His dark eyes scan my face as tears fall down my cheeks.
“I’m not enough for you to fucking stay?”
My angry expression falls from his pain-filled voice, and he takes a step forward.
“You say you fucking love me, but you want to leave me when I need you more than ever?”
My eyes well with tears, blurring my vision, his words stopping me from leaving in an instant.
“Would you have stayed with Chaos if it was me lying in the cold fucking dirt?”
My brows pinch and I shake my head once.
“What?”
“It is a simple fucking question, Charley. Would you have left?”
I swallow and straighten my shoulders.
“Chaos would have been there for me when I desperately needed him despite his grief.”
His jaw tenses from my words, and I know what I said hurt him because he does not blink, he just peers deeply in my eyes.
“You want to leave me because I am not giving you any attention right now since I am too mentally fucked to even get my head straight?”
“I want to leave because I am too mentally fucked as well, Reign. It was my plan to leave all along, but you know that. Chaos dying was just the final blow. I don’t feel safe here. Everywhere I turn there is a silent threat. I cannot risk it. Not anymore!”
I point my finger at him and my voice cracks as I continue.
“You said you wouldn’t stand in my way.”
He scoffs before his eyes flash with a small wrath of anger, and he raises his voice.
“It is fucking different now, don’t you think? Chaos is gone Charley!”
“Don’t you think I know that? I know it every fucking day! I had to watch him die in front of me all because I was stupid enough not to leave sooner! I will not make the same mistake twice! I will not lose anyone else just because of who I am!”
I keep shouting at him, my heart break spilling forth for him to see.
“I am sorry for everything you are going through, Reign. I really fucking am. I love you, but I cannot be here and if you had one ounce of love for me, you would let me go!”
He shakes his head, but I merely rush past him, heading for the door. As I quickly bolt down the corridor, his heavy footsteps follow me, and he yells.
“Charley!”
I continue as fast as I can, but he catches up to me, and when I am at the bottom of the stairs and holding the front door handle, his big, tattooed hand slams against it above me. My eyes squeeze shut, my head lowered, breathing heavily and he brings this palm gently to the back of my neck.
“Just hear me out.”
I turn to face him, leaning against the door, our eyes meeting and he brings his hand to the side of my neck, his thumb delicately positioned on my cheek, but I shake my head once with a pleading whisper.
“I’m sorry, but my mind is made up.”
My words are cold, yet full of heartache and defeat. He searches my eyes before he dips down, pressing his lips against mine. He lingers firmly, our connection coursing through me and when he breaks away, he rests his brow against mine.
“I love you.”
My eyes snap open in an instant from the three words I have always desperately wanted to hear him say and I stare directly into his as he continues sincerely.