Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
I sighed and stared after him. Julian got up from the table and wrapped me up in his arms. “Give him some time, baby girl. He’s hurting, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.”
I turned around in Julian’s arms and wrapped my own arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. “I’m worried about him.”
Julian gently ran the tips of his fingers up and down my spine. “Just give him time, baby.”
Frowning, I pulled back from him. “Let me get his breakfast together. Then, I just want to lay back down and get some more rest.”
Julian pressed his lips to mine in a short, sweet kiss. “I’ll get the TV ready. I need to re-watch some plays, and cuddling you sounds perfect while doing it,” he said with a small grin and a wink.
I laughed as a blush tinted my cheeks. “Cuddling sounds great.” I leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek. “I love you.”
His grin widened. “Love you more, babe.” He walked out of the kitchen, leaving me to make Axel his normal breakfast of toast slathered with strawberry jam.
He might be hurting and might not want to talk to me about it right now, but I wouldn’t let him neglect his health.
After making his toast, I walked toward his old room that was now turned into an office. He was sitting at his desk staring blankly at the screen, not really focusing on what his professor was saying in the video.
“Axel,” I softly called.
He dragged his eyes from the computer screen up to me. I sighed when I realized he didn’t even remember to pause the video like he always did. I walked over and hit pause before I shut his laptop. “Not today,” I told him. “You’re not going to retain a bit of this information.”
He sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Sweet girl, I need normalcy.”
I shook my head at him. “You’re doing exactly what I used to do, and it’s unhealthy,” I told him honestly. I held out his plate of toast. “Here; eat this.”
He shook his head. “Sweet girl, I’m not hungry.”
I shrugged. “Would you let me skip a meal if I was having a bad day and I told you I wasn’t hungry?” I asked him. He scowled at the point I made. I grinned triumphantly when he took the plate from my hands. “Thank you.”
He grunted in response as he took a bite of the toast. I walked around the office as I waited on him to finish eating, looking over all the pictures of him and Julian, all of the trophies from football they had collected together. There were some back in our house in North Carolina, but I guessed Julian wanted the majority of his football stuff here.
I guess it made sense since this was the state his team played in.
“I miss her, you know?” Axel suddenly said out of the blue. I turned to face him, my eyes noticing Julian leaning right outside of the room as I did so. I focused my attention on Axel. He sighed and placed his plate on the desk in front of him. “I knew it was going to be hard to cut ties, but I didn’t realize it was this hard.”
“It’s normal to hurt like this, you know?” I told him quietly. I wrapped my arms around myself. “Vincent and I—we were basically family. He was all I had.” Axel looked up at me. “It ripped me apart to know that I had become an insane, crazy person in his eyes. It hurt to know that he didn’t care anymore.” I sighed. “His words still hurt, Axel, but with time, it gets easier.”
“It doesn’t feel like it will,” Axel confessed. “Right now, it feels like there’s an entire part of me missing. When I look down at my chest, I’m kind of surprised when I don’t see a gaping hole there.”
I walked over to him and crouched down, grabbing his hands in mine. His beautiful, brown eyes locked on mine. I gave him a small smile. “I know it hurts to let go, Axel. I’m still trying to let go even though Vincent is trying to re-enter back into my life. But she doesn’t care.” He flinched. I squeezed his hands. “She made that clear in the center. If she truly loved you, truly wanted to see you happy and wanted the best for you, she would have never asked you to choose between me and her.”
Tears filled his eyes, and my heart broke for him. “I hate myself for not being more involved once I left for college. I keep thinking of all of the ‘what-ifs’,” he confessed.
“You can’t do that to yourself, Axel,” I told him quietly. He drew in a shuddering breath. “You can’t sit here and run over this shit in your mind over and over. It’ll drive you mad. You can draw from me, Axel. I’m strong enough now.”