Chapter 318

I’d f*****g messed up.

I should have never dated Clara. I should have never started something with her that I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish.

Scarlett felt guilty; I could sense her guilt the entire drive back home to her house. I didn’t want to make her feel like this. But I also didn’t want to let her go. At least not yet. I knew one day I’d have to gain the strength to stay away from her, but I wasn’t ready for it yet. I needed more time with her. I was hoping that she would give it to me.

“I’m sorry if I did something you weren’t comfortable with.” I apologize. Even though I f*****g enjoyed every second of our time in my yacht, I would never touch her again if I knew that she didn’t want it also.

She doesn’t answer me. Instead, she looks out the window at her house. We’d just pulled up to it.

“I want to make it up to you.” I continue.

“Carter,” she whispers. “Please stop.”

It’s all she says to me before she opens the door and rushes back into her home.

I clench my jaw as I watch her leave.

f**k.

I want to run after her.

I want to speak to Clara and tell her I was f*****g crazy about her sister. I wanted to beg her not to blame Scarlett and put all blame on me.

However, I knew that I couldn’t. If I did, Scarlett would hate me for the rest of her life.

I press my head against the steering wheel.

What was the right move to make? How did I make this work between us?

. . . . . .

~SCARLETT~

The next day, my heart is full of memories of my night with Carter. I knew I told him that it was a mistake, but I couldn’t hide my true feelings, at least not when I felt like this. I haven’t left my bed since I woke up an hour ago.

I’m smiling to myself when my sister barges into my room.

The look of disbelief in her eyes immediately frightens me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her hesitantly.

“What is this?” She asks as she shows me her phone.

I took one look at the picture in front of me and felt all of the blood leave my face.

It was a picture of Carter and me on his yacht.

Oh no.

No, no, no.

“Clara, I can—”

“I can’t believe this.” She whispers.

“Wait, let me—”

“Carter took you to his yacht! That’s amazing. I was right; he’s falling in love with you. He hasn’t done this for anyone before.

You’re the first.”

It took me a second to realize she was happy about those pictures. Why wasn’t she mad at me? When I came home last night, I never mentioned that I was with Carter.

Why was she reacting like this? She should be mad at me. She should be upset. She should be disappointed in me. Why was she happy?

I frown, “you’re not upset that I didn’t mention it to you?”

She smiles, “You don’t have to report everything to me, Scarlett. I know that you’re already sacrificing so much for me. Of course, I’m not upset. I’m happy to know that my plan is working. I can’t wait for the day Carter’s heart breaks like mine when I found out he was cheating on me.”

I bit my lip hard.

How could I break his heart when I was in love with him? If I broke his heart, I would also break mine.

I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t betray my sister like this, and I didn’t want to break Carter’s heart either.

I had to stop this now before it was too late.

I knew Carter would be at the academy today for reasons that didn’t have anything to do with classes.

There was no reason to attend the academy today, but I knew I had to see him. I couldn’t risk him coming to my home again.

“There is something I must do today,” I inform my sister. “I won’t be long. We can go out somewhere later, just the two of us.”

Maybe tonight, I could find the strength to tell her what I’d done.

After I said goodbye to my parents, I let our driver take me to the academy. It doesn’t take me long to get there. The second I’m out of the car, I’m already searching everywhere for Carter.

I bit my lip when I saw him exiting the field. He must have just finished practice. He looks surprised to see me.

He walks straight towards me without either of us saying a word to each other.

I don’t waste any time pulling him into an empty classroom.

Before I can say anything, he grabs me by my waist, shoves me against the wall, and crashes his lips to mine. I gasp against his mouth. I didn’t think I would ever do something like this at the academy, but I couldn’t stop as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

He breaks the kiss to press his mouth against my neck, “I’m sorry, Scarlett,” he apologizes. “I have no control around you. I feel like kissing you every time I see you.”

I fight back the tears as I push him away from me.

“This has to stop Carter,” I tell him. “I can’t keep doing this, not when you dated Clara. She’s my sister, and I’m breaking her trust every second I spend with you behind her back. She means everything to me, and even though we weren’t the closest in the past, she’s still my sister, my blood, and I can’t hurt her like this.”

His eyes look devastated at my words. He knew exactly what I was trying to do.

“No,” he immediately tries to stop me. “You can’t do this now. We’re in too deep, Scarlett.”

“I have no other choice!” I exclaim. “I won’t do this anymore, so please, don’t make this harder. Stay as far away from me as possible. Don’t do things like this anymore. Let’s not speak to each other, I beg of you.”

I was breaking my own heart with each word that came out of my mouth.

“You can’t be serious about this.” He says in disbelief. “After last night, I thought things were good between us. I thought you were willing to give this a chance.”

I shook my head, “those pictures today, Clara saw them. She knows I was in that yacht with you, and I never said a single word to her about us. Thankfully, she didn’t think much of it, but I’m unwilling to take that risk again.”

His eyes narrow, “I’ll remove every single one of those pictures, and I’ll find the people that leaked it; I will make them pay, I promise you.”

“It wouldn’t change a single thing, don’t you get it?” I demand. “This is wrong. Us, it’s wrong.”

He closes his eyes and turns away from me. I flinch when he slams his fist against the desk before him. He doesn’t say anything to me as he storms out of the classroom.

I fell back against a chair and buried my face in my hands. That was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.