the wall since I still wouldn't look at him.

“I thought she was going to stop, I saw her after my last class and told her to drop it because I wasn't going to leave you.”

“Is that why you were in a bad mood?”

“Yes. She knew you were staying with me this weekend, I was afraid she was going to do something else.”

“Meaning?”

He blew out a deep breath and moved his hand back up to my arm, “She said she'd stop the texts, and told us to have a good weekend together. The way she said it and stressed the word ‘together’, I just knew something was going to happen.”

I sighed and rolled back to face him, his face fell when he saw my heartbroken expression.

“Harper I'm so sorry, I should have just told you earlier.” He cupped my face, and though I flinched once again, he kept his hands there.

“Are you cheating on me with anyone? Not just Amanda.”

“No. I only want you.”

I searched his face carefully for any sign that he was lying, but didn't find any. He had been painfully honest with me from the beginning and I knew he was telling the truth now. Because of that I couldn't stay mad at him, no matter how much I'd wanted to. It had worried me how hurt I was when I'd first gotten those messages. I'd already fallen for this guy, and while it surprised me how fast I'd come to care for him, it was completely blowing my mind how much he seemed to care for me as well. Before I could tell him I believed him, his phone started repeatedly chiming and we sat silently watching each other until it stopped. I held out my hand and was surprised when he handed it over without even checking it. Opening up his messages I saw the exact same five messages Amanda had sent earlier. I typed back a response and hit send before handing it back to him.