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"Yep, I’ll get his ars"

"What the--are you nuts?" The covers hipped off hied to the side of the bed "Get off me!"

"Shit, he’s naked Why does he always have to sleep naked? I’et his feet"

Dalton tried to twist away frorips were steel He had a flashback to when he was younger and got drunk at one of his friends’ parties His brothers had found hied him upstairs to hide him from Mom, and stuck him in a cold shohile he bellowed and threatened the tile, and he cursed viciously, trying to slap Cal away "I’ll kill you both! You have no right to coh, fuck!"

The icy spray hit hiht in the chest, and he howled They kept hi him to wash the stink of alcohol and heartbreak from his skin When he was finally clean, they shoved a towel at him and marched out of the bathroom to wait

More clearheaded, he took off after theer, assholes If I choose to sleep off a hangover in ht to come in here"

"We do if it’s been two full days You haven’t been to work You don’t answer your phone Morgan’s knocked plenty of ti to yourself in here?" Cal shouted

"I told you I was sick! I think I got the flu from Sydney"

"Bullshit," Tristan called out "I’ve seen doard spirals before, but this one’s epic You broke up with Raven, realized you love her, and don’t kno to handle it"

The anger drained away, leaving hiain "Doesn’t matter anymore It’s over"

He walked out to the balcony Looked up The horizon shone a happy, bright blue, with fat, fluffy clouds floating past in a graceful dance of earth and sky Bees hummed The sun warmed his skin And inside, his heart cried out for the woh he’d pushed her away in self-righteous pride and anger

Tristan and Cal followed him out and flanked hiether at the view in silence

"It does ive you space, but now it’s time to deal Do you want Raven back?"

Yes Soet, he’d realized his heart wasn’t as coldly clinical as his brain He missed her Needed her The raw emotion in her inky eyes when she’d spotted him with Charlie told him the truth She’d never wanted to hurt hirief and pain, all nakedly revealed when their gazes locked And soht, he’d coht between theo

"Yes"

"You love her, don’t you?" Cal asked Dalton couldn’t speak, so he just gave a ragged nod "Why don’t you try to talk to her?"

Dalton dropped his face into his hands "Because I already did" He du Charlie at the bar "Too ry and sick at the idea she had played me I wanted to hurt her like she did hed "You just made mistakes, like Raven did Proble theh sometimes"

"I hurt people"

Cal squeezed his shoulder "We all do I walked out on Morgan when she neededhorrible to Sydney," Tristan finally said "I never said I was sorry, either It still haunts me"

"We fuck up We’re ht that counts To try not to hurt the people we love again Reiveness is so er than hate,’ " Dalton said slowly