Chapter 27

They both jumped up at the sound of my voice- him and that slut- and she tried to cover herself with the blanket, not that she really cared who saw her naked. Grant was watching me, our eyes locked, and he looked almost as shocked as I felt. I don’t know how long we just stood there staring at each other, but he still had his hands on her, his body on her. It was the same way he held me last night.

The silence that had enclosed the room was shattered.

“Who the fuck are you?” the brunette hissed venomously, breaking me out of my trance.

I broke my gaze with Grant and turned my attention to the slut that had helped to ruin my life. “I was his girlfriend.”

It was time to get out of there. I ran out of his room, down the stairs and out the front door. I ran straight past Mrs. Marcellus. She tried to call me back, but I didn’t want her seeing my tears.

I ran like I was being chased.

I felt sick to the core. My face was burning, my eyes stinging with tears. This wasn’t how it was meant to be. He was meant to be there when I woke up. He was meant have his arms around me and kiss my forehead when I opened my eyes. He was meant to love me.

I guess that I really was being stupid.

Someone attacked me from behind, capturing my arms as they encased my body. I thrashed out instinctively, kicking and screaming and calling for help. Nobody came, though, despite the fact I was being physically harassed by some freak on the street.

“Rose, it’s just me. Please calm down,” a voice breathed into my ear, attempting to be soothing. I recognized it as Grant’s immediately and began to kick harder, fight more ferociously. It made me feel dirty, just having him touch me, even if it was only like this. But he was too strong, and I was becoming tired. I stopped moving.

“Let go of me,” I snarled. “Get your filthy hands off me.”

Grant’s hold loosened. Slowly, he slid his hands away from my body. “Okay, Rose. Okay.”

I spun around to face him, viciously scraping the tears from my face. How dare he have the nerve to say that everything was okay? “No!” I shouted. I quickly deteriorated into trembling sobs, barely managing to get my words out. “Why, Grant?” I cried. “I thought we were special. I gave you my virginity, for god’s sake!”The tears kept on coming; I couldn’t stop them. My cheeks felt raw and I knew I probably looked like shit, not that I cared about that right now.

Grant looked at me squarely, his face serious. “You don’t think I see the way you look at me?” he replied.

I looked up at him, heartbreak clear on my face. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Rose, you look at me like I’m the man of your dreams. You look at me as if I’m the love of your life,” He explained gravely, as if it were wrong for me to do so.

“And how do you look at me?” I asked, still shaking as more tears forced their way out.

Grant shook his head. “I don’t know what we have here, Rose, but I know I don’t love you.” He tore his gaze away from my face and landed it on the sidewalk.

I felt the anger return, the raw emotion quickly joining the hurt. I slapped him as hard as I could, right across the face. Grant just looked at me, stunned, with a white handprint on his already reddening cheek.

“You know what, Grant?” I yelled. “You are a fucking asshole! It was your idea that we went out in the first place, not mine. I should never have believed you when you promised that you would never hurt me. So—In fact, just go to hell.” I couldn’t help slapping him again before I turned my back.

I started running again. I ran away from that bastard, and I ran as fast as I could.

I ran from the sidewalk onto the road, heading straight for home.

“Rose!” Grant’s voice shouted. He sounded close. I looked back to see how far he’d caught up to me and—

Something hit me. And it hit me hard. I hadn’t seen the car coming… If I had, it wouldn’t have collided with me. My body wouldn’t have rolled onto the hood of the car, and it wouldn’t have crashed to the floor at the colliding force.

From then on, everything happened in slow motion. My vision began to blur and I felt as if I had a heartbeat in my head. It became harder for me to breathe; it felt as if I was taking in air that was empty of oxygen. I hurt everywhere, and it was too much. My eyelids became heavy. They started to flutter closed.

I could hear voices- lots of them. They blended together to make one big wall of noise, pressing into my head. There was one voice that stood out, though. It was Grant’s.

“Oh god,” he cried. “Please, Rose. Please be alright.”

He gave me the power to open my eyes again, if only for a moment. I managed to capture his gaze, and then I whispered, “It’s all your fault.”

My eyes closed again, and everything went dark.

Grant’s POV

“Rose! No, Rose!”  I shouted, barely able to get my words out.

I watched as the car smashed into her. I watched as she was thrown to the floor. I watched and I couldn’t do anything to help her.

The driver was already out of the car by the time I’d reached her. I fell to my knees, snatching up Rose’s hand in my own. Everyone on the street crowded around us in an uproar, shouting and screaming and yelling that an ambulance needed to be called.

I ignored them all, though, and just concentrated on my Rose. “Come on, Rose. Oh my god.”

She just laid there, her eyes closed. Her breathing was heavy- strained- but at least that meant she was alive.

“Oh god,” I cried. “Please, Rose. Please be alright.”

I pulled her hand up to my chest and cradled it. I was too scared to do anything more, in case it made something worse. Tears pricked my eyes. They were soon rolling down my cheeks and I was bawling like a baby.

Slowly, as if it took a great effort, she opened her eyes and looked straight at me.

My heart lifted. Rose was alright. She was alright.

And then she opened her mouth. “It’s all your fault.”

And my heart sunk again. I rubbed the tears from my face, but her words kept repeating in my mind. It’s all your fault. It’s all your fault. It’s all your fault. What hurt the most was that she was right. I couldn’t help but blame myself. It was all my fault, but Rose didn’t know what happened. She didn’t know the whole story…

**Flashback**

I couldn’t help but stare at Rose while she slept. She looked even more beautiful in the morning, her head resting against my chest. I breathed into her hair, taking in the smell of her shampoo, and I kissed the top of her head gently.

I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have her.

And then nature called. Sighing, I gently slid myself out from under Rose, slipped my boxers on and padded into the bathroom. When I came out, I came face to face with Trent.

“Hey, dude. I just came up for a leak,” I explained.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” he demanded angrily.

My eyebrows scrunched together. “Um, going to the bathroom? I just said…”

“No.” He shook his head crossly. “I mean with my sister.”

I blanched and my stomach twisted. “I… What are you talking about?”

“I’m not dumb,” he protested. “You said that nothing was going on between you guys. How could you lie to me?”

Oh god. “Look, mate…” I said gently. “Things just happen, you know?”

“No, actually, mate. Things don’t just happen.” His hands balled into fists. “I saw you two dancing together at the party last night. Don’t tell me that was nothing.”

I stepped back slowly, blocked from going any further by the bathroom door. I raised my hands in defence. “Hey, bro. Calm down. It’s nothing serious, okay?”

I watched as he gritted his teeth and took in a deep breath; it looked like he was counting to ten or something. Finally he said, “It better not be, Grant, or I will seriously… god, I don’t even know.”

“Yeah—“

“And one more thing,” he added, raising his fist and punching me squarely in the jaw. “Stay the hell away from my sister, dick.” I guess I deserved that.

I watched as Grant stormed back down the hallway, rubbing my jaw. God, what would he be like if he actually knew that Rose and I were together? If he knew that we slept together last night? I felt sick just thinking about it.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

**End of Flashback**

I’d ended up writing Rose a bogus note about how I needed more clothes, and then I got out of that house as quick as possible. It wasn’t right, Rose and I sneaking behind Trent’s back like that. He was my best friend, for Christ’s sake, not to mention he would kill me if he ever found out the truth… I got off lightly outside the bathroom. We were taking too many chances.

When my phone rang and it was the brunette from the party- I think her name was Sarah- I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to start forgetting Rose. I never expected her to catch me in the act, though.

How could I have been so stupid? I grimaced, but it was too late now. Rose knew what I’d done…

The ambulance had come by now, and the paramedics lifted Rose up in one of those stretchers and put her in the back. The doors shut, hiding her still body.

As the vehicle drove off, I was left on the pavement. Her words were still stuck in my head.

It’s all your fault.