Your Not My Friend
Chapter 58
Addison’s POV
“What are you talking about?” I asked. I could hear my voice rise; I couldn’t hold my curiosity
back. I wanted to know what she had done.
“Back when Tammy first arrived, she had a thing for Garrett. She wanted to get to know him, but I knew he liked you. She said it was fine that he already had a girlfriend and wanted to be my friend. So she would come over to my house a lot. She helped me learn the cheers for the
team. She had come in for the last month of school and had already been voted cheer squad captain. I wanted to be on the squad, too. I was starting my first year of high school as a freshman. You know that connections are everything, Addison,” Valerie told me as she continued to look at Phillip.
Valerie was an attractive woman, but Phillip was giving her no attention at all. He watched me as she spoke, and he felt me tense. This was the first time I heard of her being part of the problem I experienced back then. It was eight years ago, but not knowing why he had done it still hurt. Valerie was beautiful, just like her mother, with her carefully styled blonde hair with not a strand out of place. She looked cool as a cucumber, and I looked like a sweaty mess from painting.
Her makeup looked flawless, and she made sure that her big brown eyes stood out. She looked beautiful and innocent. Like she couldn’t possibly be what she is under the surface. Her interest in Phillip was obvious. She was not trying to hide it at all. Even though he had just shut her down, she would not let him go like that. I could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she tried to figure out what to say next to engage him in conversation.
“Valerie, you were saying something. You need to explain,” I huffed out in frustration. Her eyes flew to mine in surprise at my pointing out she hadn’t finished her story. She guessed she forgot I was there while she was busy checking out my fiancé.
“Maybe Garrett needs to be the one to tell the story, Valerie. You are already on thin ice with him. He has never forgiven you,” Holden cautioned.
“He’s just mad, Holden. Addison will forgive us both. She was always nice,” Valerie dismissed Holden before tossing her hair back over her shoulder and smiling at Phillip. She was aggressive and made him nervous. He moved from standing between Valerie and me to standing between me and the rocker I had been sitting on. His possessive hand was still on the small of my back, silently giving me strength. We both knew that this would not be an
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easy story to hear if Garrett was still upset with her five years later.
“I was getting to it, Addison. What’s the hurry? It was so long ago. I just wanted to introduce myself to your charming fiancé. Wherever did you find him?” Valerie practically purred at Phillip.
“Stop wasting our time. We have a lot of work to do,” Phillip’s tone let her know that he wasn’t. in the mood to indulge her.
“Fine, it was all just a misunderstanding, Addison. Like I said, I told Tammy you and my brother were best friends. She came over to swim and hang out. I thought she was my friend. She fooled me too,” Valerie said with a pout, tears forming in her eyes as she pretended to be upset but never let any tears fall that would mess up her makeup. Valerie thinks I forgot everything she did to me. She was willing to do anything Tammy suggested. She believes she can rewrite history to where she comes off being nice. Not going to happen.
Holden looks at me with concern. I don’t know if he is nervous for Garrett, or Valerie. But she
needs to stop dragging her feet with her little story. Phillip was right. I don’t have time to waste, not on her. When she glances at Phillip, she seems intimidated and stops the pretend
waterworks.
As I said, it was all just a misunderstanding. Garrett is just being a hard–ass about it. Tammy came over like she always did. Garrett was gone to football camp. It was a three–day camp, and he was coming back the next day. I ran down to change out my laundry loads. We were
watching a movie, and I paused it. When I returned, Tammy was staring out my window,
watching you. She said that you had come over and gone into Garrett’s room,” Valerie said.
“No, I never went into Garrett’s room. That was one of Mom’s rules. I stayed at the door, or we
hung out downstairs, but never in his room,” I corrected her.
“Well, I didn’t know that at the time. Garrett said the same thing a few years ago. Anyway,”
Valerie paused to roll her eyes at me. “Tammy said that you had come into Garrett’s room and
took his football,” Valerie quickly stated.
“His great–grandfather’s football? The one that was signed?” I asked, even knowing in my
heart that it was. I knew whatever his issue had been, it was serious. I truly hated hearing that
he believed I would do that to him. He didn’t even ask me if it was true. How could he believe
Tammy like that when he had just met her? He swore he couldn’t stand her. He had told me
that just a few weeks before he cut me off.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” she replied before focusing on Phillip again. I was shocked at how blasé
she was about it.
“Oh, I heard you gave birth to Garrett’s child this morning, Addison. You hit a goldmine with
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this hottie who doesn’t mind raising another man’s child,” Valerie said as she ran her eyes over Phillip again.
“He’s more my child than Garrett’s at this point. I have been there for both Corbin and Addison this whole time. If you think you could insinuate anything to cause issues between us, let me assure you that you can’t. You won’t cause me to doubt Addison, so you can let that dream go. I love Addison. I won’t allow someone like you to change my opinion. I know what you did to Addison at school. I know everything, so spare me the tears and the drama. I won’t believe you. You act like we’re ignorant of what you are trying to do. We’re not. You tried to gloss over the fact that your brother, Garrett, had believed you, Valerie. He did not believe Tammy. This may be the first time I have heard this story, but you now want to paint it as if it was all Tammy’s fault. It couldn’t have been like you said it was. Didn’t you vouch for your friend to get on the squad? It’s disgusting that you ruined Addison and Garrett’s friendship to get what you want. What won’t you do to get what you want?” Phillip’s words were sharp and direct.
Seeing Valerie standing there, shocked, was funny to me. He was right. About everything. No. wonder Garrett got so mad he left. If there was one thing I was sure of, his parents took her side. Putting all the blame on Garrett and none on Valerie. She may have caused the incident, but Garrett isn’t blameless. He could have come over and asked me about what happened. He could have told me what I was accused of so we could have confronted Tammy and Valerie
together.
The lies would have all fallen apart right then. Except he didn’t. He was willing to believe the worst about me. He refused to believe in his best friend’s integrity. He would rather think his best friend was a thief and that I would take his most valuable treasure from him. I could
understand why he was still angry at Valerie. I know her, and we were never friends. Her parents are good people, yet they cannot see what a snake their daughter is. I wouldn’t allow Corbin to spend the night with them if this is their way of thinking.
“Addison, how can you let your boyfriend talk to me like that?” Valerie screeched out like she had never been so insulted. She probably hadn’t, but there were plenty of times she should’ve
been.
“What, did he say something wrong? I completely agree with what he said. Garrett did not like or trust Tammy. I know that for a fact. He believed what you said. You fell for her trick and convinced your brother that I was the one that did it, with no proof. It all makes sense now. I never knew why, but Garrett always insisted that I knew exactly why he cut me off. You can go back home now, Valerie. I won’t be accepting your apology. You don’t even mean it in the first place. You are just saying what you were told to say. Garrett was right to be angry with you. You tore us apart to be on the cheer squad. A squad that had been shorthanded in the first place. You would have made it regardless if you had only tried. Yet you decided to cut corners
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to get in. Congratulations on your achievement. I don’t want my son to be anywhere near you. You can tell your parents I was considering letting him spend the night over there for Garrett to get extra time with him. But I can’t allow that now. I can’t trust you to be around him. You are still the same mean girl you were in school. I won’t let you bully my son,” I told her.
“Addison, you think you are great, but you’re not. The only thing you’ve got going for you is your intelligence. You probably deliberately got pregnant to try to baby–trap my brother into marrying you. You don’t deserve to become a member of our family. I don’t see why Garrett would be interested in you. You’re a know–it–all with a smart mouth, and no one likes you. You will never amount to anything, and I will always be better than you,” Valerie huffed as she glared at me. I heard Phillip scoff at her words.
“You’ll never be worth a tenth of what Addison is. You’re a user and a manipulator. I can tell from this interaction that you have always had things handed to you. You don’t know the pride of working hard to achieve your goals,” Phillip told her. He looked utterly disgusted with her.
“What do you know about goals? You’re just a handyman, a dime a dozen. I was doing you a favor, as you are not on my level. You should have appreciated my interest in you, but now it is too late. You can go ahead and stay with your precious Addison. I hope you’ve seen her video. I am sure it will start making the rounds again now that she is back,” Valerie mocked as she walked down the stairs to return home.
I swayed as the blow she had just sent me landed. I felt like the air had been knocked out of me. She wasn’t even smart enough to imply it. She acted like there would be no penalty for her for doing just that. Tammy had already gone to jail for it. But I was not the same person Valerie knew before. I have claws now. If she wants a go at me, I look forward to the fight.
