Page 52 of Yours to Break

I repeated it like a mantra in my head as they frowned down at me. I told myself that it wasn’t real—just trauma, or loneliness, or some form of Stockholm Syndrome slowly blooming inside my chest like mold.

But if that was true, why did the idea of them not loving me feel like I had been the one who’d gotten a knife to the heart?

It was humiliating, liking someone who you knew would never be able to fall for you. Worse still—twosomeones. Two soulless monsters wrapped in beautiful skin and cruel grins.

How would you ever forgive yourself for wanting the wolves to want you back?

“Are you okay?” Hudson asked me, squatting down next to me and holding the back of his hand to my forehead like he was checking for a fever.

“Yeah,” I croaked. He gave me a strange look, making it clear he didn’t believe me, but dropped it until Lane and Greyson had left.

Once it was only the three of us again, Tate’s body taken care of, I found myself under their scrutiny.

“What’s going on? You started looking sick earlier,” Hayes queried.

“I-I’m fine. Maybe I just need a snack?”

Hudson quirked a brow at my response. “A snack, huh? Doesn’t have something to do with your friend getting engaged?”

I flushed. “No, I’m just feeling a bit faint. That’s all.”

“Oliver,” Hayes leveled, giving me a stern look. “You know we don’t like lying. Are you asking for a punishment?”

“What? No!” I promised, my stomach dropping when they didn’t respond. Instead, they both stared blankly at me as if they were waiting for me to go on. I held my ground at first, but I became increasingly frightened the longer they stared silently. “I just…” I scrambled to find something at least half-truthful that didn’t have me admitting my feelings. I wasn’t sure what they would do with that information. “I’m worried about Lane.”

Hayes hummed, “Hmm. Why would you be worried about him?”

“I don’t—I don’t think he should marry Greyson.” There; that was more truth than lie.

“And why is that?” Hudson asked.

“I-I just don’t think it’s a healthy relationship,” I mumbled.

“Why?” They both looked at me like they couldn’t understand.

“Uh, well… He was supposed to be his therapy patient, and then ended up being stalked and kidnapped by him?”

Hayes huffed in amusement. “Healthy is so relative. Greyson never did anything Lane didn’t want.”

I spluttered, “He didn’t consent to those things!”

“And?” Hudson questioned.

“And?And?” I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down a little before continuing. “Consent is necessary for a healthy relationship.”

They shared a weighted look with each other. Hayes asked me, “Is a textbook healthy relationship really that important? Would you cut Lane out of your life?”

I frowned, confused. “Why would I do that? No.”

Hayes nodded shortly, then continued, “Well, you don’t exactly have a ‘healthy’ friendship with him, do you?” I went to defend it immediately, then faltered. “That’s right. But do you think you’d be better off without him? No, right? You love him despite it all. Despite the fact that he left you here, never checking in? Despite the fact that you said some bad things in the heat of the moment that some would say were inexcusable? And even after all of that, how did it feel to have him hug you? For him to be so excited to see you?”

“Like things were r-right again.”

“Humans aren’t perfect creatures, Oliver. You know that. So maybe their relationship doesn’t seem healthy to you, but who are you to make that decision? You’re not in it. You’re notthem. Every person has a different version of healthy. Besides, can you expect two people who would be considered unhealthy, sick even, to have what society has deemed to be a healthy relationship?” Hayes stroked my back gently as he spoke. “If Lane loves Greyson and gets what he needs from the relationship, shouldn’t that be fine? Why should he have to settle for someone who doesn’t suit his needs when Grey is the one he loves?”

I sighed, “I just… don’t know.”

I despised how I was starting to waver. I didn’t want them to know that I felt like that, though. But, when I thought about the comparison to Lane and me, and our friendship, I couldn’t help but agree.

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