Take Me for Granted (Take Me #1)(66)

Grant’s attention returned to me. He quickly walked across the room and tried to reach for me.

“Don’t,” I said menacingly.

“Ari,” he pleaded.

The tears hit me without notice. Full-on hysterical tears that made my chest shake and my whole body tremble. This couldn’t be happening to me. I’d given up so much for him. I’d concentrated less on school. I’d gone to all of this shows. I’d spent weekends with him instead of doing homework. I’d f**king given him my body, mind, and soul.

He had told me about his family, and then he’d crushed me under the weight of his callous, abrasive nature. He’d let himself get drawn into things that fed his addictive personality. And after he’d had sex with me, he’d just pushed me aside without batting his eyes. I felt like a total idiot. I threw my hands over my face, sank to a crouch, and just let the tears fall.

“Ari, come on. Please let me try to explain.”

I just shook my head. I couldn’t do this. That was all I could get out, “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?” he asked carefully.

I stood stiffly and wiped the tears away with the backs of my hands. They still flowed easily, but I couldn’t stop them. My voice wavered as I said, “This. I can’t do this, Grant.”

“Us?”

“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I wanted him desperately, but I hurt everywhere.

He’d ripped out the very part of my body that he completed.

Kristin took that moment to scurry out of the room. Luckily, she was fully dressed. She looked sullen that she was getting kicked out, but maybe a bit too cheerful when she caught a glimpse of my face. She strode over to the door where Grant and I were standing and gave me a smug look.

I couldn’t help it. I just lashed out. My hand connected with her face with a satisfying crack that whipped her head back. She gasped, and her hand flew to her face. A big red handprint was already forming on her cheek.

“You bitch!” she shrieked.

“Fuck you!” I spat. “You’re a dirty f**king whore. You’ll never be better than a groupie slut who gets passed around like the disgusting piece of shit you are. No one will ever take you seriously! You’re a f**king disgrace.”

Kristin lunged for me, but Grant was there first. He knocked her back into the door.

“Don’t even f**king think about it,” he growled. “Get the f**k out of here!”

“You just think you’re f**king better than everyone else, Aribel. But you’re no better than I am. You think he won’t drop you for someone else just as fast?”

“Get out!” Grant roared, shoving her out the door and slamming it in her face.

And just like that, my walls broke down. I couldn’t do this. It was the only thing ringing through. I was still crying, but my strength was returning. “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe you sang that song for me and then went off with another girl. I wasn’t even worried about this shit! You couldn’t have…I don’t know…shopped around for someone who wasn’t in my circle of friends? Someone I hadn’t come on this trip with? Someone who I didn’t have classes with? Someone I wouldn’t have to see all the time after you f**king ripped out my heart and tossed it aside like it was nothing?”

“Ari, please listen to me. I did absolutely nothing with her!” Grant said. “She slipped on the ice, and then I thought she accidentally lost her key. I was just letting her clean her hand before coming back downstairs. She came out of the bathroom naked and, like, attacked me.”

“I don’t want to hear your story!” I cried. “I’m sure you have a million explanations for why you had a naked girl in your room.”

“No. There is only one explanation.”

“I don’t care. I just…I can’t believe I thought you would change.”

“Ari, come on. I’m not the same person I was when we first met. The only person I want to be with is you.”

“I just…find that hard to believe, considering you had a naked woman in your room.”

“Just because I had a naked woman in my room doesn’t mean I’m cheating on you!”

“The fact that you have a naked woman in your room at all should be a red flag! Don’t you see how serious all this is?”

“I can’t f**king help what other people do.”

“You had your hands on her!”

“I was shoving her out of the room!”

I shook my head. We could argue this in circles all night.

“Ari, just listen to me.”

“I was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I got played so perfectly.”

Grant ran his hands back through his hair and shook his head. “I’m not playing you. Ari, you’re the one that I want. Can’t you see that?”

“No!” I said, losing it completely. “All I see is a very confused person who has a lot of emotional baggage but no idea how to treat people he cares about. You went with Drift earlier without a thought for your friends. You humiliated me in front of a group of people. You just let me walk away, and you never came looking for me again. Then, I find you kissing someone else! That does not sound like someone who wants to be with me! That sounds like someone who is congratulating himself on taking my virginity and moving on!”