Chapter 123

GABRIEL'S POV

I'm well aware that I possess a tendency to be overly dramatic at times, but this time was different. She had been gone for a reasonable amount of time considering that she was going to console Arden, but still. 

I'm not a superstitious individual but the pit in my stomach demanded my attention. Somehow I knew something was off, I felt it. And so I stopped reconsidering my Dolce and Gabbana suit and decided to go confirm whether everything was okay. 

It wasn't. 

All I had to do was burger into Arden's room and see the look on his face. He had been lying on his back, but he instantly sat up and the most unreadable look fell over his face. And when I call it unreadable it's because it was. I couldn't even tell what he was trying to convey. 

" Where is she?" 

The question made his eyes widen, then I watched as some weird sort of realization overtook his features before he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the heels of his palms to them.

"Oh God Layla!" He complained. Sounding as if he was blaming her for something she had done. Then he shook his head and sighed defeatedly. 

" Have you checked downstairs?" 

" No I haven't fucking checked downstairs! Why, what happened?" 

He knew something. I was by that time, standing with one foot into his room and the other out. Ready to hurry downstairs and search for her. 

" Layla!" 

I shouted her name, my eyes on Arden who was listening in to hear whether she would respond. I called her two more times, she had grown defiant, but she would have already answered by then. 

" I didn't think she'd take it so seriously, " 

" What the hell are you talking about?!" 

He stood up, but I didn't wait for him to respond, stepping out I slammed the door shut and dug both hands into my hair. I couldn't think clearly, my brain was finding it hard to process anything other than the fact that she had gone, for whatever reason that was. 

" Chill, " Arden calmly told me, having walked out of his room. One hand on his ribs which must not have completely healed. I couldn't believe that he was telling me to calm down. That was my most primal fear come to life, it was the thing I dreaded most and it was happening at a time I hadn't expected it to and for reasons I was unaware of. I rushed down the stairs because I needed the clarity first, to know for certain that she wasn't in the house because a tiny stupid part of me still chose to hope that she was somewhere with her earphones on which was why she couldn't hear me. Arden struggled to follow behind m. 

" What happened?" I demanded. 

Whatever it was must have been pretty serious for her to leave like that. And by doing so she had broken our pact. 

And she was breakin me along with it. 

" I forgot about the dead girlfriend and she must have caught on! "

I got to the bottom of the stairs, then I stopped and turned around to face him. There was too much rage in my veins, and it was directed at both him and her. 

How dare she leave me! After she had so clearly promised me that she never would, that I didn't have to worry about it because she needed me as much as I needed her. Had all that been mere bullshit? Had she been lying to me all along. 

" You forgot? "

The words were hissed out with venom and fury. Because he was the one behind her sudden departure, both of them were wrong in my eyes. 

" Whoa! Don't look at me like that, and don't use that fucking tone with me either..."

" I'll use whatever tone I goddamn well please!" 

" How was I supposed to remember such a thing, it slipped my mind, "

" Slipped your mind?" I repeated, then I took one step towards him and pegged him with a murderous look. I had been angry with Arden only a couple of times in all our years of friendship, and even then we had always been able to fix it because the issue had never been that major. But I doubt I had ever looked at him or talked to him with h such scorching heat. I felt whatever emotion surpassed anger on the feelings scale. And because he was the closest one to me, and he was partly responsible for my anger, I had no choice but to take out my frustration on him. The problem was that Arden,just like me, did not like to be pushed. He always barked back, it was in his genes to defend himself using whichever means he could use. 

We were too much alike, and until that moment, that had always been a good thing.

" I warned you against lying in the first place, so don't go blaming this on me. "

" Well I'm sorry your Holy Righteousness! "

" Don't start with me Gabriel, I'm seriously not in the mood. "

He had been stabbed, and he had no option but to marry the daughter of whoever had planned his stabbing. So when he had said he wasn't in the mood, I probably ought to have listened. He had been trying to hold it in and make it appear like he was fine. And I suppose I was also the one unlucky enough to be the element of his venting. 

" Let's not forget who asked for whose help here. "

" And let's not forget who couldn't keep it in their fucking pants! "

I took that personally. 

" I'm pretty sure you've heard this before Gabriel, but the world DOES NOT revolve around you! "

" Oh, it does if I want it to. "

" Jesus Christ! No wonder she ran. " He chuckled humourlessly, hanging and shaking his head with one hand on his waist. The little sane and logical part of my conscience advised me to let it be. To just walk away and give us both time to cool off because neither of us was thinking clearly. But I always made an effort of ignoring that part completely ad pretending it didn't exist. Who needed logic? 

Sense was way overated. 

" She ran because of you!--"

" No Gabriel, that sweet and nice girl ran because she was way too good for you. "

That was the thickest load of bull I'd ever heard. Of course my less sinical self knew he was somehow saying the truth, but there was no way I was ever going to admit that. The only truth I acknowledged was that Layla was mine and I was never going to let her escape. I had told her just as much. 

She ought to have listened. 

" It's never enough with you, is it? " Arden suddenly asked. Everything he was saying sounded as if it was coming from a truthful place. As if they were facts he had been thinking of for a while, and I wondered how long exactly he had been judging me in his head. 

" I love her. You know I do. "

" You're right, I do know that. But it's too toxic man, you have to be a fool not to realize that. "

" Maybe she likes it toxic!" 

"Yeah....maybe. But she's a girl, a gentle one. She needs normalcy as well and you are the furthest thing from normal there is. " The calmness of his tone when he said that was like an archer's arrow. No, it was like a spear that he'd just used to pierce the words into me. Had it been another person telling me that I would have ignored it and went on with my life, but Arden mattered to me. His opinions mattered. 

" You like her?" 

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

" We've been through this. I love and care for that girl, but not like that. And because of that love, I want the best for her. "

" And I'm not the best, is that what you're trying to say?"

" That's the thing, you can be. You just chose not to. "

A lot of words were exchanged between Arden and I. I think somewhere in the middle of the conflict I made a mistake by mentioning his desire to always please his family. 

I didn't even understand what he meant. I had done absolutely everything for Layla. I supported her deci-- okay, let's try this again. I was there for her whenever she needed me. There was no way to argue with that. She was my fucking universe and even she knew that. Which made me wonder why she had run instead of coming to me and letting us talk it out. 

" There's nothing I won't do for her!" I finally snapped. He looked like he was done with that whole thing and all he wanted was to go someplace where I wasn't. 

" Your entire relationship began based off a lie. What future does it have unless you come clean completely?" He stated. 

Layla was exaggerating. If she had really ran away because of the whole girlfriend thing then she was too controlled by her emotions. 

" " You shouldn't have told her!"

" She was bound to know. I get you have issues but if you thought it was healthy to continue lying to her for the rest of your lives then your idea of love is completely wrong. "

" Don't talk to me about love. "

" Why not? I clearly have more experience with it than you do. "

He didn't mean it the way I assumed he did. But him simply mentioning that had me thinking of his statement in a different way entirely. And that hurt. Especially when he didn't seem to realize it. 

" Talk to me when you calm down. Otherwise keep your fucking distance! " He added before going back upstairs.

We weren't going to be getting anywhere if we kept on arguing,so I watched him as he went back upstairs. I checked my pockets to make sure I had my keys, then I immediately took out my phone. What was even the point of her running when she k ew I was going to catch up to her in no time? I got the report while I was in my car, and it was just as I had suspected. 

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Cassie Adams lived in a fairly nice and normal neighborhood. There were picket fences and nice flower gardens and all that. Nothing too luxurious, but it was clear that the people living there had a certain normal level of wealth. I drove straight to her place and parked the car. Technically, it belonged to that Mason boyfriend of hers but still. 

Layla had really done it this time, she had taken her overreaction way too far. I knocked twice. Perhaps a little harder than was necessary, but look at it from my point of view, the love of my life had run away from me for such a silly reason. She knew me better than almost everyone, she knew I had a tendency to exaggerate at times. And it wasn't even the first time I had lied to her so what was the big deal. I was expecting her to send over her little friend to the door to try and convince me that she wasn't in there, but she didn't.