Chapter 55
Bree
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I had my entire face buried in an assignment for my psychology class, soaking in the quiet that the library always seemed to offer. It was one of the few places on campus where I could really breathe, where the background chatter of the world dimmed down to the gentle rustle of pages and the occasional click of a keyboard. I was enjoying a rare break in peace, knowing full well that Gage would be tied up at practice. That meant I had about an hour and a half before he would stride through those doors with that cocky grin of his, the one that always made my stomach flip, and sit down right across from me. He wouldn’t say anything at first–he never did. He would just sit, open a book, and act like it was the most natural thing in the world to be there with me.
Somehow, that routine had begun to calm me in ways I hadn’t expected. It was like he had unknowingly built a cocoon around me, one that made me feel safer and more at ease simply because I knew he’d always show up. Whether it was outside a classroom, during lunch, at dinner, or across from me at this very table, his presence had become a quiet constant. He never pressured me, never reached for more than I could give. He never pushed too far, too fast. But there were always those little gestures–subtle, quiet touches that meant more than they should have. His arm draped across the back of my chair as though it belonged there. His hand brushing the small of my back when he guided me through a doorway. The way his long legs would slide under the table until they were cradling mine, close enough to remind me he was there without anyone else noticing.
Everything inside of me ached to give in to that pull. I wanted nothing more than to open up to him completely, to tell him everything–what Jenna and Oliver had done to me, how it had shattered me, how it still clung to me like a shadow. I wanted him to know I couldn’t sit across from his sister at family holidays and pretend nothing had happened, that I couldn’t trust her, not with my secrets and certainly not with him.
More than anything, I wanted him to choose me. I wanted him to look me in the eye and say he didn’t care about Jenna, that she no longer had a place in his life. I wanted him to whisk me away, take me somewhere untouched by betrayal and judgment. Somewhere we could simply exist as ourselves, unburdened, free to want what we wanted and do whatever felt right without the weight of consequences or the sting of whispered voices.
But deep down, I knew that dream was nothing more than that—a dream.
“See, I told you she would be here,” Riley’s voice whisper–shouted across the quiet space, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I looked up, startled, just as Riley and Savannah made their way toward me. Riley wore that
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ever–present grin of hers, wide and mischievous, while Savannah looked like she’d just seen a ghost.
“What’s going on?” I asked, watching them carefully as they drew closer, both of them practically buzzing with energy like they were carrying something important.
“Something’s happening,” Savannah whispered as soon as she leaned over the table, her voice low but urgent.
Riley crossed her arms, her grin stretching even wider. “Something that looks absolutely incredible.”
“I think it has something to do with you,” Savannah added quickly, ignoring Riley’s theatrics.
My brows pulled together in confusion, my pen stalling over my notebook. “I’m not sure I understand,” I said slowly, looking back and forth between them. “What is happening?”
“Goldilocks is f*****g up some guy during practice,” Riley announced, grinning like she had just stumbled across the juiciest gossip of the year. Her voice carried a little too loudly for the library, earning a couple of irritated glares from nearby tables, but she didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
Honestly, what shocked me wasn’t Riley calling Gage Goldilocks–she had been doing that ever since she first dragged me away from him in the hallway. It had become her thing, a nickname she wielded like a weapon, sharp and teasing. Even Gage knew about it, and to my surprise, he had never once tried to correct her.
in
No, what truly unsettled me was the fact that Riley had said Gage was “f*****g up” some guy during practice. Gage wasn’t violent. He didn’t throw his weight around, not off the field anyway. Sure, he had the build of a Greek god and the strength to crush just about anyone his path, but he had never been the type to use his body for anything other than football–or occasionally to make me feel safe in those subtle, unspoken ways.
“He’s what?” The words tumbled out of me sharper than I intended, my voice pitching higher,
shriller.
Riley’s grin only widened, her eyes sparkling with mischief, and for the first time I didn’t like that look on her at all. Savannah, on the other hand, mirrored my shock. Her brows were drawn tight, her lips parted in disbelief, like she couldn’t quite wrap her head around what she had just witnessed either.
“I think something is happening,” Savannah murmured, shaking her head slowly, her voice low and troubled. “And it’s not pretty, Bree. It looks like they’re teaming up against him–not just Gage, but Miguel, Kenneth, and Caleb too.”
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My stomach dropped. My throat went dry. “Who is it?” I whispered, though it came out more desperate than I intended, my pulse hammering against my ribs. It felt like my very life hinged on the name Savannah was about to say.
She hesitated, glancing toward Riley as if hoping our friend would fill in the blank.
“A new one,” Riley said, still rifling through her memory, clearly enjoying the suspense. Clanders or something like that.”
Ice shot through my veins, numbing me. No. No, no, no. It couldn’t be.
”
“Camden?” My voice cracked as I shot to my feet, the chair legs scraping harshly against the floor. “Do you mean Oliver Camden?”
“That’s the one!” Riley beamed, earning another round of shushes from annoyed students nearby. She winced theatrically, then leaned in closer, whispering far too gleefully, “The guys are ganging up on him, and his name was definitely thrown in there.”
“I think you should come,” Savannah urged softly, her expression serious, far less thrilled than Riley’s. “I’ve never seen any of the guys like this before. It’s… intense.”
I had never packed up so quickly in my entire life. My books and notes vanished into my bag in a blur, my hands trembling as I shoved everything inside with little care for order. In one motion I slung the strap over my shoulder and hurried after Savannah, her heels clicking sharply across the floor.
Riley fell into step beside me, already rambling. She explained how she had been leaving class just as practice started. She admitted that while she thought jocks were idiots most of the time, watching them work up a sweat was hardly something she minded. Her tone grew animated as she described how she had noticed Gage’s focus narrowing on Oliver, almost like he was targeting him from the start.
It had begun subtly: passes thrown just a little too hard, shoulders colliding with unnecessary force. But it hadn’t stayed small. Bit by bit, it escalated. Savannah had happened to walk by then, on her way to meet me at the library, and she had seen the shift–how the others started joining in one by one. Gage had been speaking to them between plays, and before long the entire group seemed united in whatever was unfolding.
And the worst part? The coach wasn’t stopping it. For reasons I couldn’t begin to understand, he almost seemed to be encouraging it, letting the brutality build unchecked.
”
“I heard Miguel talking to some of the others,” Riley said as we neared the grounds. “ Apparently he was a jerk to you or something.”
While I wanted to fixate on the fact that Riley seemed to be focusing on Miguel and what he
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was doing, I knew it was just my brain trying to bring me some relief from the thought that maybe Gage had found out–that maybe he knew what they had done–and I hadn’t been the one to tell him.
“What did he do, Bree?” Savannah asked, eyes wide as she practically moved in double time in her heels to keep up.
I swallowed. The truth sat heavy and hot on my tongue, a lump that wanted to spill out. “I’ll tell you everything later,” I said, voice tight. “I just need to see what’s happening first.”
Savannah nodded, but she still looked horrified, like she’d seen something she could never unsee.
Then the yelling started–not a shout you could ignore, but a furious, ripping sound that made my chest contract. It wasn’t far away; it was close, and it cracked into the air like a whip. I couldn’t catch every word, but I didn’t need to. The intent was as clear as a slammed locker door: rage, accusation, a promise of violence.
We reached the field and everything opened up before us. There he was planted in the middle, an immovable, powerful presence. He towered even over Oliver, looming like a statue about to move. He was breathing hard, color flushing into his cheeks, fists tight as if he could crush the grass beneath them. The whole stance was wrong and terrifying in a way I’d never seen from him before.
Oliver stood in front of him, jaw tight, body leaning back in a way that made it obvious he was bracing, not posturing. For once the arrogance was gone; his shoulders were hunched, eyes darting. He was actually scared, and I felt a cold twist of something in my gut that was equal parts relief and dread.
“If you really want her that badly,” Oliver called, voice trying to be as threatening as Gage,” then you can have her! I don’t f*****g care, okay? She’s not even good at-”
His sentence exploded into a sound as Gage’s hand smashed into his face. Oliver folded back, hitting the ground with a thud, hand clamping at the place Gage’s palm had connected. Pain radiated over his features, breath leaving him in a ragged groan.
“Don’t you f*****g dare talk about her like that!” Gage roared, stepping forward until he was almost looming over Oliver. The anger in his voice was animal–raw, territorial, and terrifyingly sure of itself. In those moments he didn’t look like the guy who’d sit across from me in the library and pretend not to notice my skin; he looked like a different kind of force entirely.
Something in me twisted so tight I could feel it behind my ribs. If I hadn’t been utterly terrified -if I hadn’t been raw with fear for what this could mean, with the knowledge of all the stakes -my body would have answered in a different way. My pulse hammered; every nerve
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screamed. I would have felt heat pool at places it shouldn’t, felt the way his dominance made something ache inside me, a wanting that was filthy and impossible. My n*****s would have tightened under my shirt, my breath would have hitched at the sight of him taking charge, taking what was mine by fury and force.
But I was terrified. Bone–deep, stomach–sick terrified.
Gage reached down, his hand fisting the collar of Oliver’s shirt before lifting him clean off the ground. His muscles tensed, his knuckles whitening with the force, and his voice came out like a growl.
“I would really reconsider the way you’re speaking of my future wife.”
A sharp gasp tore from my lips, one I couldn’t stop even if I tried. My hand shot up to cover the sound, trembling against my mouth as the words rang in my ears. Future wife. My chest lurched at the claim, at the certainty in his tone. Savannah’s hand suddenly clamped down on my arm, gripping me tightly, her nails biting into my skin as though she was just as stunned as I was.
The air around us seemed to shrink, every whisper vanishing into silence. All I could hear was the heavy thud of my own heartbeat and Gage’s voice, vibrating with fury.
“I know what you did,” Gage seethed, his voice dropping lower, darker. The other guys stepped forward in unison, silent but fierce in their support. They formed a wall behind him, a united
front that made Oliver look even smaller in his dangling state.
“You’re an awful piece of f*****g s**t,” Gage went on, venom dripping from every syllable.” You took the purest part of her love and threw it away. You took her heart for granted, crushed it under your heel. And then you had the audacity to treat her body like it meant nothing–like she meant nothing.”
Oliver’s face twisted with fear, his legs kicking weakly against the floor. I took a step forward, desperate to stop this before it went too far, before Gage got expelled or worse. My throat tightened around his name, but Riley’s hand landed firmly on my shoulder, stopping me cold. She shook her head once, her eyes warning me to stay still.
“I will always have to live with the fact that you got to her first,” Gage continued, his grip unrelenting as Oliver squirmed. His words cut sharper than any blade, and though I knew he wasn’t aiming them at me, they still carved into me all the same. “I’ll always have to live with the fact that you destroyed her trust. That you shattered her self–worth. That you broke the kind of amazing girl she was.”
My eyes burned, my vision blurring. The truth of it struck deep, lodging in places I’d tried so hard to hide. He was right. Oliver had ruined me. He and Jenna had carved out my heart,
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More Re stamped it into the dirt, and left me hollow. Hearing it aloud ripped open the wound, raw and exposed.
But then Gage’s voice shifted, fierce but steadier, carrying something like a vow.
“I will, however, be the one to build her back up,” he said, each word deliberate, unshakable. With one final shove, he released Oliver’s shirt, letting him drop with a dull thump onto the ground. Gage straightened to his full height, towering over him, his chest rising and falling as though every promise burned through his lungs.
“I’ll be the one cheering her on when she starts loving herself again. I’ll be the one watching her prosper, the one she learns to trust. I’ll stand by her side when she graduates. I’ll watch her step into the world, one classroom at a time, changing lives. I’ll be the one she marries, the one she has kids with. And one day-” his voice cracked like thunder, echoing in the silence, “-I’ll be the one lying beside her when we enter Heaven’s gates together.”
“Oh my God,” Savannah whispered, her hand flying to her mouth. Beside her, my tears finally spilled over, hot trails streaking down my cheeks. My entire body trembled with the weight of his words.
“And you?” Gage sneered, his fury reigniting as his gaze bore down on Oliver. His voice turned venomous again, each word spitting like acid. “You’ll be rotting somewhere, probably in
prison, living out your days as the predator you are. Because believe me-” he leaned closer, his jaw hard, “-you will never amount to anything in this world.”
”
き
Emilia M
Aaaaand I’m back! I’m so sorry for not posting earlier, but things have been hectic lately, they are however better now! How did you like Gage’s little display of possessiveness? Because I loved it
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