DON’T STOP (Lila and Darrell) novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Bella

“I’ve been in love with her since secondary school,” she said. “Not the kind of love where you just want to be friends forever The real kind. The kind that hurts every time she talks about some guy she’s dating Every time she posts pictures with Darrell, smiling like he’s the one. I watched it for years, Bella. Years of pretending it didn’t kill me a little every day”

She paused, picked up the soda again, and took another sip like it was liquid courage

“When Gina started complaining about him… how distant he was, how the spark was gone, how she was thinking of ending it -I saw an opening. Not for me. Not yet. But if Darrell cheated… if he proved he wasn’t worth r maybe she’d finally verhe deserved better. Maybe she’d leave him, and maybe, just maybe, she’d look at me differently.”

My hands clenched into fists in my lap. Nails dug into my palms. “So you used me.”

Lara’s gaze dropped for the first time. “I thought if you got close to him, if something happened…. Gina would find out. She d be furious. She’d end it for good. And you’d get your A, your money, your scholarship. Everyone wins. Except me. I guess. I was just trying to… push things along.”

I stood up so fast the bed creaked. My voice came out louder than I meant. “You pushed me into sleeping with him. You told me what to wear and what to say. You laughed about it. And the whole time you were hoping Gina would get hurt enough to dump him-so you could swoop in?”

Lara winced, but she didn’t deny it. “I didn’t think it would go this far. I didn’t think you’d actually… do it. Multiple times. I thought one meet-up, maybe some flirting, and that would be enough to make her suspicious.”

I laughed-short, bitter, no humor in it. “You didn’t think? You planned the whole thing, Lara. You knew exactly what you were asking me to do.”

Tears stung my eyes again, hot and angry. I blinked them back, refusing to let them fall in front of her.

“I trusted you,” I said, my voice cracking. “You’re supposed to be my best friend. And you turned me into. into a tool For your crush.”

She stepped forward, hand reaching out like she wanted to touch my arm. I jerked back.

“Don’t,” I snapped.

“Bella, I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I was selfish. Stupid, I was so wrapped up in how I felt about her that I didn

1 see what it would do to you.”

I shook my head, backing toward the door. “You saw. You just didn’t care.”

I grabbed my bag from the floor and slung it over my shoulder. My hands were shaking so bad the strap shipped twice

“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice small.

“Away from here,” I said. “I can’t look at you right now.”

I yanked the door open and stepped into the hallway. The slam echoed behind me.

Lara had loved Gina. All this time.

And I had been the pawn in her long, twisted game

7:47 am P PPP

Chapter 72

hiin’t know where I was going. Just that I needed to walk fast until the anger stopped burning, or until it burned me clean.

I stood up slowly from where I’d been crouching in the hallway, legs shaky, cheeks stili wet. I wiped my face roughly with the sleeve of my sweater, trying to scrub away the tears and the sting of everything Lara had just confessed. My chest felt raw, like someone had scraped it clean.

Then my phone buzzed in my pocket sharply.

I pulled it out, expecting maybe Lara texting some half-assed apology. Instead, the screen showed a bank alert. Transaction received. The amount flashed up, bold and ridiculous. My eyes widened. I actually gasped, loud enough that it echoed in the empty corridor. It was way more than before. A lot more. Enough to cover Mom’s treatments for years, maybe even a decade if I were careful.

I stared at the numbers until they blurred. Then something twisted in my gut. Not gratitude. Not rehef. Just exhaustion. This money, this arrangement, this secret-it had already cost me too much. Jones. Lara. Myself.

What if I ended it? Right now. For good.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I turned back to the door I’d just walked through rninutes ago. My knuckles rapped against it.

Darrell opened almost immediately, brows raised. “I thought you had left.”

I swallowed. My voice came out small, almost a whisper. “Can I come in?”

He studied me for a beat, his eyes flicking over my red-rimmed eyes/and my damp cheeks, then stepped aside without a word. I walked past him. The door shut behind me with a soft click. He turned the lock.

‘So, what-” he started.

didn’t let him finish.

surged forward and kissed him hard, suddenly and desperately. My lips crashed against his, tongue pushing past mmediately, tasting the faint scotch on his breath. Our tongues slid together in a wet, messy tangle, mine chasing his. curling around it, sucking lightly before diving deeper. He groaned low into my mouth, hands flying to my waist, pulling me lush against him. The kiss turned filthy fast-open-mouthed, sloppy, teeth grazing lips, saliva mixing as we devoured cach other.

My hand slipped down, past the waistband of his shorts, fingers wrapping around his already half-hard cock. He groaned gain, rougher this time, hips jerking forward into my grip. I stroked him slow and firm, my thumb circling the head, feeling aim thicken and throb in my palm.

Then I broke the kiss. We both breathed hard, foreheads pressed together.

He looked dazed and confused. “Bella…”

“Today will be the last day,” I said quietly.

“What?”

“This will be the last time we have sex.” I stepped back just enough to start pulling off my clothes my sweater over my head jeans shoved down, bra unhooked, panties kicked aside. Naked now, skin prickling in the cool air. “Tin done being your sex toy.”

“Wait, what?” He was still staring, eyes dark, cock tenting his shorts

“Let’s end all this already.” I reached for his waistband and tugged his shorts down. His erection sprang free. thick and

Chapter 72

#ushed I dropped my knees in front of him

I leaned in lips parting, but he stepped back suddenly, out of reach His dick bobbed still rock-hard

“What are you saying. Bella? His voice was rough edged with something like park Tit about Gina? already exudes everything with her. Besides, she came out as lesbian. She’s in love with her friend-Rara or whatever the called bee’

I sighed softly, looking up at him. “I don’t care. Mr Black. I’ve told you what I need to. Let’s today be the Lost Terese you sen even need to pay for this one. I’ve satisfied you enough.” I paused. “And she isn’t Kara. It’s Lara

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