Page 42 of A Winter Crush
Which was what he should have wondered when Ori hadn’t turned up yesterday. He should have gone to the valley to check on Ori, not wallowed. Then he could have supported Ori and been there for him when he’d worried about his brother.
He played the previous night over in his mind. But instead of snapping at Ori when he arrived, Wareth opened his arms and Ori stepped into them. Wareth would hold Ori close, and Ori would know that Wareth cared for him, was there for him, that Wareth loved him.
Because Wareth did. He loved Ori with all his being. And instead of showing that to Ori, he had hurt him. If only he could take it back. He’d give anything to redo the previous day.
“Wareth! What are you doing awake so early?” Sariah stood in the studio.
He hadn’t even heard her enter. “Sariah. What are you doing here?”
“Bubba is kicking hard tonight.” She put a hand on her stomach. “I decided to go for a stroll to settle them. It often works, but then I saw the light on in your window. Why are you up?” She walked towards him. “You look terrible. What happened?”
He rubbed his hand across his face. He didn’t have the energy to deal with this. He rolled his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll go to bed.”
“Wareth, what happened?” She blocked his path. “Where is Ori? Is he all right?”
It hit him hard that Sariah’s first instinct was to worry about Ori. Wareth’s first instinct was to assume Ori had abandoned and lied to him. He really was an arsehole.
“Ori left.”
“When will he be back?”
He let out a breath. “He won’t be.” The words tore at his throat like shards of broken pottery.
“What? What happened?”
“I said words. Cruel words. He didn’t turn up yesterday.” Wareth kept his head down, speaking the words to the floor. He couldn’t bear to see the judgement in Sariah’s eyes when he told her the truth. “I thought he’d left me, like Rin.”
Wareth took a shaky breath, trying to steady himself. “But his brother was sick.” He squeezed his eyes shut, remembering the tears glistening in Ori’s eyes. “And when he finally came here, I accused him of abandoning me. I yelled at him when he needed me most.”
“Oh, Wareth.”
His throat constricted, but he forced out the words. “And now he’s gone.”
Sariah placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to bed.”
“But what will you do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wareth!” she scolded. “You made a mistake! You were an arse.”
He flinched.
“But you can’t just leave it like that. Go to him. Say sorry.”
“It’s too late.”
“You’ve got to at least try.”
He shook his head.
She sighed, exasperated. “I saw how happy the two of you were together. Isn’t it at least worth trying?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “What if Ori turns me away?”
“Then you’ll know for sure. And regardless, it sounds like you should apologise to him at least.”
