AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Wait, back up for me,” I cut in before Ty could respond to Moon. “I’m sorry, I’m—I had no clue he was pissed. I mean, I figured he would be that night. Did Lara talk to him?”
“She did, but he was still furious,” Ty rasped.
“Yeah, I need to start from the beginning,” I whispered, completely floored. Chris seemed like such a good guy that I couldn’t believe he would lose his head over something so stupid and blow up their relationship. Not after I saw how much they’d missed and loved each other.
Sisay came back right before Ty was about to fill me in, giving me a worried look and nodding to the cookies. Oh, so he hadn’t wanted cookies, but he was getting breakup food for Ty? Or trying to help maybe. I wasn’t sure, but I still nodded that he was a good guy for helping someone out.
And it was even better that he’d gotten a lot of them.
We drank and ate cookies while I listened to absolute bullshit. What Ty told me as the reasons Chris was upset were bullshit.
Fine, besides making decisions for each other. I agreed for that one point. That was wrong in any relationship and I would lose my mind as well. Chris had a right to be pissed at that.
For the moment. I’d been pissed at Kristof for the moment that he’d made the decision for me to be taken out of the castle by my guards. It didn’t happen, but we’d talked about it later. Agreed it was the wrong move and we were a team.
Done and done.
Ty should have apologized, Chris should have accepted and admitted Ty was right though that ducking out of that fight was the right move. Now that he knew the procedure if the castle was attacked, he agreed and would make sure to take charge of any humans or kids that were there and handle my safe room.
No, he blew up at being put in the same category as “children” and Ty looking down at him like that. It was all being stupid and prideful and just… Wow.
I was so disappointed in Chris.
“I feel like I’m seeing my fight with Darius from an outside perspective,” I whispered when he was done. “I’m not trying to make this about me, but…”
“I get it,” Ty said, bobbing his head. “Like you don’t want to shit all over your partner because you want me to be happy, but he’s being fucking stupid, and you want to be able to say that and how you deserve better.”
I nodded because I understood, but I wasn’t sure it actually made sense because we’d been drinking so much by then. “And like, you get maybe the original anger. I kinda understood Darius being upset maybe that I kept something from him. Or like, he had a right to not find out in a group? Certain parts I could understand.
“Or yeah, like Moon said that like you want to give Chris leeway because running that fucking settlement had to just fry him out. I can’t imagine how he pulled off that miracle, and being the boss is hard. It’s so fucking hard. You know that. You saw how James struggled and made the hard calls. And you didn’t have a million people.
“He had a million people of different factions and religions and just—Chris has to have severe PTSD. So you want to be understanding. I did with Darius. He lost his whole family with one bomb. Hell, I try to be understanding with James because of that even if I don’t understand what having a family is like.
“But then you lose that understanding when it goes on. You try again and they blow again and you’re like, I’m not going to keep reaching for you when you smack my hand away. And I doubt you’re the only one trying. I know others tried to help Darius, but he wouldn’t let them. Chris clearly isn’t letting the right people help him see sanity.”
“I don’t know who’s tried to talk to him besides Lara,” Ty admitted. “We’re all so busy and my younger brothers are struggling too. We’re all struggling to try and adjust and—then corrupted are changing and fucking Erebus’s champion is our enemy? Like come on. That’s just fucking crazy! But then it makes Chris being pissed at me so much stupider.”
“Right?” I gasped, totally agreeing. “Like, you acted badly to protect him and you admitted it. I wanted to give Kristof a fucking blow job and let him spank me. Like seriously, we have actual serious fucking problems here. And hearing him now, I get it. The castle spun him out. It was too much too fast and everything was on his shoulders. I get that. I feel it all of the time.”
“But you try to tell people,” Ty defended. “You do. You have since I met you, if people fucking listen. I wasn’t sure about Kristof at the start, but that man tries really hard. He listens to you. He doesn’t get it, and he should have asked more, but he fucking learned from that. I’ve heard him now asking Simon or Eddie advice about how to handle things.”
That made me do a double take. “Like what? Is he upset with me?”
“No, no, not at all,” Ty said, rubbing his chin. “I forgot. It was cute. Shit, I’m too hammered, but he wasn’t upset. He was asking what the kids used to do basically. It was cute.” He gave me a goofy smile. “He’s sweet for you. Such a hardass, but he’s all sweet when it’s you.”
“He really is,” I agreed. “He’s so damn easy to love and he doesn’t see it at all. I’m so glad I didn’t give up when I thought we were just too different.” I shook my head. “No, I thought we would just keep hurting each other and that wasn’t the right fit. I didn’t want to have a relationship where my wounds poured salt in his wounds and back again. He was right to work through it.”
“Yeah, he was,” Ty muttered before taking a long drink. “I wish Chris loved me that much. I would have worked through anything with him. I would have stayed with him even if he didn’t want immortality. I would have suffered his death to be with him. I love him that much. And he can’t swallow his fucking pride to be safe so I can love him.”
That was so fucking selfish of Chris that I couldn’t stand it. When I heard that Chris wasn’t even staying at the castle anymore, opting to stay in Albuquerque in much shittier living conditions, I was about to blow my lid.
Seriously.
When Ty passed out from drinking, tears leaking out of his eyes and Chris’s name on his lips, I hit my limit.
“Sisay, get him back,” I told my friend before turning to Moon. “We have a human to ream.”
Moon stared at me a moment and ran his tongue over his teeth. “I would never disobey the order of my princess, especially after I was so wrong to listen to Jaxon’s idea and it hurt you, but I would also not be worth anything if I didn’t advise against this. You’re drunk, and you would be pissed if someone stuck their nose in your relationships like this.”
