"You look incredible," Jack breathed out as he looked Charlotte over, causing her cheeks to heat up as she blushed. His gaze wasn't as intense as Henry's, it was much warmer and one that she could actually stand. "Are you leaving?" he asked.

"Yeah Char," Piper asked as she walked up next to Jack, looking at the curly-haired woman pointedly. "Are you leaving?" The elder narrowed her eyes at her briefly before looking at Jack and smiling a little.

"No! No, I…was just going out to get some air," she answered. The brunet smiled and nodded, taking Charlotte's hand and stroking the back with his thumb. His soft touch sent chills down her spine and she couldn't help the way her smile grew ever so slightly.

"Then let's go out to the back patio and chill by the pool. We have a lot to catch up on," he offered. She nodded in agreement and embraced his arm as he offered it to her, following him and winking to Piper as they made their way back into the dining room and out to the back. The blonde giggled a little and took a sip of her champagne before glancing to her side and sighing a little at the sight of Jasper.

"So," he started and cleared his throat, "was this to make Charlotte happy or Henry miserable? Because it seems like both are working." He gestured towards the entryway to the living room, where Henry now stood as he watched Jack and Charlotte walk outside. Piper found herself smiling again and even giggled a little before she quickly regained her composure.

"Both and I'm happy that both are working," she answered. "I'm a genius." The raspberry blond chuckled a little and nodded in agreement.

"You are a genius…a genius who looks amazing, by the way." He had to say it, both for himself and her. Maybe he was being egotistical but he knew she was all gussied up for him and she had an ulterior motive for inviting him to the party last minute. As she said, she was a genius and maybe he was going to happily let her puppet him along because, well, how could he resist her when she was dressed in a multicolored satin mini dress that was backless and left her with a lot of cleavage that his eyes couldn't tear themselves away from.

"I know I do," the blonde replied. She finished off her champagne and let out a pleased sigh before handing him the empty glass. "Eat your heart out." She winked before strolling away from him, making sure there was an extra sway in her hips as she walked. Jasper chuckled a little and shook his head, watching her just how she wanted him to.

Outside, Charlotte and Jack sat by the pool, lost in conversation with each other. It was something that came naturally to the two of them as they knew each other since they were eight years old. Charlotte knew so much about Jack that his fans probably never knew, and he knew things about her that even Jasper and Henry wouldn't know. The funny thing was, even though she and Jack were often apart and they also hadn't seen each other in years, things weren't as tense and scary as it was when she first reunited with Henry.

"So, you graduated with a double major in quantum physics and astronomy? That's insane," he said with an impressed chuckle. "You were always crazy smart, I'm not surprised you did it. What did you do to celebrate such a massive accomplishment?"

"I got engaged," she said with a chuckle. His eyes widened in surprise and his mouth fell open but she shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "But that's over. He cheated on me, I finally dumped him."

"So you are single?" She hesitated for a moment and sighed softly. Why was she hesitating? There wasn't anyone else…

"Yeah…yeah, but it's been a turbulent time," she admitted. The brunet nodded in understanding before he noticed her shivering a little. He took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders, smiling when she gave him a grateful smile.

"Let's head back inside and enjoy the party," he offered before leading her back inside the mansion. Almost instantly, they were surrounded by people who craved attention from Jack Swagger. Fellow celebrities looking for a boost in popularity, fans who managed to sneak in, and friends who wanted a selfie with him so they could prove on social media that they knew him. And it was then that Charlotte remembered one of the reasons they broke up.

Sure, it was cool that she was with a celebrity, but she often couldn't spend time with him without them having to find someplace to hide or being swarmed. It was overwhelming for her, especially as someone who was used to such a small circle. She didn't enjoy having so many people around her and so many eyes on her, especially when some of those eyes belonged to Tati and Henry. He wanted so badly to push past all of the people swarming them and take Charlotte away because he knew she was getting overwhelmed with it all. Tati just wanted to punch her in the face.

It sucked that she had won the competition that Tatiana had made up in her own head, it sucked that she was hugged up with a multimillionaire, but it really sucked that Henry couldn't look away from her for more than two minutes. She was the one looking like a gorgeous work of art, she looked better than Charlotte in every damn way. So why the hell was Henry so caught up on her?

"We should leave," she said firmly before grabbing his arm and pulling him away. He stumbled after her and looked at her in confusion before stopping and pulling his arm away.

"What? Why?"

"Because this party is lame and I'm tired of you gawking at your ex," she answered with an annoyed expression. "Let's fucking go." The blond sighed and looked up in exasperation before looking at her again.

"Are you seriously jealous? What more do you want, Tati? We're together aren't we?" He shook his head and ignored the way her face fell as he turned to look at Charlotte again. But in what was just a few minutes, she was gone. How could they be gone already and where the hell did they go?! He started to look around a little more frantically, eager to spot those perfect curls again or that gorgeous figure. The brunette pursed her lips together firmly and breathed out hard through her nose.

"Henry, let's go!" she demanded and stomped her foot.

"Did you see where they went?" he asked absentmindedly. "How could they disappear so quickly?" She let out a frustrated groan and grabbed his sleeve, yanking him along as she stormed out of the room and made her way to the door. She was done. She wasn't about to keep coming second to Charlotte fucking Page. Henry sighed heavily and followed her as they exited the mansion.

"You're being ridiculous," he said. She let go of his sleeve and turned to glare up at him.

"I'm being ridiculous?! You're the one who's searching for Charlotte like a fucking bloodhound! She's with a fucking millionaire superstar, why would she want you?!"

"I'm just making sure she's okay!" he argued. "She hasn't been around that guy in a while and now she's disappeared with him!"

"Oh please," she sneered with an eye roll. "Ever since you saw her it's like I don't exist anymore. Which is fucking bullshit! How can you just throw me away for her?!" He stammered a little before laughing in disbelief and running his hand over his head.

"What are you talking about?! I've basically given up my friends and family for you! My mom wants you out and I'm ignoring her wishes so you won't end up on the street! What do you mean I'm throwing you away?!"

"It doesn't matter!" she shouted. "The minute you start chasing after her again means that I'm nothing to you! You're still obsessed with her despite all that I've done!"

"What have you done?!" he snapped. "Feed me drugs? Spend my money? Make me fucking miserable! Well, great job Tatiana!" She scoffed and folded her arms.

"Oh, boo hoo! You had to spoil your girlfriend! And I'm making you miserable? Seriously?! I fucked up my friendships for you, Henry! I told you all that bullshit about Charlotte and Eddy for you!" At that, Henry recoiled back a little and blinked a few times as he stared at her. She sighed heavily and looked down at her shoes, realizing what she had said. Well, she was fucked now.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned. She rolled her eyes and looked at him again.

"What do you think, Henry? Charlotte wasn't going to fully commit to you anyway, she was going back and forth between saying y'all should be platonic and that she wanted you. It was a clusterfuck and I liked you so I told you a small lie. It was for both of our benefits."

Henry felt a barrage of things hit him all at once. His head was dizzy and every step he took felt like the next one was going to send him off the edge of a cliff. His stomach twisted into knots and did a series of somersaults, leaving him feeling nauseous and on the verge of throwing up. His hands trembled as he ran them over his face then over his short hair, his eyes sliding shut as he fought to process everything. Tati lied, Charlotte and Jasper were telling him the truth. He fucked up. He fucked up big time.

"Oh my God…" he breathed out and shook his head. "Oh my God, I can't fucking believe you. You ruined my life!"

"I ruined your life?" she scoffed in disbelief. "No one told you to believe me and to chase Charlotte off! You did that all on your own!"

"I did it because you fucking lied! You told me that she was staying with him!" he argued.

"And you believed me over her! You can point the finger at me all you want but at the end of the day, you chose me over her!" He exhaled heavily and walked away from her, rubbing his temples as his heart pounded inside his chest. What the fuck did he do? What the fuck did she do to him? How on Earth could he remedy this with everyone? The brunette sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Can we just go home?" He turned to look at her and chuckled mirthlessly.

"'We'? 'Home'? You psychotic bitch, you fucked up everything for me! You're not going anywhere with me!" The young woman inhaled sharply and her eyes widened slightly. She looked around and noticed people looking at them, seemingly enjoying the show of their argument and humiliating her even further. This entire night was nothing more than an embarrassment for her and she had to do her best not to freak out and make it worse. She took a deep breath and walked closer to him.

"Henry, relax, okay? Let's just go somewhere private and talk about this please, you're humiliating me." She reached up to touch his face but he quickly slapped her hand away.

"I'm humiliating you?! Look at what you caused me to do to Charlotte!" he countered. She rolled her eyes again and shook her head, now fully irritated and unable to keep her cool anymore. She was losing the competition again and she hated losing, she especially hated losing to Charlotte.

"Did I tell you to call her a whore?! Did I beg you to fuck me?! You did that all on your own! You offered me ecstasy, you already had coke on you, you were the one checking me out right after fucking her, so don't you fucking dare say that I made you do anything! Take some responsibility for your own fucking bullshit, Henry, and stop chasing after someone who doesn't want you! She's hugged up with a multimillionaire superstar and you're a coke head with a temper, who do you think she's going to choose?" His jaw tensed up and he breathed out hard through his nose. Sure, all of that was true, but he wasn't in the mood to take responsibility for his behavior. He wanted to blame someone else, anyone else, and he didn't want to acknowledge his own faults and mistakes. That would just make the night worse than it already was.

"You need to get out of my face. When I come back outside, I don't want to see you," he said slowly. She scowled and glared up at him.

"Where the fuck am I supposed to go?"

"I don't fucking know! We're in California, walk your ass back to Santa Clara or Napa! I'm done with you!" He quickly turned on his heels and made his way back inside the mansion, ignoring her calling his name and demands for him to come back. He was done with her and he had to fix things with Charlotte before Jack Swagger took her from him forever.

He quickly began to search the place, going from room to room and trying to see if he could spot them within the crowd to no avail. He'd ask a few people if they had seen them but they'd only shake their heads or not even bother to answer him. The longer it took to find them, the more frantic he found himself becoming. Where the hell could they be? He entered the kitchen and spotted Piper and Jasper speaking to some people and he let out a relieved breath as he approached them.

"Hey, have you seen Charlotte?" he asked them. Jasper looked at him briefly before looking away again and Piper rolled her eyes. Henry sighed and scratched his head. "Look, I need to talk to her so please just tell me where she is. Is she with Jack?" The blonde finally gave him her attention and looked at him with a bored expression.

"Last I saw of them, they were heading upstairs," she said. His blood ran cold and he nodded a little before quickly running out of the kitchen and rushing upstairs.

Upstairs, in the master bedroom, Charlotte sat on the bench of the bay window, looking over the nightscape of Los Angeles. It was beautiful at night and she always loved looking at it. Sometimes, she considered leaving Santa Clara and moving there so she could enjoy the beauty of the city and hopefully get better opportunities, but she was always worried about the cost of living and leaving her friends behind. At least Tati being a backstabbing bitch made it a little bit easier to possibly leave.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?" Jack asked as he sat next to her. She nodded with a small smile and kept her gaze out the window. "Not as gorgeous as you, though." That earned a small chuckle from her and she looked at him.

"Very smooth," she teased. He laughed a little and shrugged his shoulders.

"It really is nice to see you again after such a long time. I've actually been thinking about you recently," he admitted. She raised an eyebrow and grinned a little.

"Is that so? What have you been thinking about?" she asked with a playful glint in her eye. He bit down on the corner of his bottom lip and hesitated for a moment before taking her hand in his own and rubbing the back of it gently.

"I've been thinking about how dumb I was to ever let you go," he answered, keeping his gaze on her hand. "I know you wanted a commitment and couldn't deal with me being gone so much and so often, but I never should've agreed to break up, I should've put you first." He looked up to meet her gaze and her mouth lay agape for a few moments before closing her mouth and swallowing a small lump in her throat. She wasn't expecting that but it was nice to hear, especially considering what happened between her and Henry. She felt him tug on her hand a little and she met his warm brown eyes, seeing such vulnerability and kindness in them. She missed seeing eyes like that, she missed having someone look at her with such yearning and love like he was. Before she knew it, she found herself leaning in and their lips only inches apart-

"Charlotte?!" Henry called out as he shoved the door open and stumbled inside. He looked around frantically before his eyes landed on her and Jack sitting on the bay window. They both stared at him in confusion before her face slowly fell into a frown and her brown eyes turned cold. He stared at them for a few awkward moments before clearing his throat and standing up straight.

"What's going on in here?" he questioned and Jack raised an offended eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"Henry, what the hell are you doing here?" she snapped.

"I was looking for you but now I'm wondering why this guy is about to kiss my girl," he answered. Jack's eyebrows rose to his hairline and Charlotte scoffed and shook her head.

"Your girl?" Jack repeated skeptically and looked at the girl before him. "I thought you were single?"

"I am!"

"She's not!" Henry and Charlotte spoke at the same time. Growing increasingly frustrated by the second, she rubbed her eyes and sighed heavily before looking at a bewildered Jack.

"Can you give us five minutes, please? I'm sorry about this," she said softly. The brunet nodded and got up from the window, avoiding Henry's hardened gaze as he left the room. As the door closed, the two of them were left in silence before the blond finally spoke up.

"Jack Swagger? Seriously? I thought you guys were over."

"Henry!" she snapped with a hard clap of her hands. "Maybe you're confused because I'm wearing her dress, but I'm not your girl." She stood up and folded her arms as she walked towards him. "Your girl is Tatiana Stevens and she's somewhere downstairs probably hunting for you like the greedy little bloodhound she is so-"

"I dumped her," he blurted out. She paused and blinked a few times before shaking her head a little as she tried to process what she heard.

"What?"

"I dumped her," he repeated. "She told me…she told me that she lied. I fucked up, Char. I believed her and she ruined us and she ruined me, but now I know the truth. And I'm sorry." She inhaled sharply as she stared at him. It was what she wanted to hear for so long but now that she heard it…it felt so empty. So flat and useless. He was sorry…but was he sorry for hurting her and ruining their relationship or was he sorry for wasting his time with Tati? She pursed her lips in a thin line and looked down at the floor.

"She…is a crooked snake and a backstabbing bitch," she said slowly before sighing and looking at him again. "But you ruined us. And now you're apologizing because you're done with her and you've decided to come crawling back to me, and Henry I'm not here for it." He let out a frustrated breath. This wasn't going how it was supposed to be, this entire night wasn't going how it was supposed to. It was just blow after blow and he was getting incredibly sick of it.

"So, what? You're with Jack now? You're just gonna go from your fiancé, to me, to him?"

"Well, that's what a whore does, right?" she shot at him with a glare. He inhaled sharply and ran his hands over his face, groaning against his palms and turning away from her briefly. He needed to breathe and take his time instead of getting upset again, seeing as getting upset always earned him more misery and pain.

"Fuck, Char," he breathed out and sighed heavily as he turned to look at her again. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Listen, I'm honestly really sorry about calling you that. I was high and stupid and…it doesn't matter. I wanted to go and apologize to you beforehand, but your mom told me to fuck off basically-"

"My mom is awesome, isn't she?" She grinned cheekily and he breathed out softly and rolled his eyes.

"She's amazing…and so are you. You don't deserve any of the shit I put you through and I honestly don't deserve you. I was just led astray and I went along because I was so in my feelings about you being engaged."

"See, if you had just let me talk that night, we could've avoided all of this!" she said. "I could've explained everything that happened and we'd be good."

"You could've told me from the beginning," he countered. She pursed her lips and nodded in defeat.

"You're right, and that was my bad. But you still freaked out on me when you should've just talked to me."

"I was upset."

"I understand that but-"

"No, I don't think you do understand," he interjected quickly. She looked at him curiously and fell silent as if she was waiting for him to explain. He exhaled heavily and blinked back the threat of tears.

"It…was supposed to be me," he mumbled. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and stared at him.

"What?"

"It was supposed to be me…who proposed to you. I was supposed to be the guy sitting next to you at Thanksgiving, holding your hand as we announced our engagement. I was supposed to be the guy who got down on one knee and gave you this long speech about how happy you make me and how I want us to start a family, move into a big house in Swellview, and have four kids together and adopt two Golden Retrievers. I was supposed to be with you after you graduated from school and I was supposed to convince you that we were going to make it and that we were meant to be. So when I found out that some other guy had done everything that I was supposed to do, that someone else had loved you enough for you to want to marry him and take you away from me forever, I lost my mind and I just shut down and shut everything out. Then I went to your place that night feeling vulnerable and on edge and Tati told me some bullshit so I believed it, I believed that I lost you forever and that I missed out on being with the one woman I ever truly loved."

Charlotte inhaled deeply as she listened to him, exhaling slowly and softly. While Henry had a penchant for ruining his relationships and acting out, he also had a skill for saying just the right things that would tug at her heartstrings. It was hard to resist him sometimes, especially when he said things like that. She ran her hands down her dress and sighed a little as she made her way over to the bed and sat down on the corner of it.

"He didn't…love me enough for me to want to marry him," she admitted without looking at him. "He was just there, I settled for him. I settled and I let him do whatever he wanted because I was scared that I would run him off as I did with you. So I ignored the cheating, I didn't acknowledge the manipulation, I even let go of the fact that he hit me-"

"He hit you?!" Henry interrupted with wide eyes. "I'll kill him!" She rolled her eyes and chuckled mirthlessly.

"Please, don't try to play the hero now, Hen. You're no different than he is," she said dryly. He frowned at that and shook his head as he put his hands up in defense.

"I would never put my hands on you, Char," he insisted.

"But you've still hurt me!" she argued. "You called me names, you put me down, you ignored me, you betrayed my trust! The only reason I was with Eddy for so long is that you basically fucking broke me, Henry! Hell, even he was sleeping with Tati so you two have that in common too! I loved you so much but you threw me away because all I wanted was to get my education!"

"Oh come on, you sprang that shit up on me out of nowhere! How could we realistically be in a long-distance relationship across different continents?! And I broke you? Look at me, Charlotte! I'm a shell of who I used to be!"

"And that's my fault?!"

"Yeah! Yeah, it is because you occupy my mind constantly! It's your fault because you're just so fucking…enamoring that I couldn't move on no matter how badly I wanted to. I turned to drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes to distract myself from my own pain and guilt and yearning for you! Even while I was with Tati, all I could think about was you! You drive me fucking insane and I don't know how to live my life without having you in it!" He breathed heavily as he looked at her, not realizing a few stray tears had escaped and ran down his cheeks. Charlotte let out a shaky breath as she looked deep into his eyes and for the first time in a while, she could actually recognize the person behind them. She felt like she was seeing Henry again. But was it too late? Could she even manage to trust him with her heart again? He let out a shaky breath after a while, unable to handle the silence anymore.

"Char…" he croaked out before clearing his throat and taking a breath to calm down. "Can we…can we just go somewhere else and talk? No yelling, no fighting, just…talk again. Please?"

"Henry, last time we 'talked' we just ended up sleeping together," she said with a small chuckle. He chuckled as well and shrugged.

"Hey, would that be so bad if it happened again?" he teased. Her expression remained downtrodden and his half-smile quickly fell as he looked at her. She was clearly thinking about something and he wished he could read her mind and see what was going on.

Her mind was a mass of confusion with a series of "what ifs" flying everywhere. She loved Henry, there was no use denying that. As much as she just wanted to get over him and move on, she loved him with all of her heart. But loving him left her in tears, it left her more battered and broken than Eddy ever did. It left her feeling miserable despite the amount of love and passion she felt whenever they were in a good place. Was it worth it though? Was it worth trying again and possibly ending up back in this place where she's miserable and going through the motions? She truly wasn't sure. She licked her lips a little and stood up, looking down at her fingers as she played with them a little.

"Henry…I'm done," she breathed out. His heart sank to his stomach and he could feel himself getting dizzy again. This couldn't be happening, he didn't want to believe it.

"Hey, hey, I was joking!" he said quickly. "I-"

"Henry, we're not good together! Every time we try something happens and we say horrible shit to each other and fuck ourselves up to mend our broken hearts! I can't do this anymore, I can't trust you and I refuse to let you hurt me again."

"I'm not going to hurt you again!"

"Yes, you will."

"How can you know that for sure?"

"God, Henry, look at you!" she exclaimed. "You're temperamental and you say things to hurt people whenever you're feeling hurt. And then you're even worse when you're high on coke or ecstasy or whatever else you decide to take! I can't deal with that! I can't deal with loving you and hating you at the same time, because that's where I'm at, Hen. I love you so fucking much but I also hate you for choosing and believing Tati, I hate you for hurting me and breaking me down into this, I hate you for being on my mind so much and making it so hard to move on from you! I can't…" She shook her head as her voice wavered and her eyes burned with tears. She wasn't going to cry over him anymore, she wasn't going to let him keep her down and broken. She was better and stronger than that.

"Char, I…" Henry stammered a bit as he struggled to form the right words. "I won't hurt you again. I promise you."

"You can't promise me that," she argued with a dry chuckle. "And our track record proves incredibly differently so I'm just…done. Maybe Tati will take you back or something." She tried to walk past him but he quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him again, pressing their foreheads together and closing his eyes.

"Charlotte, please don't give up on me, don't give up on us. I know I fucked up, I know it. But I'll be better, Char, I swear."

"Henry, I meant it when I said not to come back to me after you were done with Tati," she said sternly. Her eyes were closed as well and her hands were balled up into fists as she tried to stay strong. She replayed everything that happened between them in her head. The hurtful words, the heartbreak, the tears. She wasn't going to put herself through that torment again. He tightened his hold on her arms, desperate to not lose her again.

"Please, please Char. I love you, please just give me another chance. I…I can't breathe without you…" he pleaded. The desperation in his voice tugged at her heart and she wanted to give in. But she wouldn't, she knew it wouldn't end well.

"Get off of me, Henry," she said as she tried to push him away. She managed to get her arms free and she turned away from him, opening the door and walking out of the room as he pleaded for her to come back.

As she walked away, he could see his life falling apart and his world ending with every step she took. He was so desperate for her, he couldn't imagine living his life without her. Jack stood beside the room in the hallway and became alert when she left the room, shaking her arm free of Henry's hold every time he grabbed her. He didn't stop though, continuing to beg for her and grabbing her arm to yank her back. Fed up, both emotionally and mentally, Charlotte quickly turned around and landed a hard slap to his face. The echo of the slap seemed to sound throughout the mansion and time stopped as the blond tensed up and his face stung with the slap. The curly-haired woman breathed quickly as she stared at him with tear filled eyes.

"Just…please leave me alone!" she breathed with a broken voice. She wiped away a few stray tears and looked at Jack who stared at her with big concerned eyes. "Can we go? Please? Anywhere from here…" The brunet nodded quickly and took her hand, pulling her close as he walked away with her and took her downstairs.

Henry remained frozen in place as he watched her, the absolute love of his life, walk away. Possibly forever. The idea of her being gone just crushed him and his heart sank to his stomach.

She was gone. Again.