“I still need you in my life, Alex. The journey is just beginning.”
He stopped him.
No, it wasn’t.
Alex had to cut his losses, because he couldn’t survive another devastating blow.
“I’m sorry, Corbin. I just can’t keep being hurt. I gave you all of me that I had left. There’s nothing in me anymore. I’m completely empty. I think you should go, for both of us.”
And there it was.
The end.
Corbin stood up.
He knew how not to handle this. Alex never had free will, or was able to have choices, so he wouldn’t push him. It was now in Fate’s hands.
He touched the man’s face, and he actually flinched. He’d never seen the depth of his scars until that moment. Alex had hid them well under laughter, joking, and general teasing. He put on a good front, but now, he was stripped bare, and this was the real him.
Shattered.
Broken.
Empty.
Yeah, well, he knew that feeling all too well.
As he palmed his cheek, he stared into his eyes.
“If I never see you again, thank you for last night. Whether you believe me or not, it healed a piece of me. I’m sorry about your past, Alex. If I could go back and save you from it, Iwould have—without a moment’s hesitation. I would have gone back there to fight for you. Be safe,” he said, giving him a kiss in the middle of his forehead. “I will never forget you, and what you’ve given me. I’ll hold that safely in my heart.”
Then, he gave him what he wanted.
He walked to the door.
And said one last thing.
“For the record, Alex. I would have said it enough for both of us,” he admitted, meaning the ‘L’ word. “I would have told you I loved you every day, and I would have chased away what scared you until you healed enough to say it back to me.”
That hurt Alex’s heart because that was all he wanted. Instead of begging him to stay, he let him go.
“Goodbye, Corbin. Be safe.”
And he never turned around. There was no point, and Corbin knew it.
In that moment, he knew nothing he’d say would matter. He’d talked to Will through Elizabeth’s psychic friend, and he’d already he lost his partner and any chance of a future.
Soulmate or not.
One thing was for sure.
He’d let the man who would heal him slip away, and all because he’d said those shitty words.
It changed everything.
And he had been a fool.
Chapter Twenty-Two
