The Bad Boy Next Room (Charlie and Taylor) novel Chapter 47

“My mother began suspecting Amber, but I really liked her then and fought for her. I told my mom that Amber would never do such a thing. I even left home for two weeks, resulting in another headline suggesting Grandpa was losing grip on his family.”

“So, it was all Amber?” Charlie asked, turning to him with concern.

“Unfortunately, my mom was correct. Some information, even I willingly gave her,” Taylor said, his voice breaking in and out as if ashamed to admit it. “I completely missed the signs.”

“Well, you were in high school,” Charlie said. “You’re allowed to make mistakes.”

Then, out of nowhere, Taylor’s face reddened. He kept gulping and heaving until he said, “She caused us to fight as a family, and then, the worst part was how she humiliated Tristan.”

His hand balled into fists, recounting, “A video suddenly surfaced on the internet. It was a video of Tristan touching a girl’s breasts and ass. The girl was wearing clothes, but the fact he acted that way made headlines that suggested the Governor’s grandson was guilty of sexual assault.”

“The girl’s face was blurred out in that video, but I instantly recognized it as Amber. I knew her body after all. Then, the video was recorded at school.” Taylor shook his head. With his eyes closed, he ran his fingers through his hair, saying, “I can’t even begin to describe the amount of humiliation Tristan went through. Some, he understood, some he didn’t.”

“Tristan was going to the same school as me, and his classmates called him a maniac. Girls his age began fearing him. Mothers at school started to complain about Tristan.”

“And my brother, he did not understand. He kept asking me what wrong he did? I remember how Tristan banged his head on the wall because he was worried he did something wrong.” Taylor’s eyes brimmed with tears as he described, “That was probably the most painful part. We’ve given Tristan so much love. We never thought he would hurt himself.”