Where We Left Off - Romeo Alexander Page 0,41

he had done, everything he could have had, and having to face it. He managed to bark out the address, keeping his eyes in his lap.

A hand slapped against the car’s window before the driver pulled off. Against his will, knowing it was a horrible idea, Nathaniel looked up. Tyler’s eyes were wet, swimming with unshed tears as he shouted something through the window. He couldn’t catch the words, but he heard the hurt, saw the agony on Tyler’s face.

And he forced himself to look away.

“Go,” he told the driver.

The car pulled away, and the lurch of the vehicle tugged at the middle of his gut. For a moment, he thought he was going to have to make the man pull over so he could be sick. Nathaniel clutched his stomach, willing the waves of nausea away as they left the curb and headed toward the intersection.

It was right, it was just, it was what he should have done from the beginning. Those were the things he told himself as he fought the urge to look back. Tyler had been an offer of something else, a life he couldn’t have. Tyler deserved to give that sort of life, give his heart, his whole being, to someone who could actually appreciate in full what he offered.

And that person wasn’t him.

His life was determined from the moment he was born, and it could never have anything as bright and wonderful as Tyler in it. Nathaniel had known that from the start, but he’d still allowed himself to get swept away by the sheer promise Tyler offered him. It had been selfish, greedy, and unfair to them both, but mostly, it had been unfair to Tyler.

And although it felt like torture, knowing he was leaving the other man behind to agonize over the loss, he knew it was for the best. It was the sort of critical, cold decision his father would have been proud of. It seemed almost a shame that his father would have been pissed that Nathaniel had ultimately done it, not for his father, not for the family name, but for Tyler.

His last little rebellion.

Tyler

Deep down, he knew Nate had to be lying. He had to. Tyler had seen how Nate was when he wasn’t worrying about his father, what he was like when Nate was truly happy just being with Tyler. He had seen the hope in his face, he had seen the light that finally reached his eyes as though he’d found something worth pursuing. And he would swear up and down that he had seen deep pain flash across the man’s face as he’d got into the car, refusing to meet Tyler’s gaze.

It didn’t stop how much it hurt to watch the car pull away from the curb. It felt as though a ragged hole, unlike any left since his mother’s death, had been torn inside him as he watched Nate’s ride drive away. They had been so close, so near to something greater than what they’d had before.

The promise had been there, but it had been broken, and all in the span of a few minutes.

Traffic continued on around him, and listless, Tyler watched another car drive around the corner and toward the intersection. For a moment, he just stared, and with a sudden jolt, his mind surged to life.

He knew that mustache.

“Fuck,” he swore fiercely, immediately dialing Nate’s number.

It was only as it rang repeatedly before reaching his voice mail that Tyler realized Nate wasn’t going to answer the phone. The man assumed that any call coming from Tyler would be over what they had just argued about. He was going to continue riding toward his house, never realizing that he was being followed.

Tyler glanced around frantically, trying to decide what to do. He could call the police, but he didn’t know how long it would take them to show up or if they would even take him seriously. Clay and Elliot were too far away to help him, and Tyler cursed himself for not letting them help when they’d all but demanded it after the hotel incident.

His eyes fell on a motorcycle by the curb, helmet on the handle, and keys in the ignition. Even in this part of town, that was a stupid thing to do, just inviting someone to take it. An idea formed in his head and he knew it was a bad one. Sure, he’d used a friend’s bike up in Greenford a handful of times, but it wasn’t