Page 10 of Adored
It was clear that the mercenaries didn’t keep their word. They’d hurt him.
“Oh, Gamble,” he said, trying to move back from him, but the bigger man wouldn’t let him. Instead, he made him stare into his eyes.
“NO.”
Poe stopped moving.
The tone in Gamble’s voice said it all.
He.
Was.
Pissed.
Under that love, there was a simmering brew of anger, and Poe had put that there.
For that, he was sorry.
Gamble laid down the law, and Poe knew he had to accept it. He’d made the wrong decision, and he’d gotten damn lucky that the man he loved was forgiving him.
Gamble went there.
“You called me a coward, and told me I was afraid and running. Now, I’m calling you one. Tell me you love me, Poe, and I’ll fight any army for you. Just tell me that you didn’t want to leave me. I need to know what you feel for me, and I need to see if it’s real. If you don’t love me, I’ll go, but I need you to tell me the words.”
Tears filled Poe’s eyes.
It was hard not to hear the emotion in Gamble’s voice, and he knew that this man was putting it all on the line for him. He didn’t deserve Gamble.
Not.
At.
All.
So, he was honest.
“Oh, Gamble,” he whispered. “I love you so much,” he added. “I love you more than anything in my whole world. My home, my horses, my career…”
Gamble held his face in his fingers as he kept talking.
“I didn’t leave because I felt nothing for you. I feelEVERYTHINGfor you. I left because my brother and parents damned me to this duty. I never thought I’d have to do this. I always counted on being the spare.”
Gamble saw the love in his eyes. He saw the truth, and felt the honesty. Poe did love him.
Elizabeth was right. She’d told him he was leaving because he had no choice, and not because he felt nothing for him.
“I’ve gone to bed each night weeping over losing you. You’re the love of my life and my soulmate.”
The words healed Gamble.
This man…he never wanted to be away from him, and if it meant being in the UK, he’d make that sacrifice. Gamble would give up his people and his family to start a new one with Poe.
That was love.
Like with how he left for Storm, he’d leave for Poe, hoping there was a completely different outcome.
“Then, we fight together, and we stay together. I would have come back with you had you just asked me to, Poe. I would have done it in a heartbeat.”
