After 3

Chapter 248.

The songs for this chapter are:

 Use Somebody- Kings of Leon

All at Once- The Fray

Story of my life- One Direction

Hardin's POV.

Boxes fall from the shelves and tumble onto the floor in a blur. My fist collides against the metal again, leaving a thick red stain behind. The familiar sting of splitting flesh across my knuckles only heightens my adrenaline, pushing me further into my rage. It's almost soothing, the calming relief of allowing myself to express my anger in the way I've always been used to. I don't have to stop myself, I don't have to overthink my actions. I can focus on the anger, let it inside and allow it to pull me under.

"What are you doing! Someone come help!" A woman calls yells. When I snap my head to face her she takes a step backward into the wide opening at the front of the aisle. Her eyes are low  and cautious as the obvious protective instinct to shield the little blonde haired girl clinging to her legs kicks in.

The little girl's bright blue eyes meet mine and I can't look away. The innocence behind them is being stolen with every angry breath that leaves my body. I break from the girl's hold and look toward the mess I've made in the aisle. Disappointment replaces rage in an instant and the realization that I'm destroying shit in the middle of a Target hits me hard. If the cops arrive before I can get out of there, I'm fucked.

With one last look toward the little girl in her floor length dress and sparkling shoes, I rush down the aisle and toward the front of the store. Avoiding the chaos brewing in the aisle, I cross from aisle to aisle, staying as out of sight as possible.

I can't think clearly. Not a single thought makes sense to me.

Tessa didn't fuck Zed.

She didn't.

She couldn't have.

I would know if she did.

Someone would have told me.

She would have told me.

The March air is unforgiving as it bites at my skin. I keep my eyes focused on my car toward the back of the lot and I'm thankful to be shielded by the darkness of the night.

"Fuck!!" I scream once I reach my car. My boot collides with my bumper and the grinding noise of metal bending out of it's place brings me to further frustration.

"She's only been with me." I say out loud.

 I push the key into the ignition just as two police cars pull into the parking lot with lights blazing and sirens howling. I slowly pull out of the parking space to avoid any unwanted attention and watch as they park on the curb and rush inside as if a murder has been committed.

The moment I make it out of the parking lot, relief floods through me. If I would have been arrested at Target, Tessa would have flipped shit on me.

Tessa.. and Zed.

I know better than to believe Steph's bullshit lies about Tessa fucking him. I know she didn't. I know that I'm the only man who has ever been inside of her, the only one who has ever made her come. Not him.

Not fucking anyone. Only me.

I shake my head to rid myself of the vision of the two of them, her fingers wrapped around his arms as he pushes into her. Fuck, not this again.