Page 41 of A Winter Crush
“Well, I had to, since you weren’t here.” Wareth stood and walked to the shelves, keeping his back to Ori as he started to stack the wooden planks.
Ori’s mouth fell open. “I’m sorry, bu—”
“Sorry.” Wareth’s voice was filled with bitterness. “Sorry. It’s me who’s sorry.” He turned to face Ori. “Sorry that I believed there was something here between us. Sorry that I thought I could depend on you.”
“You can. I don—”
But Wareth just kept on talking. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you. And I was right. You just left me.” He choked the words out. “Just get out of here, Ori.”
Ori could hear the pain beneath Wareth’s anger. But Ori had been through so much last night, and he was hurting too.
“My brother was sick,” Ori said, trying to keep his voice even. “I was scared, and I needed to be with him. So I’m sorry if you had to do this on your own. I’m sorry I didn’t come when I said I would, but I was busy, terrified that my brother would die.” His voice wavered.
Wareth’s eyes widened.
“I should have sent a message or something. But I was too consumed with fear.”
Wareth took a step towards him.
Ori took a step back. “How could you assume I’d just leave? After everything? I’ve been here every single day, on time, working as hard as I could. I’ve done everything you asked. Everything!” His voice echoed in the room.
“And I never asked for anything. Except for you to give us a chance.” Ori blinked back tears. “Did it even cross your mind that something might have happened to me? That something might have gone wrong? No. Instead, you just assumed the absolute worst. You assumed I had lied to you and abandoned you.”
Wareth opened and closed his mouth, but no words formed.
“Forget it,” Ori said. “I can’t keep trying to prove myself to you. And what’s the point? How am I meant to trust you, feel safe with you, if you do this to me?”
Tears blurred his vision as he turned and ran from the studio.
“Ori,” Wareth called out.
But Ori didn’t stop, just kept running. He needed to get away from Wareth. He needed to be with people who actually cared for him. He needed to go home.
ChapterTwenty-Six
“Ori!” Wareth yelled from the doorway to the studio. He ran towards the trees, searching the darkness beyond for a glimpse of the oread.
“Ori!” Wareth stumbled into the forest. He had to find Ori. He had to tell him how sorry he was. “Ori, please.”
He took another step and another, but it was too dark. He tripped and fell to his knees. He scrambled to his feet. He couldn’t go any further.
He’s not coming back. I hurt him too much.
Wareth stood in the snow for several minutes.
I hurt him too much.
Finally, he turned, walked back to the studio, and collapsed into the chair. Why had he been so quick to think the worst of Ori when he hadn’t appeared? Ori was right. He’d been here every single day. He’d worked hard and done nothing but prove himself to Wareth.
And tonight, when Ori had needed him, Wareth had let him down. Instead of being there for him, he’d insulted Ori. He dropped his head into his hands, fingers gripping his hair.
And what if it had been Ori who had gotten sick or hurt? Wareth would have been sitting in his studio, feeling sorry for himself, whilst Ori suffered. It wasn’t Ori who couldn’t be trusted; it was him.
Wareth felt like he was going to vomit. Ori was right to be angry, right to leave. Agony rolled through him as he remembered the hurt and anger falling from Ori’s mouth.
In the end, Ori had left him. But not because Ori was too young or unreliable. Ori had left him because Wareth didn’t deserve him. Because Wareth had been cruel when Ori needed him most, and Ori didn’t deserve that.
He didn’t know how long he sat there, going over and over the fight in his head. The misery of it brought him lower and lower as he slumped in his chair in the empty studio. At some point, he got up and lay down in his bed. He spent a couple of hours dreaming fitfully of silver eyes filled with tears. Finally, he got up and paced the studio. He stared out the window, wondering if Ori was all right.