Page 63 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron
"No, I will start. You promised. You said if something like this happened again, you'd stop taking these dangerous assignments."
"Byron, I need to tell you something."
"What? That you don't trust me. Believe me, I know."
She spun to face him, face flushed.
"Get fucked, Byron."
"You want to break yourself open and pretend nothing happened, that's on you. But you don't get to drag me along like I'm just some convenient... placeholder."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I'm tired, Ana. I'm tired of being hidden. We've been together nearly 5 years and you still stutter when you say you love me. You still won't go public. You still flinch like I'm gonna vanish."
She stared at him, heart thudding like it was trying to find a way out of her chest.
"Maybe we should break up, then," she said. Her voice was flat.
He went very still. His mouth opened, then closed again.
"Is that what you want?", he asked roughly. He sounded like he had swallowed rocks.
"I don't know what I want."
"You never do."
Silence.
She grabbed her bag.
He stepped forward, as if to stop her.
"Ana-"
"You said I don't trust you?" she cut in, voice trembling.
"You're right. I don't."
She paused at the door, fingers tight around the handle.
"Consider us broken up."
And she walked out.
Byron didn't follow.
He just stood there, chest rising and falling like he'd run a marathon, while everything they'd built together began to implode around them.
Chapter twenty-seven
Chapter 26
The notification lit up Ana's phone like a slap as she wearily unlocked the door to her apartment.
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@RugbyInsiderUK
