Falling For A Criminal

Falling For A Criminal - Chapter Twenty One

“What the hell, Cassandra? You're dating Chase and you didn't tell me?” I hadn't began arguing with her until the rest of the guys were out of the room, but I can assure you as soon as they were gone, she got a mouthful. “What happened to 'best friends don't keep secrets', huh? What happened to all that crap you told me about not keeping anything from you and you wouldn't keep anything from me—”

“—I didn't want you to think badly of me!” Taken back by her words, I took a step back and let her continue. “I was always the person telling you not to fall for the bad guy, or the gang members and I did just that! Hell, I even gave up my virginity to one!” Shaking her head, she began to pace the room back and forth as if trying to think of something that she could say to me. “I was always the good one trying to steer you straight, and I felt like such a hypocrite for doing everything I told you not to. But, when I met Chase, I just. . . I don't know.”

It was here that I honestly didn't know what to say to her. She was always the voice of reason, but this time around, it was her who was making irresponsible choices. Don't get me wrong, I loved Chase like a brother, but having my best friend date him—knowing he was a gang member—caught me off guard.

I knew I couldn't be mad at her though, so I had to let her know that. “Cas, there's nothing wrong with you having feelings for Chase. He's a great guy—”

She put up her hand, interrupting me, and eventually looked at me with an annoyed look on her face. “You think that you're just so much better than me, don't you? That you can date Haydn and nothing is wrong with it, but I can't date Chase without there being a problem?”

My jaw dropped at her accusation. 'Is that really why she's mad?' Quickly shaking my head, I put my hands up in a defensive manner and took a step toward her. “I'm not dating Haydn—and even if I was, that would be my business.” That only seemed to piss her off further, so I quickly added, “And I'm not mad that you're dating Chase because he's a gang member. I'm mad that you're dating him and you didn't tell me. I'm supposed to be your best friend, and—”

“—oh, fucking please. If you were really my best friend, you would have noticed that I was dating someone. But no, you were so caught up in Haydn's dick that you—”

And then I did something that caught us both off guard.

I brought my hand across her cheek and watched as she cupped her face in shock. From what I could tell, her skin was already turning red—but that could be for two reasons. One being the fact that I just smacked her and the second being that she was super pissed and was about to hit me back. I tensed up, ready for her attack, but instead, she simply shook her head and walked out of the room without so much as another word. I kind of regretted hitting her, but at the same time, I felt as though I hadn't done anything wrong. She was throwing accusations at me without reason, and she had it coming.

Still, that didn't mean I felt any less guilty for doing it. The one point she did have was that I had changed in my time with Haydn and all of this gang nonsense. I wasn't the same 'perfect child' that my parents thought I was two years ago; I had seen the world and hardened up because of it. I wasn't going to say I went through that ever-so-cliche transformation from being an innocent girl to gang-banging whore, but I had changed a lot. I saw through my parents games, and I understood why my brother left when he did.

The only thing I didn't understand about this whole thing was why Haydn chose to come after me instead of anyone else when there were so many other girls in the school who wanted him. When he broke into my room that day, I assumed that all he wanted was sex—which was probably half true—but now that I'm actually getting to know him, and trying my hardest to understand the entire situation, I'm still at a loss.