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I reached for his hand and squeezed it in mine “Rider… I love him”

His head tipped back to the ceiling and his lips tensed under the cover of his short brown beard

He released my hand “And I love you, Mae,” he confided, voice hoarse His chin lowered and he cupped e hands “I fkin’ love you I can’t stop thinking about you I drink to forget that you’re with him… in his rooht now! I found that young bitch with Viking I just wanted to forget you for a while I don’t sleep Can’t eat…”

“Rider, please You are my best friend”

“I don’t wanna be your fkin’ ‘best friend’, Mae!”

“Rider…” I loweredfreely

“No, Mae! We’d be so good together We want the sas Your future could be with me”

“I am with Styx, Rider!”

“Fuck Styx!”

“No!” I pulled back from his embrace “You will not speak of him in such a way! I love him, Rider I love you too, but in a co this so difficult! I feel like I a torn in two!”

“Difficult! DIFFICULT! You don’t know theof the word! You stayed with me for weeks Just you and : your faith, your worries, your hopes You laughed with me, fell asleep with me, fkin’ RODE ON THE BACK OF MY BIKE! You were mine first, Mae Not his! MINE!”

“That is where you are mistaken, Rider,” I rasped out, my voice small

His brows furrowed “Ho am I mistaken?”

“I have been Styx’s since I was eight years old”

His breathing calmed down “What? How—”

“I h Our fate was sealed from that day on”

He exhaled in shock “He found the commune? Where? How?”

I nodded my head “He found us by mistake, but I believe I was meant to meet him that day”

Rider shook his head as though shielding himself from that truth As he stepped forward, I retreated until my back hit the wall