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Xavier

“Chloe, don’t go.” Alec reached out, stopping her from getting in the car. The way he looked at her boiled disgust within me. But it was the look Chloe gave back to him that broke my heart.

“I’ll be back here after school tomorrow.” She cupped his face affectionately. “I haven’t been home for three days.”

“So you’re going back to school tomorrow?” Alec brushed a stray curl from her face, his concern clear in his eyes. “Do you want me to come?”

My fists clenched. Did she want him to come? What did he think I would do to her if he weren’t there? My glare at Alec deepened.

“No, I’ll be fine.” Chloe smiled sweetly. “Though you could pick me up?” Her smile blossomed into a grin. She had never grinned at me like that. In fact she had never shone with happiness around me the way she shone now.

“Ok.” Alec kissed her quickly. “You’d better go, before I change my mind.” He winked at her. She rolled her eyes and got in the car.

Watching the relationship they had sickened me. How had I let this happen? But more importantly, was I really going to do this?

I watched the taillights of Chloe’s car disappear down the road. I glanced back at Alec, who was stilling standing on the porch, also watching them disappear.

Stepping out of my car, I crossed the road and headed up their driveway. Alec didn’t seem even mildly surprised to see me. Since Chloe had stopped replying to my messages and wouldn’t return my phone calls, I’d had to track her down. Especially considering I was overwhelmed by the feeling of her happiness, though it saddened me knowing I wasn’t the cause.

She was getting better, healing. And it wasn’t me helping her. It was him.

“About time you showed up.” Alec stepped down the porch stairs, his hands in his pockets. My right cheek was still slightly bruised from his punch. “I thought maybe you just liked hiding in the shadows.”

“I’m guessing you’re the guy who helped Chloe redecorate my house.”

“And your face.” Alec looked overconfident and amused by my appearance.

I couldn’t myself from launching at him and picking up where we had finished off. But after the last few days, I knew what I had to do, even if I didn’t want to. “You lost your mate, didn’t you?”

It was clear something had happened to his mate, seeing he was going so strongly after mine.

“That’s not your business.” Alec’s voice dipped into a low snarl. His playfulness from before was now gone. Clearly I had mentioned a touchy topic.

“You let her go. Do you regret it?” I wasn’t dropping the matter. I needed to know.

“What do you want from me?” Alec snapped, and crossing his arms. “Because if you came to get some reassurance from me that you’re doing the right thing for Chloe, you’re damned well not getting any!”

“Do you regret letting her go?” I repeated my question.

Alec’s eyes were narrowed. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“Does the pain go away?”

“Yes.” Alec’s answer was simple. His posture changed and shock crept across his features. “You haven’t come here to finish what we started, have you?”

“I would love to punch the shit out of you,” I admitted, remembering his hands all over Chloe and the way she looked at him. “But that isn’t why I came.”

“Why did you come then?”

A blanket of fear covered me. This was it. I had talked to myself about it for days, knowing it was the right thing to do. But now as it came to it, I couldn’t stop myself from having second thoughts because I wasn’t sure if I could live with the consequences of this decision.

But then I remembered one thing; this wasn’t for me.

I looked up at Alec, meeting his curious eyes. If I was going to do this, I needed his help. I sighed, feeling weakened by what I was about to do. “I need you to do me favor.”