Caged Birds ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Two

Matt's P.O.V

"And that was the last time I saw her" I finish the story.

"Damn" Daniel leans back in his seat.

"I swear, your stories are way too fucking long" Noah shakes his head, drinking quickly from his glass.

"Do you think that she resents you?" Daniel asks.

"She hates me" I admit.

"Just as much as we hate her" Noah cheers.

Suddenly a woman taps Noah's shoulder. He snaps his head in her direction and grins.

"You didn't come to say hi to me" Kiley smiles.

"Sorry, I've been busy babysitting these two" Noah points to Daniel and I. "How is my favourite cousin and that boyfriend of yours?"

Kiley grins "fiancé"

"Michael proposed? Congrats" his eyes light up before looking over to Daniel, "sorry, Daniel, this is my cousin Kiley, Matt you remember Kiley"

"This is Sam's sister?" Daniel's eyes light up in surprise.

Strawberry blond hair sitting past her breasts. She wears a deep cut blue silk dress. Her eyes move to me and she smiles.

"Matt, it's good to see you again" she smiles before averting her gaze back to Noah.

"Everyone please return to your seats, the best man would like to say a few words," a man in a suit says into the microphone.

"I'll come and find you later," Kiley says to Noah before waving us all goodbye and returning to her seat.

The guest's attention goes towards the best man who begins his speech beside the band. I blank out for the entire toast. When I finally came to, everyone is lifting up their champagne glass.

"To Anna and Fred" The best man smiles at the married couple, "may their future be filled with nothing but happiness"

I glance over to a drunk Noah who looks like a wounded cat. I feel bad for the guy, he's had to spend the entire day watching the love of his life getting married to some other guy while having to pretend that he's not still in love with her.

When everyone stands up and moves back to the dance floor, I walk to the bar. To drink or to not drink? That's the question. I shake my head to avoid temptation, twisting my body to the dance floor where I see Anna and Fred dancing as husband and wife.

That's when I see Sam, walking quickly towards the exits. She has tears in her eyes which makes my heart fill with sorrow. I don't know what possesses me to follow her but I do.

She sits on the cold steps with her head in her hands. The sound of her weeping fills my ears just as she turns her head to face me. Our eyes lock, making Sam stand up quickly and march towards me.

"What? What do you want now? You want your Range Rover back?" She sobs, slapping an envelope against my chest. "Here's your god damn Range Rover! Now will you please stop using this against me because we both know that that's all you got on me"

When she takes a step back, I open the envelope slowly to find more one hundred dollar bills then I can count. Holding this much money in my hand doesn't make me feel anything at all. Knowing that she finally has returned what was once mine has no impact on me.

"Sam" I soften my voice, "it was never about the money, It was about how you had the nerve to leave me in the middle of the night, taking my car without a second thought, without any hesitation"

"You mean like how you didn't hesitate to cheat on me with Demi? Or screwing my little sister, the night Diana died" She clenches her jaw, "what about when you came to my workplace and started bad mouthing me to my face and in front of my friends and co-workers? Did you hesitate then?"

"Sam—"

"Stop acting like the victim here" she begs, "this was eight years ago damn it! Stop using things that I did to get myself out of a fucked situation, again me"

Watching her scream at me almost feels unreal. I haven't been face to face with her In years. We haven't fought like this since I saw her at the bar and got arrested. I don't want to fight with her anymore, we've done enough of that.

"Do you remember the night?" I change the subject.

"What?" Sam furrows her brows.

"Do you remember the night we stole that Ferrari? We drove around all night making stops all over town" I smile at the memory, "our final stop was at that lake where we went skinny dipping and when we were down there, I proposed to you...that was the night that we made that pact...we were going to run away in August and get married"

"We never got in trouble for stealing that car did we?"

"Probably because we were never caught" I chuckle, "We abandoned the car just outside of town and the owner found it the next morning without any damage...I was gonna marry you"

"I know" Sam admits.

"Than why did you leave?"

I have to ask. I know it's a stupid question as I already know the basics. Sure, I understand that she hated my guts and her family — may be the more appropriate question is how could she leave.

"To get away from my family...not everybody has parents that love them and would do anything for them" She begins to cry again, "my dad would lock us up like birds and if we tried to fly away, he would...So, you keep on being angry and telling people that I'm a bitch straight from hell but I got reasons for doing what I did. I had to bend the bars of the cage he put me in and get the fuck out of there before he had the chance to put me back in"

The air fills with silence as my stomach knots up. I don't want to hate her anymore.

"I'm sorry that things ended the way they did" I admit.

Sam nods. "Me too"

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A/N

Hi all,

There are two chapters left of this book!! I hope you all enjoy :) don't forget to vote <3

- Rose xx