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“You sure about this?” Op asked as he stood in the doorway to my bedroom, watching me pack my shit together into as little space as possible.
I nodded. “Ain’t nothing left for me here, Op, you know that. Meyah has always been it.”
He took a deep breath, folding his arms across his chest. “Yeah, I know, it’s just a shame to lose a brother. It’s like a member of the family is fucking dying.” He shook his head.
I grinned, shoving the last few things into my duffle bag before zipping it up. “I’m not fucking dying, you dramatic bastard. You know where I’ll be. Come visit sometime.”
He walked inside and patted me on the back. “Let me know when you’re ready to head into town, I’ll round the boys up.”
“You ask Dice if he’ll help me out?”
Optimus stopped and looked over his shoulder at me with a smirk. “You know Dice, that shit’s right up his alley.” Leo appeared in the doorway as Op was heading out. “You boys have got fifteen minutes… don’t kill the kid before he leaves.”
“I make no promises,” Leo replied, his face straight, looking me directly in the eye.
I had a lot of respect for this man. He’d been there at times when I’d struggled and reminded me that life wasn’t fucking easy. That we all made mistakes. Sometimes the same ones over and fucking over again, but it wasn’t about how many mistakes you made, it was about how quickly you picked yourself back up and tried again.
“You come to lecture me?” I asked seriously, dumping my bag on the ground and moving into the bathroom to grab my things from there.
This had been a decision I’d been considering for a while now, but I’d pushed to the side, hoping for some other kind of magical option to appear. I didn’t make it lightly, but that hadn’t stopped the boys from all giving me hell for it.
Did I want to leave these people who had given me a second chance and a second home when I thought I was a complete fucking failure?No damn way.
But there came the point where my priorities changed. That point was when I fell in love with Meyah, and then watched her almost die. It’s hard to explain to someone how it feels to have your heart ripped from your chest, but that’s the pain I went through for more than three days as I sat beside her bed in the hospital, telling her I needed her, that she wasn’t allowed to leave me yet.
I thought about all the time I’d wasted with her in Arizona and me in Alabama, and the minutes and fucking hours we’d spent apart when we could have been together.
They were completely wasted. And I didn’t want to waste another day.
I’d already had my parents torn away from me in the blink of an eye, and then spent years wishing I’d had one more day, a minute, or even a few seconds just to tell them I loved them.
Then Romeo and Phee had been taken, and I was never going to get those six years back, no matter how hard I tried.
I just couldn’t do it.
Time was too precious, and I wasn’t going to spend hours and fucking days away from Meyah when I could be there with her.
“Why would I lecture you? You love my niece probably more than any other person in this world,” he fired back as I stepped into the room. He stalked in and took a seat on the edge of my desk.
“I think her mom or Huntsman might have something to say about you making those claims,” I argued, a smile tugging at my mouth.
“It’s not gonna be easy…”
“The best things never are, or everyone would have them,” I threw back, standing taller and waiting for him to come back.
Instead, he just laughed and shook his head. “Gonna miss your fucking ass around here, kid,” he said before taking a deep breath. “It’s hard ‘cause I don’t want you to fucking leave, but I know at least Meyah will have someone with her, protecting her, and making her feel safe. Which is going to be an uphill battle after what happened.”
I lifted my chin. “I promise you, I’m never letting her out of my sight again.”
He grinned and pushed off the desk. “Yeah, good fucking luck with trying to tell her that.”
We both moved toward the door. There was emotion building in my throat as I looked around the bedroom where I’d spent the last four or so years. I’d changed a lot in this place, and these guys had shown me what it was to be a brother when I felt like that was something I’d ultimately failed at.
They had my back when I had no one.
They fought for me when I was standing on my own.
It hurt to walk away.
