messages ✆ lucaya

part twenty four

maya nervously walked down the steps of lucas's front porch, making her way towards bradley's black car.

she knew what she did with lucas was wrong, and she felt really bad. she had never pictures herself as a cheater, and she definitely didn't want anyone else to think that she was someone who would cheat.

but there was just something about him that made her lose all control and any sort of common sense. she didn't know why, and she definitely didn't like the effect that he had on her after them only actually meeting face to face that day, but she couldn't stop it.

it was scary, the amount of control he held over her when he wasn't even trying.

"hey, princess," bradley smiled at his girlfriend as she opened the door to his car and sat down in the passenger seat. "i missed you."

"i missed you too," maya half smiled, feeling extremely guilty. she began to pull off her jacket, and bradley couldn't help but notice how her smile didn't meet her eyes.

"hey," bradley turned in his seat, lightly placing his fingers on her chin and turning her head so she was looking right into his soft brown eyes. "are you alright?"

"yeah, i'm fine," maya told him, pulling her left arm out of her jacket and then placing it in her lap.

"i'm not so sure if i believe that," he mumbled, carefully examining her face to try and make out any sort of upset emotion.

"okay, so i guess i'm not the greatest," maya sighed, looking down at her lap.

"i'm sorry, princess," bradley apologized, and before she could say anything, he pulled her into a warm hug. his arms were tightly wrapped around her body, but not too tight, and his hands were placed appropriately on her mid-back.

well if she didn't feel guilty enough before, this sure pushed the guilty meter up a few notches.

he lightly inhaled her calming vanilla scent, not paying too much attention to the old spice cologne that lingered in the background, and maya felt tears building in her eyes.

he was so sweet and so good to her, and then she just had to go and mess everything up.

"i'm sorry," maya mumbled, her voice wavering as the tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.

he was going to find out soon, she could sense it.

"what are you sorry for?" bradley asked, slowly pulling his head away from her neck where it had been nuzzled during their embrace.

and that's when he saw it.

the purple and red mark on her neck.

his whole world came to a screeching halt, and everything started to piece itself together.

why maya didn't want bradley to walk her to the door, why she texted him saying she was ready and then texted again twenty minutes later apologizing for being late, everything just started to make sense.

however, nothing really became clear until he looked up and saw the guilty expression plastered on his beautiful blonde's face. his heart dropped in his chest the second he saw her face, and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"you....you..you cheated on me...didn't you?" he gasped for air, at a loss for words.

"i'm so sorry," maya mumbled, her tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "i'm so, so, so, so sorry."

"how..w-what did..how could you?"

those words made maya's already broken heart shatter in two, and her tears were now freely flowing out of her eyes.

she hated this, she hated seeing him like this, she hated being the cause of his pain, she hated the fact that she had cheated, everything about this situation was just absolutely gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking.

"i didn't mean to, everything was just happening so fast and-" maya stopped her run on sentence and looked directly into his brown eyes that were filled with tears that were threatening to spill at any moment. "i love you, bradley. i really do."

"i love you too," he told her, and she felt her heart lurch in her chest. if there was any hope, and by any she meant any, hope that maya could possibly salvage their relationship, she would do anything to do so. "but i don't think i can ever forgive you for this."

maya's shattered heart pieces fell in her chest, and she felt sick to her stomach.

this was really happening, wasn't it?

"are you..are..are you breaking-" maya couldn't finish her sentence. her heart was in her gut, her throat burned, and her eyes just seemed to have a constant supply of tears falling from them.

"i think we should break up," bradley managed to get out, and just as his tears began to slow down, he looked over and saw maya start sobbing into her hands, which made the tears come back faster than ever.

how she managed to make him feel horrible after he had just found out that she cheated on him was one of the many mysteries about maya hart that he had hoped to solve.

but not anymore.

"please, bradley," she cried, "don't do this to me. i love you, this was a mistake. i never meant for it to be like this."

"i'm sorry, but i just can't do this, maya," bradley told her.

maya didn't say another word, grabbing her coat from her lap and opening her door, stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind her before walking up lucas's driveway and up the pathway leading to the front door. she turned around and her eyes met with bradley's heartbroken ones one last time before he started the car and drove away from her, leaving her heartbroken, cold, and alone.

(double update bc this book is at 16k views and 1k votes. this is crazy. y'all are incredible and i love you all so much, my little rays of sunshine. hopefully i'll update again sometime soon)