Playing The Game

Playing The Game - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Joel came over my house the next day, apologising profusely.

I was still shocked that he’d done it, but I told myself that he had only done it because of the stress that he’d been under, and that it wouldn’t happen again, and I forgave him.

A week passed and the hand-shaped bruise on my cheek faded.

After feeling guilty and apologising a million times, Joel went back to his seemingly depressed state, and once again we barely talked. I stopped trying to talk to him, and never bothered to call or text him anymore; he never picked up or replied.

A couple of weeks after Joel had hit me I came home to a big surprise. When I opened the door I found that the hallway was filled with dozens of bunches of white peonies. My favourite flower.

My first thought was that Joel (who, to anyone else, would be the most likely candidate) had sent them, but I actually laughed at the thought. He was most definitely not up for being romantic like this right now.

I walked to the closest bunch of flowers and looked at the little card. It was blank. I frowned and went to the next one, but that card was blank too. I checked every bouquet of the sweet-smelling flowers, but none of the cards had anything written on them.

As I made my way over to the last bunch of flowers that I was yet to check, I felt two strong hands grab my arms, and I gasped as I was spun around and pushed up against the wall.

“Who the hell is Branden?” a voice questioned menacingly. I looked up to see the beautiful green eyes that had once been so familiar and loving to me filled with spite and rage and hatred. Hatred for me? I didn’t know.

“Joel! What are you doing? Let me go!” I cried, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He just gripped my arms tighter.

“Who. Is. Branden?” he repeated slowly. I flinched as he lifted something up in front of my face, and I saw that it was a small card, much like the others that I’d found in the flowers, except this one was not blank. It simply said:

I love you. Branden x

I felt kind of stupid for not realising that it was him who had sent the flowers. It was terribly obvious. I began to wonder how all the flowers actually got into my house, but then I remembered that Branden knew where we kept the spare key.

Joel must’ve thought I was cheating on him. The thing is, he didn’t know about Branden. He had no idea I even had an ex-boyfriend. I never felt the need to bring it up, and when Branden came around the day Joel hit me, Joel didn’t ask and I didn’t explain.

Joel seemed to think I was taking too long to answer, because I felt his right hand release its hold on my arm, and it suddenly hit me in the face. I groaned as pain shot through my head.

“Is he your other little boyfriend? Are you cheating on me? Huh?” he roared as he punched me in the stomach. I was temporarily winded, and couldn’t find enough breath to explain to him who Branden was before he slammed me into the wall again. “You better not be cheating on me Rubix,” he growled. The tone in which he said my nickname that I used to laugh at made my stomach churn. It sounded so… twisted. “You can’t leave me. And if you tell anyone about this,”—he paused and reached up to trail a finger down my cheek, before pulling his hand back and slapping me again—“it’ll be worse next time.”

And with that he let go of me and just walked out of the house. I was in so much pain, and my head was swimming in confusion, I could barely register what had just happened.