Page 60 of Rhys: and the girl who was always his

“Because she’s scared,” he says. “Not of you. Not of the love. Just of what it means to let someoneinwhen the worst already happened.”

Hayden adds, “Ally’s a runner. You know that. But it doesn’t mean she’s done.”

I run a hand through my sweat-damp hair, frustration bubbling up like lava. “Why won’t you tell me where she is?”

No one answers.

I stand. “Just tell me. I need to see her.”

Chase stands, too, slowly. “She asked us not to. Said she needed space. She’ll come home when she’s ready.”

I stare at him, heart pounding. “So that’s it? You all just get to protect her, and I’m the one stuck in limbo?”

Logan finally breaks the silence. “You told her you loved her, right?”

I nod.

“Then you did the brave thing. Now it’s her turn,” he says, and I let his words play over in my head.

Until something in me cracks.

I sit back down hard, burying my face in my hands. My throat burns with all the unsaid words.

“I can't help wanting her,” I admit. “Even now. Even when she’s gone. I wake up and reach for her without thinking. I look at the door and expect her to walk through it. I breathe, and she’s there in all of it.”

No one laughs. No one teases. Just silence.

Until Chase speaks. “She’s your gravity. We get it.”

And somehow, that makes the tears spill over. I don’t sob. Don’t fall apart. Just let the emotion take up space for once. Let my friends see just how much this is hurting me. I love Ally with everything I have, and we finally have a chance to be together. Fully. I miss my best friend.

She’s my gravity.

And I don’t know how to function in free-fall.

I wipe my face and turn towards Chase, my voice sharp. “You should’ve told me. Both of you.”

Chase winces. “I wanted to. But she asked us not to.” I see his guilt, but I know how much they love Ally.

And they will protect her just as much as I would.

Arden nods slowly. “We aren’t choosing sides, man. We are just trying to respect her need to breathe.”

“While I suffocate? Well, it feels like betrayal,” I snap. “Like I’m the only one left out of the loop, like I don’t get a say.”

Chase steps forward, calm but firm. “You got your say when you told her you loved her. But love isn’t a contract, Rhys. It’s a risk. She needed to step away to sort out her head. A lot has happened recently.”

I look at them—these guys who are my brothers, my family—and all I feel is the sharp edge of missing her.

“I’m not mad that she left,” I say. “I’m mad because I wasn’t enough to make her stay.”

Hayden, who’d been mostly quiet, speaks up. “She’s not staying away because you weren’t enough. She’s staying away because she doesn’t know how tobeenough. Not yet.”

The silence that follows settles deep into my chest.

Chase sighs. “You’re allowed to be hurt. Just don’t let that hurt burn down the people trying to hold you up.”

I sit back, exhausted. Not from the game, not from the heat.

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