Page 67 of Rejected Broken Mate

"You need to comb your hair," I said, giving him a look.

He quickly ran his fingers through his hair, walking over towards me. His eyes looked down at the box, and then his eyebrows went up. "What is all this?" he asked as he bent down to look closer.

"My stuff from college," I said, grabbing my shirt with the college logo. I couldn't help but smirk, remembering all the times I'd worn it.

"You don't talk about college," he said, sitting beside me. "Did you not like it?"

"I loved college," I said, realizing he was right. I never really spoke about it because that would have required me to talk about Miles.

"If you loved it, why didn't you talk about it?"

I gave him a soft smile. "A lot of college was with Miles, and I didn't like to think about the hurt. And it was so long ago."

Michael made a face. "And we're going to let him into our home? Are we sure we should be getting close to him if he hurt you?"

I smirked. I felt gifted that he cared about me so much. "He's changed a lot." I pulled the photos over and showed him."He didn't have loving parents. He never wanted to go home for holidays and didn't have a good relationship with his family. I don't think either of us likes to think about college."

Michael looked at the photos, his finger rubbing over Miles's face.

"He looks like me," Michael said, looking into the box. He reached in, pulling out my small jewelry box. I had rings and necklaces, almost all of which were gifted to me by Miles.

"These are nice," he said, looking through them. "You don't wear them."

I felt a little guilty about never wearing them, but I couldn't ever let myself get rid of them, either. There was always a small part of me that could never let go of our past.

"They were gifts from him."

"Did he love you?" he asked, rubbing a locket between his fingers. I remembered Mile's giving it to me soon before we broke up.

"Yeah, he did. Nothing like he does now."

Michael looked at me. "Does he love me?"

I smiled. "The moment I saw you when I gave birth, I knew I loved you, and the moment that Miles saw you, he knew you were something special to him. He didn't know it yet, but he does. Possible more than me."

Michael chewed on his lip. "Does he like sports?"

"He loves them," I said, grabbing a few more photos of the one I had taken of him. He used to play all kinds of sports when we were in school. He even does BMX still."

Michael's eyes widened, and they sparkled a little. "He does!? That's cool."

"You will not be," I quickly added. "So, don't ask."

Michael scowled and then looked back at the box. "Did you mean it when you said he never knew? That he didn't know about me?"

I nodded. "I never told him." I ran my hand over his hair. "And I'm sorry I never told him."

Michael pulled out a photo album and started to go through it. I took the pictures out carefully, remembering each day. We had gone to the lake one time and fished. We flipped the boat and had to swim back to the shore.

Another was us at the circus, which Miles hated, but he knew I wanted to go, so we went. I was next to an elephant, and he was next to the clowns.

We'd gone to the fair, taken a trip up to Colorado, and climbed mountains. We went tubing down rivers and stayed out late watching the stars. We spent one winter break in the mountains, sipping coffee while it snowed.

I felt an ache remembering how much I had loved him. He had given me so much, and everything ended so quickly. And I'd been blind to his pain.

I thought Miles was just cold, but in truth, he had been trying so hard to be perfect that I didn't realize it. All the times I'd thought he was heartless were him trying to avoid being hurt.

"You know how I would never let anything happen to you," I said, watching him flip another page. I brushed his hair back again, kissing the top of his head. "He didn't have that. His folks wanted to hurt him, and they did. They wouldn't run into a burning building like he did."

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