Betrayed
979 Words
GCHAPTER TWO
Harper’s POV
I stared at the hand Xavier was holding out to me.
For a brief moment, I wanted to take it.
I wanted someone to pull me away from the humiliation, the laughter, and the countless eyes that had watched me fall.
But I couldn’t. I forced myself to shake my head and tightened the blanket around my body.
“I’m okay,” I said quietly, though my voice trembled. “Thank you.”
Xavier studied me for a second before lowering his hand. He didn’t try to persuade me. Instead, he stepped aside, silently giving me enough space to leave with what little dignity I had left.
I took a careful step forward.
I felt pain in my injured knee, but I ignored it and continued walking toward the exit.
I instinctively looked back at the ice, searching for Tyler.
My heart skipped, he wasn’t there again
His teammates had already taken their positions, but Tyler was nowhere to be seen.
Did he leave because of me? No… I couldn’t stay here, I had to find him, I had to explain everything.
Tyler always told me to stop being so clumsy, he always reminded me to think before I acted and not embarrass myself in public, he must have been disappointed after seeing me fall like that.
I lowered my head as guilt filled my chest.
“It’s my fault,” I whispered to myself. “I embarrassed him.”
If I apologized, he would understand, he always did.
Holding the blanket tightly around myself, I hurried toward the players’ hallway.
Most of the security guards recognized me as Tyler’s girlfriend, so no one stopped me as I passed.
The loud cheers from the arena became quieter with every step until only the sound of my own footsteps remained.
My knee throbbed painfully beneath the torn fabric, but I didn’t slow down.
Right now, all I wanted was to see Tyler.
When I reached the locker room corridor, my eyes immediately found his door.
It wasn’t fully closed.
A small smile spread across my face.
Maybe he had come back to collect something before returning to the game, maybe this was my chance to explain
I took a deep breath, lifted my hand, and gently pushed the door open. “Tyler…”
The words on my lips. I froze. Tyler wasn’t alone.
His arms were around another woman, and his lips were locked with hers.
It was the kiss of two people who had done this many times before.
My heart stopped. “T… Tyler?”
The woman slowly pulled away and turned toward me.
A smug smile spread across her face.
“Mila…”
She was one of the club’s cheerleaders. Beautiful, slim, and everything people admired.
Her eyes swept over me before stopping on the blanket wrapped around my body. “Oh.” She laughed. “The fat girl found us.”
My fingers tightened around the blanket. Tyler finally looked at me.
For a split second, surprise crossed his face, then it disappeared, he sighed. As though I was the one disturbing him.
“T-Tyler…” My voice shook. “I came to apologize.”
He frowned. “Apologize?”
“I know I embarrassed you. You always tell me not to be clumsy and to think before I act. I didn’t mean to fall. I just wanted to explain…”
Mila burst into laughter. “Did you hear that?” she said, looking at Tyler. “She’s apologizing.”
Tyler laughed too.
The sound shattered something inside me. “Harper,” he said coldly. “Do you really think I would choose you?”
I stared at him. “What?”
He pointed at Mila. “Look at her. Then look at yourself.”
“I… I love you.”
“You actually believed that?” He laughed again. “Our relationship started because of a truth or dare.”
My face turned pale. “…What?”
“My friends dared me to date the fat hockey girl. They bet I wouldn’t last a week.”
Mila smirked. “But you made it so easy.”
Tyler shrugged. “You believed every word I said. My teammates couldn’t stop laughing every time you called yourself my girlfriend.”
I felt the air leave my lungs, every date, every hug, every ‘I love you.’
None of it had been real. “You… lied to me?”
He slipped an arm around Mila’s waist. “You should be thanking me. Without me, no guy would have looked at you twice.”
Mila smiled proudly. “Honestly, Harper, did you really think a hockey star would choose someone like you over someone like me?”
I couldn’t hear anything after that, my chest hurt, my heart hurt.
I turned and ran.
I ignored the pain in my injured knee and the tears streaming down my face, I didn’t stop until I reached the end of the hallway.
An empty bench came into view, and I sat onto it.
My shoulders shook as I put my face in my hands.
After everything I had done for Tyler… After every chance I had secretly given him… I had been nothing more than a joke.
A truth or dare, a game. I wiped my eyes and slowly looked up.
Someone was standing a few steps away.
Tall, broad shoulders, a black jersey. Number Seventeen.
Xavier.?
My heart skipped.
The game… Wasn’t it supposed to have started already? Why was he here? Why wasn’t he on the ice? His eyes met mine, he didn’t speak, he didn’t ask what happened.
He simply stood there, looking at me as if he had already seen enough.
Is he here to take his blanket?
What is he doing here? Really? After everything that happened, he's worried about a blanket ?
- Writer
