Bonus chapter 4: 𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓕𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓜𝓮

"Open the fucking door now!" The voice was followed by incessant pounding on the door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

"I know you're in there! Get your ass up and open the door!"

"I'm warning you, son! Don't do it! She's armed with a weapon!"

"Cory Jason fucking Walker! If you don't answer this door right now, I'm gonna break my way in!"

Cory's head was throbbing. The yelling and the screaming was only intensifying his headache tenfold, but he knew that, if he didn't answer the door, his mom would make a hole in his door. He shuffled his feet toward the front door and swung it open.

Sydney was still in her satin pajama set. Her hair was thrown in a messy bun with strays framing her face and dark circles decorated her narrowed eyes that were shooting daggers at him. She looked exhausted. But she also looked like she wanted to beat him to a pulp with the wooden baseball bat in her hand.

"Big mistake."

"Ma—" He didn't have a chance to pronounce the second syllable before his mom used the bat to brutally abuse his arm. "Mom, what the fuck!" The back of his leg ran into the couch and he toppled over the arm, using his arms and legs as a barrier between him and his mom's weapon of choice. "Dad, a little help here!"

Her husband grabbed her from behind, but she still thrashed; her legs kicking the air and her screams piercing everyone's eardrum as she attempted to remove Robert's arms. Unfortunately for him, her wrath could not be tamed. Sydney jabbed her elbow into Robert's gut and proceeded to attack her son. "How could you do this to her?!

"Who? Gracie?"

Sydney scoffed, shaking her head. "No. Taylor Swift. Of course Gracie!"

Guilt clawed at his chest. He remembered what transpired last night. The club, the girl. Gracie's teary eyes.

Sydney pulled the bat back and began creating bruises on Cory's arms. In the meantime, tears were spilling over her cheeks. She was still at Debbie's when they found out about the accident. Poor Sydney couldn't sleep a wink. She was too worried about Gracie's condition. "She was in a car accident. Because she was crying. Because of you."

After hearing the first sentence, the rest was white noise. Cory was in denial. 'Gracie was fine. She was safe in her bed. Maybe crying her eyes out, but she was safe nonetheless', he convinced himself. This was just a part of a ploy mom concocted in order to make him regret what happened. It was pointless. He already felt guilty. He never wanted to be the reason Gracie cried.

"That girl... was the daughter I've never had. She wouldn't be dying in that hospital room if not for you."

"You're lying." Tears slipped from his eyes at the mental image of Gracie getting hit by that car and the ambulance rushing to the scene. He clamped his top lip over the bottom to prevent sobs from escaping. "I get what you're trying to do, mom. You're lying to make me feel like shit. I already do!" He never raised his voice to his mother. But she'd gone too far.

"Oh yeah? Is that what you think?" She gestured her head toward his phone that remained in his sweats pocket.

Cory slipped his phone out, but he nearly dropped it with his trembling fingers. He dialed Gracie's number.

Bf ❤️
Incoming call
9:36am

"Hey, this is Gracie. I probably... waited until—"

-beep-

"Dammit!" He threw his phone onto the couch and threaded his fingers through his hair. "I can't lose her. I ca-I can't." His voice wavered. He glanced up toward his mom to see her features soften, but tears still cascaded down her cheeks. "What hospital is she at, mama?" He needed to see her, to hear the heart monitor beeping in the room as a reminder that she was okay.

Sydney remained tight-lipped. She simply swept her eyes up and down the man standing in front of her. She raised that man better. She raised him to always be loyal to the woman he loved. To never cheat.

Robert cheated on her once before they got married, which neither of her kids knew. Sydney was quick to forgive him because she was too far in love with him. He made a promise to never do it again and he stuck to it. That didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. "I can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"She's not gonna wanna see you."

"I don't care." He was determined to see Gracie and to hear her heart monitor remind him that she was still okay. He needed to clear the air and make things right.

-

Cory rushed through the entrance and to the front desk where the lady was typing something into the computer. His heart was pounding so fast from the run to his car to the door and his breaths were coming short and quick. "My girlfriend, Grace Summers, was admitted last night. Where is she?"

"I'm sorry, sir. That information is for family and family only."

Cory was getting desperate. He couldn't wait any longer. He needed to see her. Despite the lack of information he received, he ignored the front desk lady and marched through the halls, screaming Gracie's name.

Cory's eyes were watering up and a painful lump sat in his throat. He couldn't stand being in the hospital. Every time a family member was checked in and he had to keep praying for them to heal and recover, the hospital became his worst enemy.

Now, his girlfriend was in because of him. The fact that it was his fault almost made him vomit. He heard the receptionist yell for security, but their hurried footsteps and demands to stop quickly became background noise. He was approaching the end of the hall when he saw Mrs. Summers outside the room.

Debbie looked dreadful; there were dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. She didn't bother getting dressed in decent summer wear as she threw on a random black hoodie and a pair of sweats. Her hair was all over the place which was proof that she had a restless sleep.

With cautious steps, Cory moved toward the threshold to get a peek at Gracie. He surveyed her injuries up and down.

Like Mrs. Summers said, her face was peppered with cuts that were being treated by bandages. Her left arm was in a cast as well as in a sling and a frown marred her face as soon as she saw Cory enter the room.

"What are you doing here?"

Cory took note of the bitterness in her tone and her eyes that were narrowed to slits. Now that she was in front of him and he saw that she was okay, he was nervous to talk to her. What he did was unforgivable. How was he going to get her to listen to him if she was visibly pissed off? "How bad was it?"

With her family in the room still upset about the accident, Gracie decided she needed to lighten the mood somehow.

"At least I had a good twenty-three-year streak of not having broken a bone."

Between her mom and siblings, they must've had ten knee surgeries combined. She took pride in never needing surgery because she wasn't as athletic as her brothers and sister.

"How about we give these two some privacy?" You could tell by Debbie's voice that she was tired. The people in Arizona drove like idiots. Always speeding and cutting people off. It was one of her biggest pet peeves she developed when they moved there from Washington.

When she drove with Gracie in the car, she was always careful to not get in a wreck and she wouldn't know how to live with herself if something happened to her. Debbie swiped away a tear and followed everyone else out of the room.

Looking into Gracie's eyes, Cory didn't know how to start his apology. He was drunk when it all went down, but that didn't excuse what he did. He didn't have to take that many shots. He didn't even have to go out.

He should've came over to Gracie's parents' house for dinner like he was supposed to. Damn Jake was the one who pressured him to, claiming that they weren't gonna be that long.

Fourteen hours earlier...

"Where the hell are you, Cory?" Gracie whispered to herself.

Debbie went through all the trouble of cooking wet burritos for over an hour preparing for dinner with Cory and his parents. Both sets of parents hadn't been able to get to know each other since Super Bowl Sunday when they all went out for drinks to celebrate.

After all of the stress Mrs. Summers had been feeling all day about making dinner and making the house feel homey for their guests, Cory's parents were kind enough to still show up, but Cory was a different story.

"I'm so sorry, Debbie. Really. This isn't like Cory to ditch us when he knew we had plans. Let me give him a call." Sydney excused herself from the table, subtlety expressing her frustration with her son by slamming her napkin on the table.

Gracie was starting to overthink about where he was. There had to be a good enough reason why he wasn't here like we planned for the past week. Maybe he was in a wreck. Maybe he was in the hospital and the nurses just hadn't called his parents yet. I sent him one more text.

Baby Girl ❤️:
Sent 8:27pm

Baby, you're scaring me. I'm getting worried about you over here. At least text me back so I know you're okay.

Suddenly, Gracie got a DM on her instagram from Addie. Gracie was wondering what she could be DMing her about.

Even after they made up and the bullying had stopped, they didn't message each other unless one of them wanted the other to cover for them at work. Curiosity got the best of her when she opened the DM, but her heart dropped when her eyes found the picture.

It was of Cory at a club with another woman who was straddling him on a bean bag chair. Even in the dim lighting with multicolored strobe lights flashing everywhere you looked, you could still see her silky blonde hair that reached her butt, the heavy makeup on her eyes and red lipstick that was kissing his cheek.

The mystery woman was in a short red dress that clung to her slim curves and her mid-sized breasts were exposed, close enough to touch Cory's chest. The unbuttoned shirt Cory was wearing was showing off all six of his abs and the girl's hands were all over his hair and chest.

Addie left a message explaining that she wanted her to know along with the name of the club and the address.

The insecurities Gracie hadn't had since Kendall came rushing back. She started to compare each of her features with the mystery woman's. Gracie's hair wasn't as shiny and silky as hers. Only after she took a shower did her hair look clean.

Mystery woman's flat stomach made Gracie feel more fat than she already felt. She wasn't thinking. All she knew was that she needed to drive over there and confront Cory for ditching their families to cheat on her.

"Can I take your car, mom?"

Cory had been teaching her how to drive all summer. She was feeling far more comfortable behind the wheel than she did years ago and she was feeling confident in her ability to drive a half hour to where Cory was. Before her mom could protest, Gracie already had the keys in her hand and she was halfway toward the door.

"Are you crazy? You can't drive!"

"Cory's been teaching me all summer. I'll be fine, I promise."

Gracie's hand was on the doorknob, but she was stopped with a hand on her wrist.

"There's not a chance in hell that I'm letting you get into that car."

Gracie had been in the car with her mom so she could attest to that. People were always on their phones as they sat behind the wheel. Some cut you off at the last second. They press on the accelerator until their car is going nearly a hundred miles an hour, go through red lights and kill another driver. They even came close to death several times. Gracie still intended to go to the club.

She pulled up the picture that Addie sent her and showed it to her mom.

"This bastard is cheating on me."

Those words caught the attention of Sydney who was still trying to get a hold of him. She pocketed her phone and took large strides to see what Gracie was talking about. Her blood was boiling in anger when she saw that picture. She hated that Kendall bitch and Kendall was well aware. Sydney hoped to God that he wouldn't mess this up again. Yet, here they were.

Gracie realized what she called her boyfriend — soon-to-be ex — in front of his mother. She spoke an apology, but what did it matter? She meant what she said.

"I need to confront him."