Page 59 of Heatwaves

Unsure of what else to do, I nod toward the living room. Aidan and I manage to get Ty to the couch before sitting him down.

He just sits there, staring off into space, and I fucking hate it.

This is breaking him in a way that I don’t know if he’ll be able to come back from.

“Ty?” Aidan asks softly, shaking the other man’s shoulder, but Ty doesn’t pay him any attention.

“Fuck,” Carter curses as I drop onto the couch beside Ty. Aidan takes his other side while Carter sits on the coffee table in front of him. “Ty, I need you to come back to us. I know things didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but she didn’t say no. There’s still a chance she’ll forgive us.”

Ty blinks, slowly turning his head until he’s looking at Carter. “There’s an even better chance she won’t. I can’t live in a world where Lila isn’t mine, Carter. I won’t.”

Pain radiates through me, making me feel like I’ve been punched in the chest.

Surely, he’s not saying what I think he is.

But even as I try to assure myself of that, I know better. Ty won’t survive losing Lila, and I don’t think I’d survive if I lost both of them.

I squeeze my eyes shut against the tears threatening to spill over.

“She’s meant to be mine, and if I can’t have her, then I have no reason to live.” Ty’s voice is void of all emotion.

“Damn it, Ty, what about us?” Carter demands, slamming his clenched fists into the table he sits on. “We’d be devastated if we lost you.”

He just shrugs. “You’d be fine. All I do is drag down the pod, anyway.”

“You do no such thing, Ty,” I tell him, grabbing his hand and bringing it to my lips. “I love you so much. We all do. I don’t want to think about a life without you in it.”

“I think I’d like to lie down,” is his only reply, though he doesn’t attempt to stand.

My eyes are wide as I glance between Carter and Aidan, both of them looking just as worried as I am.

“Aid, why don’t you help Ty to the bedroom? Maybe take a nap with him?” Carter phrases it as a question, but I know it’s not. He’s afraid to leave Ty on his own, a fear I share.

Aidan nods, helping Ty to his feet. “You know what? A nap sounds amazing.”

All I can do is watch as he leads our lover from the room before turning my attention back to Carter. “What the hell are we going to do, Carter?”

“I don’t fucking know.” He runs his hands through his black hair before tugging at the strands.

It’s never good when our man with a plan does not know what to do.

“We have to figure out a way to pull him out of this. There’s no guarantee that Lila will forgive us, and I can’t lose them both. We can’t lose them both.”

He scoffs. “Don’t you think I know that? We’ve already almost lost him more than once over the last few years. I don’t know how to make this better for him. Especially since I understand. I don’t want to live in a world where she isn’t ours, either.”

“Yeah, but the difference between you and him is that you’re not practically threatening to kill yourself if you lose her.”

Carter jumps to his feet, kicking the table away from him as he curses. Rage radiates from him. Rage and fear—never a good combination.

I stand, moving over to wrap him in my arms. He struggles against me before the fight just goes out of him. His body shakes moments before I make out the sounds of his sobs.

Fuck. We’re really falling apart, aren’t we?

I can’t remember the last time I saw Carter cry, and it breaks my heart to see one of the men I love falling apart. It’s bad enough with Ty, but I’m used to his emotional outbursts. He’s always been the one who feels everything deeper than the rest of us.

But Carter? He’s always been our rock.

Straightening my shoulders, I know it’s my turn to step up. It’s time for me to be the rock for my pod mates.

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