“I’m runningfromhim. Nottohim,” I bite back. “You broke the promise we made.”
“I’ve broken a lot of promises, Sunny. This wouldn’t be my first.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I take a step towards him.
He stops in his tracks and gets so close to me that I can practically taste his anger on my lips. He braces his hands against the wall on either side of my head, caging me in without escape.
“Let me let you go, Sunny.Let me let you go,” he whispers, the pain laces each letter, cracking my heart.
I can’t.I can’t.
I can’t let him go because of this connection. I want to scream at this bond so deeply woven between us. My frantic fingers have been desperately trying to undo it. And even then, I still don’t know if it’ll ever separate. It’s deeper than anything I’ve ever felt in my life.
I’ve felt more love between us than in my ten years with Ryan.
The realization of this hits me so hard, I practically feel the sting of it across my face.
It’s in this moment, as I watch his emerald eyes searching mine, I realize I am in love with Tyler Michael Caddell.
I’m so completely in love with him.
It comes crashing on me, and I don’t know how to stop it. Something changes in me. My heart starts beating differently. By the look of Tyler’s eyes, I think he sees it too. His pupils dilate, his nostrils flare as his breathing picks up and catches.
“Sunny…” he rasps.
But this is all we get. All we’ll ever get. I’m still leaving because Ryan is still out there. As long as he is, I have to keep running, regardless of my love for Tyler and his love for me. And even that feels too weak of a word to describe what we have.
What we feel.
HowIfeel.
“Let’s just let it go then,” I say, meeting his eyes, my heart screaming at me for pushing him away.Stop. Stop. Stop.
“If it was that easy then I would have done that a long time ago.”
“You knew,” I seethe. “You knew I was leaving and still made me feel the way I feel.”
The pain and the anger take over, prevalent in my voice andshaking hands. I’m so angry that he let me feel this way. That he made me love him. That he made me fall in love with him.
All of it.
“You knew I was leaving and that no matter what this would be the end result. All I wanted was just…sex and I get this!” I hit his chest but he doesn’t move. “You knew!” I yell, beating his chest with my fists while he just looks down at me with pain in his eyes. “This is all we get! This is all we get Tyler, is this moment here with us.”
He grabs my wrists. “It doesn't have to be that way Sunny if you just let me fucking help you.”
I shake my head as tears begin to stream down my face.
He grabs my face in his hand. “Why won’t you let me help you Sunny? Huh? Why are you so fucking scared to feel something? Why are you so scared to allow yourself to love me?”
I do love you. But I am not supposed to.
I swallow hard. “You know what happened to me the last time I loved someone, Tyler.”
“I am not fucking Ryan,” he seethes. “And you are not the same woman you were just a few months ago.”
“I know that,” I say. “I know that.”
“Then why are you running from me?” He makes me look at him again, even though I close my eyes through the tears, shaking my head like it’ll somehow change things. “Whyare you always running from me?”
