Page 75 of The Truth of Our Past

“I can’t up and leave my job to follow you to Sweden,” I whisper. Once he leaves, he won’t look back. He can sculpt in Sweden. He doesn’t need to be here. Words are easy. Words lie.

I expected this was a relationship, and that’s my downfall. I knew better.

“I’m not asking you to drop your life or move to Sweden. I’m asking you to come visit me so we can see each other. I can go to Toronto. We can see each other there.” Von’s pleading and reaching for me, but I sidestep his grasp.

“Move to Sweden.” Those words tumble around my head, shattering my vision of our life together.

“I said I’m NOT asking you to do that.” Von stands and wraps me in a hug. “Alec, I…”

My body aches for his and my heart’s desperate to hear impossible words.

“Alec, you aremitt liv, mitt allt.”

I stumble out of his hold and stagger for the loft door. “You can’t say that to me. Not now.” I know what that means. I’ve been googling Swedish phrases. This one is too much. It can’t be true.

“I mean every word I say.” He stalks me to the door. “Every single word.”

“If I’myour life,your everything, you wouldn’t leave me.” I rally my anger to protect myself from the pain and slam his door behind me. The world is spinning as I try to reorient myself to this new truth. I thought he saw me, the real me, and I meant something to him.

I’m hurtling down the stairs because I can’t wait for the elevator.

He made me believe. He made me believe that I’m more than a good time—a satisfying fuck. That I could be someone’s person. But I guess the joke’s on me. If I were his person, he wouldn’t hide when he was leaving.

I’m not sure what it says that I go straight to Unframed Art. It’s home, as sad as that might be. Cole’s office is empty, so I close the door behind me, hoping for some privacy.

The walk helped ease the tightness in my chest, so I’m not light-headed anymore.

I know Von doesn’t want to leave right now. I know that.

But he is leaving, and even if he comes back, he’ll leave again. Those are indisputable facts. He’s upset, but there’s no use in prolonging this pain. He accomplished what he wanted here—becoming an in-demand artist. Now he’s leaving.

I gotta rip the Band-Aid off and get over it. Otherwise, our feelings will wither and die a slow and painful death. A shot to the heart is a quicker, less dramatic ending. Better for both of us.

Von’s number scrolls across my screen with his incoming call. If I talk to him, I’ll break. I’ll agree to the fantasy that we can work things out. Pretend that an ocean between us won’t matter. That when he gets back to his old life, he won’t forget me.

Unsteady by X Ambassadors

I’ll be the loud American who charmed my way into his bed. He’s had serious relationships in the past. Will Von think of us as a relationship or great sex that time he went to America?

Von knows things from my past that no one else on this planet knows. I trusted him and let him inside my body. But he didn’t bother to tell me the truth about how long he planned to stay. No matter what he says, we are temporary, and someone—no, Von—put my heart in a blender.

Of course, he’s too good to be true.

A possessive Viking god with an artist’s soul.

In real life, the perfect man does not appear from Sweden to make me feel safe and loved with an unspoken promise we could live happily ever after. Real life sucks.

Only the chosen few get the fairy-tale ending. Cole who found love twice. A month or two ago I would’ve said that Cole could take all the chances at love because I didn’t want one. But now…but now…

It doesn’t matter. Von is leaving in two days and I’m not good at goodbyes. Even if we don’t want it to end, we have to face reality.

It’s over.

The door swings open, startling me. Cole and Shane stop abruptly halfway between Cole’s desk and the door.

“What happened? Is everything okay?” Shane’s wide-eyed and concerned.

I let my head fall back on the chair’s headrest, closing my eyes. I haven’t wrapped my head around this, so telling my friends feels surreal, but I can’t hide it.

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