bad idea

Chapter 58

Ariana's Pov

In no universe did it make sense for us to be broken up, we survived so much more than most couples did and still managed to stay together. But because of a drunk argument, we had been broken up for about a week, almost a week and a half. I was glad that we both decided not to tell anyone, without even discussing the details of what happened together.

I was okay for the first few days because I didn't feel wrong, but as the days started to progress, I didn't care about who was at fault, I just wanted to forget this ever happened. However, whenever I was even in the same room as the girl, our tension arose, we didn't even look in the same direction, never mind acknowledging the other's presence.

I kept myself busy by going to the hospital with Devyn and Victoria some days, and others, helping Tommy and Cole with miscellaneous errands. I know it was bad, but I still kept tabs on what she was doing too. Physical therapy some days, at the gym with Lauren others, and then she'd spend the rest of her time locked away in her office with Zayn, Shawn, and Camila, who of course would never budge on what was happening inside of those walls. It was obvious they knew something was up, but we always denied something ever happened.

It wasn't like this was an amicable breakup either, ours was venomous. I felt like she hated me, which was probably true considering she felt like she couldn't trust me either. I wondered if she felt the same about our breakup though, that it was a drunken mistake, something we could work on fixing, even if it took us a while.

I know the breakup was my idea, but drinks weren't good when mixed with imaginative thoughts. I could only imagine what was going through her head right now, she was like a brick wall, pretending I didn't exist, and I had to be just as harsh to her, otherwise, she'd know that she had an advantage over me.

I remembered the argument we had before this, hoe she explained that she wouldn't mind marrying me to help my family and I told her no because I wanted it to be genuine? This had opened my eyes, I didn't want to live a life without her, to be looked at as nobody in her eyes. It was killing me, all in one and a half weeks, I concluded that I did want to marry her. I just needed to figure out how when we kept taking one step forward and three steps back.

Saturday was live and most of our friends were here on a whim, as we all didn't have much to do. I had been plotting with Vic and Courtney, while Kai was with the four of her friends, which meant we didn't spend much time focusing on our business with everyone else. There were a lot of secrets being held in just one room, my eyes always watched Lauren carefully, she didn't know we were plotting. If she truly was guilty, I was definitely getting my payback for her ruining my relationship.

I was sitting in an armchair, talking with Cole and Tommy about a move they were considering making. Madison agreed to help us talk to Lucy, so Cole and Tommy figured heading down to New York would be the best way to get answers on her whereabouts from Victoria's connect. But she'd help us since she too, wanted to know who ran The Page. The only problem was, over the years, Lucy had grown exceptionally well at being found only when she wanted to, and over the years, she had never wanted to.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kai messing around with Lauren in the doorframe of the kitchen. I knew they were talking about something secretive, noticing their hushed voices. Maybe this is what she meant when she said she would be breathing down my neck, what if Lauren had caught on? Of course, this bitch always comes and swoops in. I noticed bruises trailing around Lauren's body, a scar just barely peaking out from her collar, and a bruise on her wrist, which I made note of that.

Victoria joined the rest of us, coming from the mailbox as one of our guys had let us know that something was dropped off. She seemed mildly confused, ushering her twin to come read as well. I knew my ex well enough to know that when her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip, it couldn't be good. Tommy and Cole looked over at me for answers, and I just shrugged.