Chapter 13
Callie’s eyes flicked up to meet mine, and the vulnerability there made my heart skip a beat. “I had feelings for you, Amir. I left because I needed to stop how I felt. I couldn’t handle it anymore.”
The world seemed to tilt for a moment. My breath caught in my throat as her words. sank in, but she kept going before I could. respond.
“I knew you liked someone else,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “You were always talking about her. How much she meant to you, how you couldn’t tell her how you felt. I thought… I thought if I stayed, I’d just make it harder for myself. That I’d always be waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen. So I left. I tried to get away from those feelings, and tried to forget.”
The words hit me like a wave, pulling me under. All this time, I thought Callie had
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Chapter 13
left for freedom, for independence. I thought she wanted to escape the pressure of the pack, to find herself out there. But she had left because of me. Because she thought I had feelings for someone else?
“Callie…” I started, but she shook her head, cutting me off.
“I didn’t have the courage to tell you,” she said, her voice breaking slightly.
“Because I knew you‘ d reject me. I knew I wasn’t the one you wanted.”
She looked away again, her shoulders tense, as if bracing for the blow. But she had no idea.
I stood up slowly, crossing the room to kneel in front of her. I reached out, gently lifting her chin so she had no choice but to look at me. Her eyes were shining, unshed tears reflecting the weight of years she‘ d been carrying.
“The woman I was talking about…” I paused, feeling the words catch in my
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throat as I realized the depth of my own blindness. “The woman I couldn’t tell my feelings to, the one I was too scared to confess to… Callie, it’s always been you.”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head slightly, like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What?”
“It’s you,” I repeated, my voice soft but steady. “It’s always been you, Callie. I’ve loved you since we were kids, but I never had the guts to say it. I was terrified of losing you, of ruining what we had. So I kept quiet. I thought I’d missed my chance when you left.”
She stared at me, her lips parting in disbelief. “But… you never said anything. You never-”
“I know,” I interrupted gently, brushing a stray tear from her cheek. “I was a coward. I thought I was protecting what we had by staying silent, but I was just
pushing you away. I never knew you felt the same.”
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For a long moment, she just stared at me, and I could see the storm of emotions swirling in her eyes–confusion, disbelief, hope. And then, slowly, her lips curved into the smallest of smiles, as if she didn‘ t quite believe it yet.
“All this time…” she whispered, her voice breaking. “It was me?”
I nodded, a tightness in my chest easing as the truth finally came out. “It’s always been you, Callie.”
And before I could say anything else, before I could apologize for all the years of silence and missed chances, she leaned forward, capturing my lips with hers in a kiss that was both desperate and soft, filled with all the words we had never said.
