Page 46 of Light in Your Eyes (Romero Brothers #1)

Layla

I squeeze my eyes, feeling the rays of morning sun hitting my face. When I open them, I'm greeted by the familiar cabin I've been staying in with Kellan for these past few days.

I turn my head to my side and find that his side of the bed is empty. When I graze my fingers on the sheet, it feels cold. I frown.

Kellan must have left the bed for quite a while.

"Kellan?" I call, my voice still groggy from sleep.

I sit up, stretch, and get out of bed. I walk slowly toward the living room and find that it's empty. The curtain moves, blown by the soft morning breeze, but other than that, there's no sign of any other movement.

I wonder where Kellan is, but then a soft smile touches my lips. He usually sits on the back patio in the morning if he wakes up earlier than I do. I shake my head in disbelief because of my cluelessness.

Maybe it's because he was holding me tight all night that I expected him to be by my side when I opened my eyes — he acted like he didn't even want to let me go for a second when we slept together last night.

I step onto the patio, only to find that it's deserted as well. My brows furrow in confusion.

Is it possible that he's taking a morning jog?

But he never did that during our time here — he was still traumatized after what Marco's brother did to me.

"Kellan?" I call again, rushing back into the living room.

I push through the front door, only to be greeted by the deserted lawn.

My worry escalates. Where could he possibly go?

He hasn't been fully familiar with the surroundings outside the cabin.

Unless he went to the hammock.

My thoughts lead me there, and my legs bring me closer to the woods even before I remember moving them. I follow the path toward the hammock. My heart is racing.

When I finally reach the spot, I'm already panting.

He's not here.

My pulse quickens even more. I rush back toward the cabin, worrying about Kellan.

Is he in the bathroom? But everything has been so silent, I don't even think that he's here with me.

I run into the cabin and knock on the bathroom door. "Kellan, are you there?"

No answer.

With my heart thumping hard against my rib cage, I open the door. It's not locked, and when I look inside, no one is there.

My lips start to tremble because of the sudden horrible feeling stirring in my heart .

I step back into the bedroom, and my eyes land on my phone, which is lying on the nightstand.

He couldn't possibly leave without letting me know, so he must have contacted me.

With a heavy heart, I take my phone from the nightstand, and on the screen, there it is.

A voice message from him.

Everything around me seems to stop. My curiosity kicks in, but a part of me screams to not open that message because it will be something that I don't ever want to hear.

With my shaking hand, I press the button to listen to what he had to say to me. His voice fills the air, and I can already feel the tears welling up in my eyes before I even hear him speaking.

"Hey, Layla. I'm sorry. I had to go. I asked Stas to pick me up before it reached dawn because I didn't want to wake you up. I knew that I couldn't do it if you saw me leaving."

He takes a deep breath, and it's shaky.

"I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed what we had.

The time we spent in the cabin was the best moment of my life, and I will never forget that.

Thank you for being there for me when I needed it.

Uh... I don't know where to start because there are so many things I want to say to you, and I don't think that my words will be enough to tell you how much I feel for you.

You came, and I wasn't ready to accept a person like you in my life. You stayed, and you annoyed the hell out of me because being near you made me feel a lot of things...things that I didn't expect I would feel. I was trying so hard to deny you, and I'm so sorry."

His voice cracks, and he takes another deep breath.

"You taught me a lot of things. You spoke as if I could also see all the beautiful things you saw.

And goddammit, Layla, I could see. I could see them when I was with you.

I could enjoy all the little things in life, and I'm addicted to you.

I can hear your beauty, and I can feel everything about you—your happiness, your fear and your sadness. "

He turns silent and sniffs.

"I told you that I was not your hero, but I wanted to be, more than anything else in the world.

So, I'm going to ask you to let me be. Let me protect you.

Let me free you from any harm. Let me help you follow your dreams and have a happy life.

I want you to be happy, Layla, and I have to let you go. "

He chokes on his words.

"Black Wings is not for you. It's only for me. It's in my blood, where I belong. But it's not for you. You're not going to be there anymore because you deserve so much more. Live your life, Layla. See more of its beauty. For yourself. And for me."

When the message ends, tears are streaming down my face. Hard.

I grip my chest because of how painful it feels. The phone falls from my hold, clattering on the ground.

"You can't — " I choke on my sobs. "You can't do this, Kellan."

He won't let us be together. He's doing this for me, but my heart is already shattered so badly that I don't even think it will ever heal without him by my side.

My cries echo in the room, and I'm already longing for the man with the purest heart I've ever known, with the most beautiful and kindest eyes I've ever seen.

The man who would do anything to protect me.

I quickly dial his number. I need to talk to him again, to hear his voice again and make sure that he didn't mean all of this.

"The number you have called is no longer in service."

My sobs break even more. "No." My lips tremble as I taste my own tears. "Please, Kellan. I need to see you again."

I swallow a lump in my throat. It hurts so much to the point that it's hard to breathe.

Kellan has let me go.

And his last wish for me to fulfill is to let him be my hero, in his own unselfish way.