Empire High Betrayal(84)

Matt dropped her hand like it had burned him.

“No matter. I still have a month to ruin this relationship. See you on Thanksgiving, Sissy.” She blew me a kiss and walked away, her high heels clicking loudly on the floor.

“I didn’t mean to,” I said through my tears. “I thought Felix would talk to Cupcake and fix it. I thought…”

“Why’d you tell Felix and not me?” Matt asked.

“I didn’t mean to tell anyone. It just kind of slipped out at homecoming…”

“At homecoming, yeah I heard you. Which means you kept it from me for weeks, Brooklyn.”

“I wasn’t keeping it from you. Kennedy asked me not to tell anyone.”

“But you told him.”

God, he sounded so pissed. “I’m sorry.”

Matt took a deep breath. “Maybe next time you need help with something you should ask your fiancé instead. Then maybe none of this would have happened.”

“You weren’t my fiancé then. We weren’t even together. Matt…”

“Because you wouldn’t come talk to me. You just broke up with me without even letting me explain my side. We only ever fight when you don’t talk to me. And when we got back together you looked me in the eye and promised me no more secrets. So what the hell is this?”

“It wasn’t my secret to share.”

“Well apparently it was, because you shared it with Felix.” He shook his head. “I’m not having this argument with you in the middle of school. We can talk about it later. Or not, since you don’t like letting me in.” He left me standing in the middle of the hall as he walked away.

“Matt!” I yelled after him. But he was already pushing out the front doors of Empire High. God, what the hell had I done? I ran after him and down the front steps. “We also said we wouldn’t run away!” I called after him.

He froze at the bottom of the steps and turned around. He looked so sad, and I hated that I’d done that to him.

I ran down the rest of the stairs. “Please, I don’t want to fight with you,” I said.

He didn’t say a word.

“When Kennedy told me what Cupcake did to her…I didn’t know what to do. It felt like I had this secret that I couldn’t keep in. And I would have told you, but I already felt so guilty about letting it slip to Felix. Please, I can’t handle you hating me too.”

Matt reached out and ran his thumbs beneath my eyes, wiping away my tears. “Kennedy doesn’t hate you.”

“It sure seems like she does.”

“She doesn’t. And I could never hate you either.”

“It sure seems like you do.”

He dropped his forehead against mine. “You drive me fucking crazy. But that’s because I love you. Not because I hate you. I could never hate you, baby.”

I breathed in his cinnamon exhales. “I really am sorry.” I wrapped my hands around his torso. Now the prank tomorrow was looming over my head. I should have told Matt about it weeks ago. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret. Hell, he may have even helped me plan it. I had no idea. But I couldn’t tell him right now when he was already upset with me. It felt like he was slipping away from me, so I just held on to him tighter. Tomorrow everything would be better. Isabella would be put in her place. And hopefully the Hunters would make up with the Caldwells. Matt would understand. He had to.

“Me too.”

“Why are you sorry?” I asked.

“For snapping. With all the wedding planning and playoffs coming up… I’m trying so freaking hard to stay calm for you. I don’t want to stress you out, but it’s just so hard sometimes.”

I knew he was doing that. He was worried about my panic attacks. He’d been so understanding and patient with me ever since we got back together. But I didn’t want him to put that weight on his shoulders. I wanted him to feel free to react however he needed to. The last thing I wanted was for him to be stressed out instead of me.

“Take a deep breath,” I said and rubbed his back.

He laughed. “I’m not having a panic attack, baby.”

“I know.” I looked up at him. “But it helps with stress too.”

“There’s other things that are better for stress.”

I laughed as his hands slid to my ass. Yeah, I guess that would work too. But a better idea had just crept into my head. I knew exactly what to do to make sure Matt wasn’t stressed out.





Chapter 35


Thursday

“It’s a Thanksgiving present,” I said and pushed the wrapped package toward Matt.

He smiled at me. “There’s no such thing as a Thanksgiving present, baby.”

“Open it.” I tapped my hands on the top of the big box. I was so excited to see his reaction.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his eyes transfixed on my face instead of the huge wrapped gift in front of him.

“I swear, if you don’t open it, I will,” I said.

He laughed and looked back down at the box. “How did you even get this huge box up here?”

“Oh my God, Matt just open it!”

He smiled and tore the wrapping paper on the side. He pushed back the rest of the paper.