Just Obey

Chapter 33

Joelle's POV                  published: 03/02/2021

Olivia shocked everyone. We all knew that she was a sneaky bitch but, we never thought she would be this much of a sneaky nasty bitch.

She was low. Lower than anyone could have ever even imagined.

Not only did she she mess with my life, she messed with Mateo's. She held information that from knowledge, she knew was important to Mateo. Olivia has known all of this information about Mateo's parent's death months before he did.

Yet she denied him all of the truth he wanted.

What I don't understand is, if she wants so badly for them to belong to each other, why didn't she use the information she had to her advantage? And why would she expose herself to both him and me?

I have so many questions, but right now, me and Mateo have to be here for each other. To better understand what the fuck just happened right before our eyes. I also need to talk to Aaron about the information I've just acquired about his feelings toward me.

———

Mateo and I are silently laying in bed together. I look up at Mateo and see that he has completely dozed off into his own world.

I pull myself away from his hold and sit up right. He doesn't even notice or react to my actions. He's staring off into space and I become sad for him.

"Mateo?" I call him. He pulls himself out of his daydreaming and looks over at me. "Are you okay?" I rub his arm and he smiles while nodding. "You're lying." I claim and he sighs and sits up right as well. "Joelle..." he says sternly. I can tell he was frustrated. "I don't like when you lie to me Mateo.." I tell him and pulls away from me and I flinch a little. He stands up and walks toward the closet taking out some clothes. "Well I'm not lying, so you don't have to worry about it then." He says coldly.

I groan. "Whatever Mateo." with attitude in my voice. He sighs and slams his fists down on the dresser lightly but hard enough to make noise. "What Joelle? What!" He almost shouts in an annoyed tone. I look at him only to look away a second after. "You wanted to talk! So talk.. go ahead!" He yells and I stare into his eyes. "I'm not going to talk to someone who doesn't want to talk to me." I softly reply and get up. I start waking and he runs his hands through his hair. "Where the fuck are you going?!" He questions me and I turn to him, "Away from... this!" I shout gesturing to him. "This? As in us?" He asks and I scoff. "As in you Mateo! I don't want to be around you when your upset! So, if you need me for absolutely anything, I'll be in my old room." I shout angrily and start walking towards the door.

I gasp when I feel Mateo's large hand grip my wrist and pull me closer to him. He held my wrist pulling my body against his. "Let me go Mateo, you're hurting me!" I whine. It really was hurting me.

He looked down on me with pure anger. He wasn't upset with me. But with Olivia, the world perhaps.

"L-Let go." I wanted to shout, but it came out more as a squeak. His hand tightly wrapped itself around my small wrist making the pain worse by the second.

"You wanted to talk so let's talk." He says in a frightening low voice. The tears start forming in my eyes while I look into his eyes. I saw something I haven't seen since the night I met him. "W-We'll talk later Mateo you're... scaring me." I confess with a few tears sneaking their way down my cheeks.

He instantly let go of his hold on my wrist. "I'm so sorry baby.. I-I don't know why I did that." He said backing away from me. It was as if he was scared he was going to hurt me. "This isn't my fault." I say lowly and he nods. "I know." I look up at him and see tears on his face. I start walking toward him and take his face holding it in my hands. "But it isn't yours either Mateo." I make him look at me and he completely breaks down.

"You were scared." He said in a pained voice. My eyes widened at the realization that I was scared. I sigh and hug him. "I was baby, but only because it wasn't you.. it was the Mateo from a year ago." I confessed and that seemed to hurt him more.

I felt bad for saying it, but it was how I felt. He needs to know and understand how I feel. Communication is really important to me.

"Joelle," he called me and I pulled away from our hug. I simply look up into his beautiful eyes. "I'm sorry I reacted like that.. I shouldn't have." He said. No excuses. Just sorry.

I smiled at his progress. Usually he would add some type of excuse to his apology. But he's stopped doing that and it made me happy.

"It's okay Mateo, but we need to talk about everything that has happened the last couple days." I run my hand through his silky brown hair and peck his lips. "I know baby" he sighs and drags himself down to the floor. I stare at him, and admire him.

Mateo's POV

Five minutes of a comfortable silence was shared between Joelle and I. Until I broke it.

"She knew." I spoke randomly. She looks over at me with her soft brown eyes. "I know." She replies and I shake my head. "No, she knew. Olivia was the first person ever.. I told about my parents." I confess in a shaky voice. I stare at the ceiling, but I can see the shocked face Joelle carried from my peripheral.

"I met Olivia 5 years ago, when I was 19 and she was 16." I start my story. She leans back listening to me. "It had just been a couple months after Carter passed and a year since I took control of the gang." Joelle turns over to me at the mention of Carter. Her real father. "Olivia was just a lonesome teenager living off of dollar bills, and I was a broken new adult who had all the money in the world..." I said and Joelle smiled a bit, "so you took her in." She finished my sentence and I nodded. "She was just a kid who I grew to trust over the years. When she turned 18, me and Aaron threw her a huge party with all of her friends." I smiled at the memory. She was so innocent and peppy. "you loved her like she was your own blood?" She asked and I looked at her with tears in my eyes.

Her expression softened as she held my cheek in her hand. "It was that night that I told her about my parents, that night I decided I would protect Olivia like I would my own siblings." I said and laughed. Joelle probably thought I was crazy.

"But she always saw me as more than that.. but even then I never let that get in the way of my care for her." I admitted and Joelle looked shocked. I knew she believed that me and Olivia had slept together but I could never see Olivia that way and never wanted to. In my eyes she was always that 16 year old girl I picked up from the streets.

"You saw Olivia as family, that's why you got so mad at me that night we fought..." she spoke in realization. I nodded my head not wanting to think of that night.

"Olivia was family, she was like my little sister... she was the first person I trusted with my most hurtful secret... and she betrayed me." I sniffle. She wipes the tears from my face and sits in my lap. Joelle was crying now too. I looked into her beautiful eyes and she looked into mine.

"She was someone you thought you could trust, and she did something you never thought was possible... she broke your heart and your trust."

I leaned into her chest and held her. I hated looking this vulnerable but Joelle made me this way. She made me comfortable to be this way around her.

And she was right. Olivia did hurt me, she broke my trust... she broke my heart. That once innocent teenager, turned into someone I want to hate.. but I can't.

Joelle didn't utter a single word. She only say there  holding me in her small arms. Tears were streaming down my face, more than anyone thought I was capable of. I felt and heard Joelle crying over me as well.

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