Bonus Chapter 6: 𝓑𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓦𝓪𝓼 𝓓𝓻𝓾𝓷𝓴

"I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you, but... I feel like you needed to know."

"Did you see them do anything more? Like kiss? Makeout?"

"No, but her hands are all over him and she's kissing his cheeks and chest. Jake was the one who encouraged the woman to sit with Cory and at first, Cory tried to fight her off, saying that he had a girlfriend, but after that, he sort of just... gave in."

The more she heard about the woman attempting to seduce her boyfriend, the more the blood in her veins boiled. Her hands were clenched into fists and her chest was heaving up and down as anger touched every fiber of her body. She stormed into the club, disregarding the knots growing in her stomach being inside this kind of environment. Gracie kept her eyes on Cory the whole time she was approaching him, but Cory still hadn't made eye contact.

Not until she screamed his name did he finally look up from the girl. His droopy eyes were now wide open and he seemed to have sobered up as soon as he saw her.

Cory pushed the girl off him and stood up. The shots of tequila were giving him a migraine and he can see two Gracies and Addies standing in front of him. Hidden behind his intoxication was guilt eating at his heart. "It's not-it'sss not what it lookss like."

"Bullshit! You're clearly letting a skank straddle you, drunk or not. What the hell were you thinking?! You were supposed to meet our parents at my parents' house for dinner! You promised! But you broke that promise to fucking cheat on me!"

"I told her thhat I hhhad a girlfriend!" Cory yelled over the music.

"But based on what I saw, you were certainly enjoying yourself!"

"I didn't even want to come here! Blame Jake!" Even though all he was doing was yelling, he was struggling to stay standing. He was swaying from side to side and he almost stumbled back on the bean bag chair. Cory reached out toward Gracie's arm, but she yanked it away.

"Don't fucking touch me! I'm leaving! We're done!"

Gracie took large strides away from the club and where Cory was standing. Despite her angry words, her eyes were watering with unshed tears. She slammed her back against the wall and slid down until she was hugging her knees.

Gracie was racked with sobs as her body was trembling. She gripped her chest and her lungs were struggling to fill up with oxygen. She blamed herself. She never should've fallen in love with him. It was always going to end in heartbreak. She didn't deserve that.

Addie felt bad as she watched Gracie. It was a horrid sight; she was struggling to breathe and she clutched her chest with her left hand as if the vital organ placed in the center of her stomach was aching phenomenally. Her face was as red as a strawberry.

Tears were hurrying toward the edge of her chin and her sobs echoed throughout the streets. Addie hated how contagious Gracie's sorrow was. She could feel how hurt she was. She took a seat beside her, not saying anything. They didn't have that close of a friendship so she didn't know what to say to make Gracie feel better.

Addie sat close enough that their shoulders were touching, but her eyes were downcast on her twiddling fingers. She took a quick glance at Gracie before she decided she had to say something. "I'm sorry." Addie mentally kicked herself. She already said that and that wasn't going to fix anything.

"Don't be."

Gracie managed to take deep lungful breaths. She was now staring off into space with a dead look in her bloodshot eyes. She had already cried every tear that was left in her body.

"I'm the one who was stupid enough to fall for his charms. I fell in love too hard and I only have myself to blame. Of course he was going to cheat on me with a supermodel."

"I don't know that much about you, but what I do know is that you are definitely not stupid. I've seen the way he looks at you. If anyone looked at me the same way he did, I would've fallen for him too. You're not lonely in that department."

"Am I overreacting? I mean... he was drunk. People do stupid shit when they're drunk."

"Not at all. Drunk or not, cheating is cheating. Any girl would feel the same thing you're feeling right now. Forget about him. One day, you'll find someone who loves you. Someone who treats you the way you deserve to be treated. Someone who knows how lucky they are to have you and would never do anything to screw that up."

Gracie tore her eyes away from the ground and made eye contact with Addie. For the first time in months, it felt like they were having a moment. Maybe there was a chance they'd make it as friends after all.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

Her voice sounded soft and it wavered halfway into the sentence. She pulled it together and stood up to crawl back in her mom's car. Gracie spun on her heel when she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"Are you sure you should be driving right now? I can take you home."

"I'll be fine. I need to get my mom's car home anyway. But thanks for offering."

Addie felt uncomfortable letting Gracie drive off in the emotional state she was in, but she didn't want to argue with her. After the special moment they shared together, she didn't want to taint it with an argument. Little did she know, she'd end up regretting making this decision.

She really thought that she would've been okay. Her eyes were sore, but halfway toward her house, they were as dry as a bone. Then, she started to think about what transpired at the club. Confronting Cory about cheating. Him denying it when it was so obvious that he was.

Then her eyes were glossy with more tears and this time, they were unstoppable. She was on the freeway so she couldn't pull over. Gracie was forced to keep driving. Soon after, everything moved in slow motion. Her arms shot out to protect her from the glass that was attacking her face, but the shards inevitably pierced through her skin.

She felt the car topple over toward the other side of the street and all she heard were her blood curdling screams and the car crashing each time it landed. Gracie was crying in fear that this would be the last time she was on Earth. Her next breath could've been her last.

She kept waiting for the car to tumble over one more time, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes only halfway and saw drivers rushing out of their cars to make sure she was okay. Gracie repeatedly reminded herself that everything would be alright. She was breathing. She was alive and safe. That was all that mattered to her.

By the time she saw red lights reflecting off the road, everything went black. Gracie saw the melancholy in her family's eyes, but her first concern was that she damaged the car. Her parents were already in a financial bind with everything they'd done to fix up the new house.

She got in the accident and her main concern was how they were going to pay for the car and the hospital bill. That went to show how big her heart was. However, she let Cory shatter it into smithereens.

Back to the present...

Naturally, her family was fueled by anger when they heard the news. The second Gracie told her mom that she was texting the Arizona Cardinals' quarterback, she blabbed about it to the whole family.

They watched YouTube videos of his games, stalked his social media and did more research about what kind of a man he was. This was the first serious relationship she'd ever been in. The last thing her siblings wanted, having more experience with relationships and her being the youngest, was to see her get hurt.

Kristina and her husband bought a plane ticket all the way from Washington to come and see her. Matt, the workaholic, prioritized buying a ticket to make sure she was okay and Brian took the day off work to visit her at the hospital.

"You have no idea how sorry I am about what happened. We had just left the gym and Jake decided to take a trip to the club. I told him that I was supposed to come over for dinner with our parents but he promised we wouldn't be gone for long. Then a server passed by us with a tray of shots and Jake insisted we let loose with a shot and that's when things went... well, to shit."

"Did Jake push the woman onto your lap too?"

"I admit. Letting her straddle me was fucked up, but I was drunk."

"Really? You're gonna blame the alcohol?"

Gracie was trying to remain calm, but fury was surging through her veins.

"You're right. That's no excuse, but I'm so fucking sorry. Please forgive me. Please!"

Gracie had nothing more to say to him. She feared that if one more word escaped her lips, a piece of anger would be written in her tone.

Cory was about to argue some more, but what was the point? There was not one excuse that he could use that wouldn't piss Gracie off even more. He lost control of his words. A bunch of letters formed words in his head and without consulting the brain for approval, they spilled out. "At least that woman was fun."

There goes more pieces of Gracie's heart. Her face softened and the fury automatically switched to somber.

"At least she's fun enough to go to the club in the first place. That's something you'd never do."

Gracie was done being treated like shit by this man. He complained that she never did anything fun? Fine. She'll do something fun that she'd never done before.

"You want me to do something fun? Well, how about this? I'm breaking up with an NFL player."

Cory froze. Her words hurt him like bullets to the chest. He deserved it though. What he said was uncalled for and there was no taking it back. He couldn't stand watching her eyes water anymore. He threw the door open and slammed it shut before storming out of the hospital.