Page 73 of Show Me How to Heal
Moritz laughed as if I’d just cracked an awesome joke. “Well, he was good. Got really famous for his work. But then he got really,reallyfamous for his accident. And he was constantly in the public eye, more than he’d ever been during his active career. We, our parents and I, knew it was hard on him, but we didn’t know the extent of it until he fled the country, and even then…” He shook his head. “One time, when we talked on the phone, he told me he’d suffered from panic attacks and had been afraid to leave the house because of the media waiting for him.” Moritz raked a hand through his hair. I noticed it was longer than Luke’s by a couple of inches, maybe even a shade lighter. “So, I had to come, you know? Because the press is going to be even more relentless now after finding him again, and I won’t let him go through that alone.”
And I’d sent him out there, right into the arms of the waiting paparazzi It felt like Moritz had just stabbed me right into my heart and was twisting the knife slowly, driving home how bad I’d fucked up.
“And why are youhere?”I finally asked. My eyelids suddenly felt incredibly heavy.
“Oh… I was trying to get a room in town, but there are none available, and then I drove by your store and thought maybe I could talk to you, tell you that Luki is an idiot, but that he really never wanted to hurt you, and ask you to hear him out.”
“I’m actually on my way over to him,” I told him, my resolve to actually do so firmer than ever. Thanks to Mason, I knew where he lived, so nothing was going to stop me from talking to him.
“Oh… good.” Moritz let out a little chuckle, his lips curling into a smile that looked so much like Luke’s yet so different. “That was easier than I thought. You don’t happen to know a hotel that still has rooms available?”
I pulled the keys to my house out of my pocket. “You’re shit out of luck. Every single room in town is booked. But you can sleep at my place. My guest bedroom is on the second floor. Second door to the left.”
Moritz thanked me while I typed my address into his phone, giving him instructions, before heading off.
He’d come by Luke’s place tomorrow at noon. As a surprise, so I wouldn’t say anything. I could keep a little secret, right?
LUKAS RICHTER’S BOYFRIEND OPENS HIS OWN SHOP TODAY – WILL LUKAS ATTEND THE PARTY? STAY TUNED!
Chapter 19
Luke
I just wanted to stay in bed, hide, and never come out again. But I had a puppy now, and even though Sammy preferred cuddling and playing to going on walks, I still needed to take him out regularly. And since Zayne wasn’t in the picture for god knew how long, I didn’t have anyone to take one walk a day off my shoulders, which meant by the time the evening rolled around, I was fuckingbeat.Of course, today had to be the day my excited puppy started enjoying walks. Usually, I had to bribe him to follow me for more than ten minutes. But today? Yeah, he’d been disappointed upon seeing our cabin again after more than half an hour of walking, even though he knew being back meant playtime.
My knee hurt so bad I’d voluntarily gotten my crutches out of my wardrobe and was seriously contemplating searching for my emergency brace and putting that on, too.
Instead, I opted for doing what I’d done all day when I wasn’t out with Sammy: I went back to bed, buried myself under a shit ton of blankets and pillows, and started a movie on the big flatscreen tv mounted on the wall opposite of my bed.
Next to the bed, Sammy whined lowly, futilely trying to get on the bed. It was too high for him. I knew because we’d been playing this game all day. Hell, I’d placed a chair on the foot of my bed so he could jump onto the chair and then onto the bed, but he preferred me bending down and lifting him on the bed. And since I was a sucker for my furry companion, that’s exactly what I did before snuggling back into the mountain of blankets, trying not to think about Zayne and what he was doing, but it was impossible.
Today had been the grand opening. Hell, the party was probably still going right now. He was having the time of his life while I hid away in my cabin, which I would be doing so for the foreseeable future. Until the paparazzi gave up, I had no other choice.
I couldn’t do this again.
Hell, I hadn’t been able to cope with all the media attention the first time, and this time everything was infinitesimally worse. The fact I’d hidden from them for months alone was enough to make them extra vicious. But me being gay? Yeah, they were having a field day with me.
Without my consent. Against my will.
I just wanted to be left alone.
Closing my eyes, I focused on Sammy snuggling up against me, his cold, wet nose burrowed under my chin. At least I had him, though I might have to look into hiring someone to talk him on a longer walk once a day if he kept liking them. My knee was getting better and better, me being able to walk for longer amounts of time, but I wasn’t up to hour long walks just yet.
“We’re gonna figure it out, right buddy?” I asked him as if he’d ever give me an answer. “It’s you and me against the world now.” Because Zayne wasn’t there, and I didn’t have high hopes he’d change his mind or forgive me or anything.
So I’d have to learn to live without him, his smiles, his laughter, his warm hands on my shoulders, his kisses, his warm body next to mine. I’d have to find a new purpose in life because I sure as hell wouldn’t keep working for him if we weren’t a couple any longer. I couldn’t.
Fuck. I didn’t want us to break up. I didn’t want to lose him. Zayne was… everything I hadn’t known I needed and wanted. I didn’t want a gym bunny, I wanted my opinionated, soft soap maker back.
I must’ve drifted into sleep because the next thing I knew, it was pitch black outside. For a moment, I wondered what’d woken me up, then I realized Sammy was sitting on the bed, growling lowly and menacingly, a sound I’d never heard from my cuddly puppy before.
“Hey, Sammy,” I murmured, carefully reaching out to where I saw his outlines, placing a hand on his back. “Everything’s fine.”
He didn’t seem to agree. He was rigid beneath my touch, still growling.
A second later, the doorbell rang, making me realize he actually had heard something, and he was just reacting to an unknown noise.
“Good Sammy,” I praised, petting him, until my hand stopped mid-air as I realized someone ringing the doorbell meant there was someone out there.
