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I felt the pain of his rejection yet again stab me in the heart. "Obviously, something you're still not ready to give me. Goodnight, Archer." Stepping around him, I made the climb up to my place on the second floor and he no longer followed, letting me walk out of his life without a fight all over again. Once I closed the door behind me, I allowed the tears to fall freely with my body as I slid down the solid structure to the floor, devastated by this man all over again. After awhile, I finally got up to go to my bedroom. As I reached the threshold of the bedroom door, I heard a knock at the front door, and my heart skipped a beat, hoping that it was Archer back to talk things out.
Opening the door, I was greeted by the same pain stretched over his face that I felt in my heart. His heated stare roamed over my body before landing back on my gaze. "Jared, what are you doing here?"
"I was driving by and saw your lights on. Why have you been crying, Sloane? What has that bastard done to you now?" he asked, caressing my cheeks with the back of his hand.
I turned out of his touch and retreated into the living room, sitting on the couch. "Why do you care, Jared? You and I are done and after the way I played with your heart and broke things off with you, I can't believe you would care anything about how I'm feeling."
Shutting the door, he made his way over to the couch and sat next to me. "Sloane, look at me." Turning my head towards him, he wiped the streaks of tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. "I love you, Sloane. That shit doesn't just go away... no matter how hard you try and push me out of your life. If there's even a chance that I can be with you, I will fight for it with everything I've got."
Knowing that if Archer was to walk through that door and force me to choose between the two of them this instant, that I would still choose him after everything I replied. "I'll only hurt you again, Jared. And you can't keep wasting your time on someone who doesn't know what she wants. You're not being fair to yourself."
"It's my heart Sloane, and I'll place my love where I choose to. Wasn't it you that said no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't stop loving him?" When I nodded my head, he finished. "Well, I know how that feels. And even though I know I will always be second choice in your heart, it doesn't change the love I feel for you. I still now and will always want you." New tears began to fall at his words of love and forgiveness. "Aww babe, please don't cry. I hate to see you so upset like this. If this is what he does to you then why do you want to be with him? He's just going to keep hurting you over and over again if you let him."
"Some would say the same to you about me." I mumbled.
“Come here." Pulling me into a hug, he placed a kiss on my forehead and my eyes closed at the comfort I felt under his lips. Moving his lips down, he kissed me on the temple and then the cheek as his hand grasped my chin, bringing my lips to his as he gently glided his lips across mine, testing the waters of his suggestion. Overflowing with emotions of confusion, hurt, and need, I invited him in further, kissing him back. "I knew you still wanted me," he said in a muffled tone. Deepening the kiss, his hand grasped the back of my head, pulling me in closer to him as he ran his tongue over the seam of my lips, seeking permission to invade me deeper.
Opening my mouth, our tongues glided over one another with heat igniting inside of me from the passion I felt from his kiss, when suddenly Archer's face popped into my head and I broke the kiss, pushing Jared back. "I-I can't do this now, Jared. I'm too confused about my feelings. This... this is just too much for me to deal with right now."
"Sloane..."
His words were cut off when my door swung open so hard that the doorknob lodged itself in the wall and stayed open. "What the fuck are you doing here with her?!" Archer shouted, stalking towards us with Gage in tow.
Jumping off the couch, Jared met him head on. "What do you mean what am I doing here? You're the one who's fucking with her emotions, asshole!"
"Stop! Stop this now! I will not have the two of you going at it again over me. I am not some freaking possession for you two to fight over! Can't you get that through your thick heads?!" Not able to deal with these two any longer, I turned to walk into my bedroom and slammed the door, blocking everything out and flopped down onto my bed. After a few minutes, I heard a soft knock at my door. "Go away!"
"Sloane? It's me Gage. Can I come in, please?"
"Fine, whatever," I said with a huff. As he slowly opened the door, he shut it behind him when he entered. "Are you okay?"
Propping up on my elbows, I looked at him. "Do I look okay to you, Gage? There are two grown men acting like cavemen in my living room, thinking they own me like some sort of piece of property. One can't fully trust me, while the other one would let me hurt him over and over repeatedly without giving up on his love for me, and do you know which one I'm in love with? That's right, the one who can't ever just trust me enough to be honest with me and keeps hurting me over and over again. How's that answer for you?" Letting out a huff, I plopped back down onto my bed.
"You love him, Sloane?" Realizing what I just said, I closed my eyes tightlyand pinched my nose between my fingers. I wanted to make the confession go away, but I knew it wouldn't. "Yes Gage, I do. I am in love with a man who doesn't trust me and can dispose of me with the drop of a hat as though I never mattered to him in the first place."
"Boy, you have no idea just how much you really mean to the guy, do you?"
Popping back up on my elbows to look at him again, I asked. "How could I ever know I mean anything to him with the way he constantly pushes me away, telling me it's for my own good? I'm sick and tired of these games he plays. Reeling me in, only to release me again. It hurts too much. Maybe Jared's right, I just need to get over him and allow someone else to take up that space in my heart, someone who is ready to."
“That would not be wise on your part Sloane, because Archer would go through the gates of Hell to get to you. He loves you more than anything on this earth. Why do you think he came after you when he heard about Jared?"
"Because he's like every other man that wants what he can't have, which is why he's here now." Thinking to myself, how is it he came back tonight, right at the perfect time, and with Gage at his side I asked. "Gage?"
"Yes?"
"How is it that Archer and you arrived here together tonight?"
Looking down, he smirked. "I was already here and called him when I saw Jared walk up to your door."
Springing off the bed and heading straight out of the bedroom, I found Archer pacing back and forth in the kitchen with Jared no where in sight. "Where's Jared?"
Looking up at me with hurt and anger riding on his stare, he asked. "You shut me out tonight and all you have to say is, where's Jared?"
"I shut you out?! You have to be kidding me, right? Was it or was it not you that told me that we needed to keep our distance from one another not more than an hour and a half ago?"
He glanced over my head at Gage exiting my bedroom. "Gage, would you wait outside with Mr. Knight and give Sloane and I a moment alone, please." Nodding his head, Gage walked out the door without another word, shutting it behind him.
