Arms Length

Chapter 17: I'm not the Villain

**Billie**

"Taylor..." Jade says looking at Mr. Tattoo causing me and Sophie to look at her.

"Hi Jade." Mr. Tattoo says looking Jade up and down. Sir, I will fight you.

"Wait, me and him literally just met yesterday. How do you know him, Jade?" Sophie ask. God this bitch is dumb. I'm homeschooled and I've put 2 and 2 together.

"Jade?" I let go of her arm and grab her wrist gently, "Baby, c'mon."

"He's my ex..." Jade finally says never breaking eye contact with Mr. Tattoo. She looks like she wants to rip his throat out with her teeth. Hot.

"Huh." Is all Sophie says and looks up at Mr. Tattoo with stars in her eyes, like he just gave her the best dicking of her life; I look over at Finneas to help me diffuse the situation. He walks over to me and Jade quickly, whispers something in Jade's ear as he pulls her into a brotherly hug and walks away with her in tow leaving me to follow quickly. I can hear a set of heavy footsteps behind me.

"Wait..." Ugh this asshole, I turn and face what was his name? Oh, right. Taylor. Asshole name anyway.

"What?" I cross my arms over my chest, I look over my shoulder to see Fin tending to Jade. Her back is to me, but I can see her nod her head occasionally.

"I didn't know Jade would be here and Sophie didn't say anything about who she worked for when we hooked up yesterday...or just now."

"Great."

"Really... I didn't know. Just tell her that?"

"Right. Have fun with that one." I nod to Sophie who's sauntering over to me and the Asshole. I roll my eyes and make my way over to Jade and Fin, but Fin stands up quickly and walks over to me before I can reach her.

"Give her a minute..."

"Is she okay?"

I knock on the bathroom door softly, "Baby? Can I come in?" Apparently Jade had a panic attack upon seeing Taylor. She had to be carried out by Sully to our SUV while Danny escorted Sophie to a separate SUV. The bathroom door unlocks but doesn't open. I walk in slowly, holding one of my t-shirts for her. She's sitting on the floor leaning against the tub staring at the tile as she chews a small raw spot on her bottom lip. "Baby?" I set the shirt on the counter and sit in front of her.

"I'm sorry." She says looking at me.

"For what?"

She waves her hand "For everything.... For what happened" She wipes her eyes.

"Hey... hey come here... "I pull her into me "You're fine..." I feel her grip the back of my shirt as she sobs into my chest. Honestly, it's not the first time a female has cried into my chest, but this is the first time it wasn't at my doing. If Fin were here, he'd know how to calm me down, but he's not here and I'm not Fin. I rock her gently and just let her sob, if she were a fan I'd cup her face and ask if she was okay. But she's not a fan. Her breathing becomes more even as she takes a deep breath and lets go of me slowly. "Come on. Let's go for a walk, yeah?"

She doesn't protest when I pull her up off the ground and pull her out of the room.

We've been walking up and down the beach for about an hour in silence, just the waves. Her silence is making me nervous, but then she intertwines her fingers with mine. "He painted me like a villain after we broke up."

"What happened?"

"After my mom died, he just stopped coming around. I had no one. I mean I had my sister, but she had Jay and she just found out she was pregnant with Chase. I needed someone too.... How do you go from loving someone unconditionally to not loving them at all?"

She pushes her hair off her face squeezing my hand like it's the only thing keeping her from floating away. "I saw some of our friends from college one weekend when I was living in Austin, particularly a girl named Rebecca, who I guess 'dated'." She makes air quotes with one hand "Taylor for a couple weeks or months, I don't know, shortly after he ghosted me. And she had the audacity to tell me how awful I was to break up with him when he had a lot going on and I fucked him up and he was going to propose after we graduated from college... blah blah blah. He said I called him and just ended things, saying I didn't want to be with him and I wasn't in love with him."

"Are you still?" I'm scared to hear her answer, what if she's still in love with him and that's why she had the panic attack? What if now isn't the best time to tell her I'm in love with her? Will she just think I'm saying it just to say it? Stop it Bil, just listen to her answer.

"No." She looks me dead in the eyes. Thank the Lords above.

I take a deep breath, "This is probably the worst time to tell you this."

"If you dump me before we're even together I'm going to throat punch you Eilish..."

"I'm not going to dump you. Shush." I can't help but laugh a little. She's like a puppy who thinks she's a full-grown dog.

She rolls her eyes a little. "I swear to God, Billie..."

"I'm in love with you...." The words just fall out of my mouth. I wish I was a romantic like Fin, but I'm not.

"What?"

"I'm in love with you.... I've been in love with you since I saw you in the parking lot back in November. I don't say shit I don't mean or say things just to say them.... "She claps her hand gently over my mouth shutting me up immediately.

"Are you done?" I nod as she removes her hand. "I'm in love with you, so either kiss me now or I'm going to walk back to our room."

**A/N: True story, I was actually dumped the same exact way...**