Page 56 of Saving Little Clark

"I'm sorry,"

"What for?”

"For before. For not listening, when you tried to warn me about Sterling."

Even now, the name tasted like ash on my tongue.

"You knew," I said, low and fervent. "You knew something was off about him, something bad. You saw right through that charming mask to the poison underneath, and God, Lex, you tried so hard to make me see it too. But I didn't listen. I was so caught up in the fantasy, so desperate to believe I'd finally found my happily ever after. I shut you out, ignored all the red flags you kept pointing out. Fuck, I practically ran headlong into that shitstorm, and then had the audacity to be shocked when it blew up in my face."

A broken, humorless laugh scraped my throat raw. "You did everything in your power to shield me from my own naive stupidity. And I repaid you by cutting you off, by pushing you away when I needed you most."

My lip wobbled dangerously. But Alex was already shaking his head, that familiar fierceness sparking in his eyes.

"No," he said, quiet but implacable. "Don't put that on yourself. You were in love. The kind that makes everything else feel small and distant, that drowns out all reason and logic.”

He huffed a little laugh, rueful and painfully tender. "Trust me, I know exactly how it feels, to be so caught up in someone that the rest of the world just fades away. To want so badly to believe in the fairy tale that you go deaf and blind to anything that might shatter the illusion. You loved him, and he took that beautiful, infinite trust and twisted it. Used it to manipulate you, to bind you to him in all the worst ways."

His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. For a moment, I saw the fury surface. But just as quickly, it faded. Softened into something achingly gentle.

"He hurt you, Clarkie," Alex continued. "He took your love and he ground it into fucking dust. It's not a failure on your part. It's his. For being the kind of monster who could look at that shining, open trust and see only a weapon to be wielded."

I shuddered. But Alex didn't let me hide, didn't let me shrink away from the intensity of his gaze.

"Listen," he told me, halting but resolute. "I don't regret a single fucking second of fighting for you, even when you pushed me away. Even when you told me I was overreacting, seeing things that weren't there. I knew, Clark. That sick son of a bitch was bad news, and I wasn't going to just sit back and let him destroy you. I had to try. Had to do everything in mypower to get through to you, to make you see the truth of what that bastard was doing. And if it ended up costing meyou, our relationship..."

A pause, an unsteady inhale. "Then that was a price I was willing to pay. Because keeping you safe, protecting you, even from yourself, was my duty.”

There weren't any words to encompass my gratitude. So I just wrapped my arms around him and held on, felt him do the same in turn. Let the solid heat of him, the slow, syncopated waltz of our breathing, say everything I couldn't.

And then, like a lance of sunlight through stubborn cloud cover, Alex snickered.

I could only blink in confusion. Pull back to shoot him a look of exasperation, one brow inching towards my hairline.

"Seriously?" I demanded, voice still raspy. "I pour my heart out to you, we have this big, intense brotherly bonding moment, and your response is togiggle?"

But Alex just grinned at me, unrepentant as ever. "I was just thinking, we've officially filled our mush quota for the day. Any more heartfelt confessions and we'll turn into a Hallmark movie."

My lips twitched with the effort of maintaining a stern facade. "Well far be it from me to stand in the way of your emotional constipation, Lex. Please, continue repressing your feelings like a proper manly man."

Alex nodded solemnly, eyes sparkling with mirth. "I've got a reputation to uphold, you know. Can't have people thinking I'm some kind of sappy softie who actuallycaresabout shit."

Chapter 24: Clark

With a devilish smirk that would have made any friend proud, I hooked a foot around Alex's ankle andyanked.

He went down with an outraged squawk, arms windmilling comically as he tried to keep his balance. But it was too late. With a muffled thump and a flurry of flailing limbs, he hit the plush carpeted floor in an ungainly sprawl.

For a moment, there was only stunned silence. Alex blinking up at me from his prone position, expression caught between shock and grudging admiration. And then, as if a switch had been flipped, we both burst into giggles.

I collapsed onto the floor beside him, gasping for breath between bouts of hilarity. Every time I thought I had myself under control, I would catch a glimpse of his disgruntled pout, his hair sticking up in wild tufts, and lose it all over again.

But my mirth was short-lived. Because in the next instant, a wicked gleam entered Alex's eyes, his scowl morphing into a predatory grin.

"Oh, it's on now," he growled playfully. "You've just declared war, and I never lose.”

With that, he launched himself at me in a full-body tackle, sending us tumbling. I shrieked with laughter, trying in vain to fend off his tickling fingers as we rolled around on the floor like a pair of puppies.

From there, it devolved into all-out chase as we darted through the mansion. Peals of breathless giggles and mock threats rang through the halls, interspersed with the occasional thump or crash as we careened around corners and bounced off furniture.

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