AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not by him.
Meanwhile, he lost his father, and gained a throne, and he would be alone because the woman he finally admitted he loved didn’t love him back, and never would. If given time, maybe he would have given up anything to have her by his side. His country. His crown. Hell, his life. Maybe he could have loved her enough to lose it all.
But all he was to her was a good memory.
If it weren’t so hard to breathe, maybe he could laugh at the irony of it all.
“Shit,” he muttered, letting go of her and rolling over so his feet hit the floor. Resting his elbows on his thighs, he took a deep breath and dragged his hands down his face. “I’m a fucking idiot.”
She let out a small sound. “Leo, I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t backtrack now. I heard you, loud and clear. And for the first time, I’m actually listening. You’re not interested in getting to know me again, or in picking up where we left off, or in any of that. You don’t want me to kiss you, or touch you, or fuck you. You just want to go home, and put this whole mess behind you, like the first time we parted ways. You just want to go back to forgetting I exist.”
She gripped her knees tightly, squeezing the comforter she’d pulled over them. “I never—”
“So you can do that,” he cut in. “You can go.”
She sucked in a breath. “Seriously?”
“Absolutely.” He stepped into his pants. “Go home, Alicia.”
She sucked in a deep breath, and the bed shifted underneath her as she leaned closer to place a hand on his shoulder. “Leo—”
Whirling on her, he held his arms out, anger taking over and mercifully washing out the pain. And, yes, now wasn’t the best time to have this conversation, with his father’s death weighing heavily on his mind, but he was done with being the idiot who didn’t get the message when she so clearly told him she wanted nothing to do with him.
“I get it now. I understand why you won’t forgive me, or even attempt to forgive me. It’s not because you can’t, it’s because you don’t want to,” he said in a rush, the words flowing out of him without any hope of stopping. “I was a fool to think I could win your trust back, because you never trusted me in the first place. And I was even more of an idiot to think that what we have between us, what you make me feel, could maybe turn into love again, because you never loved me, either. Love, real love, isn’t like this. Love isn’t one sided, and it doesn’t just die off because you’re mad at the person you supposedly love. Love doesn’t fucking die.”
She swallowed hard, staring, not speaking.
He forced a laugh. “According to you, we just wanted to fuck each other because we have fond memories, and we did that, so I’m done trying for more. We’re done here.”
She swallowed hard, gripping her knees, which she’d folded in front of her. Still, she said nothing. Just stared blankly ahead, completely devoid of emotion.
Guess he had his answer.
He was right.
He tossed his shirt over his shoulde
r, and started for the door. Halfway there, he paused. “Looks like you can cross another item off your bucket list, after all. You broke my heart. Congratulations.”
With that, he bent down, grabbed his boots, and left her sitting there, naked, her jaw hanging open, in the room he’d personally picked out for her. She’d leave tomorrow, and she wouldn’t look back, because she didn’t love him, and never had. This time, when she left, he wouldn’t see her again. It was over.
It was all over.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning, Alicia sat on the edge of the bed, dressed, but not even close to standing up to walk out the door that was just a few steps away. Instead, she sat there replaying the words Leo had said to her last night, trying to figure out which ones were truth and which were not—and what to do once she figured it out. If there was anything to do.
What happened? One minute they were in a big state of bliss. And then she’d tried to make him feel better and let him off the hook. He lost it. She’d never seen him so angry. At her.
Her mind just couldn’t fathom what was going on.
No matter how he felt about her, she’d done some digging this morning, and his own law stated he had to marry a princess. It was there on the internet, easily found via Google. And she wasn’t going to deny that there was a good bit of sadness when she saw those words written out plainly for her to see, because despite her hardened heart…
She’d wanted there to be a chance at a happy ending.
For that real-life fairy tale every girl secretly dreamed of.
