“Talk,” I barked out the command, wiping angry, hot tears from my cheeks.
Wyatt looked at me, pursed his lips, but stayed silent. I knew he would be like this. How did I ever learn to love this stubborn asshole?
“Do you want me to leave?” Guy quietly asked, eyes bouncing between me and Wyatt.
“You can if you want to but be warned, I might say some very ugly things.” My hands balled into fists, but I kept them at my side, holding back anything physical for now.
Guy stayed. I’m a little shocked but also happy. I needed someone else to see the bullshit that Wyatt puts me through—to remind me that I’m not the crazy one.
“Now you want to listen to me? After you abandon me to run off with your new boy toy?” Wyatt’s mouth twisted up, giving me that same look of superiority and disgust mixed into one.
“Oh no, you don’t get to bring that up. At least I came back for you! You left me in Sanctuary for a hundred fucking years Wyatt! Who does that to someone they love?!”
“I do. And if I need to, I'll do it again.” I wish he didn't say it with such a cool head.
“I’m your wife.” I placed a hand over my heart, praying he would hear me.
“You think I forgot that overnight? It is because you are my wife that I refuse to lose you to stupidity.”
“Stupidity…like fighting a monolith on my own?”
“Precisely.” There’s the honesty, let's see if we can keep it going.
“Wyatt, you can’t just lock me in a cage to protect me from helping people. I’m always gonna jump into the fray—I’m just built that way.”
Something cracked in him, he turned to me—halfway between disgust and hatred.
“And I hate that about you…so much.” His voice tightened, breath hitching at the end.
“You knew I was like that when you married me. Wyatt, you used to love my impulsiveness!” Memories dance across my mind. How many times had he smiled and gone after me while we stopped invasions from hell and dictators from the stars?
“The key word is used to, Sapphyra. I’ve seen you break. Not from a broken body but from a broken spirit, a shattered heart. You want answers? Here’s one: I knew the Monolith would attack Cyran that day. I knew that it wouldn’t end with just one.”
He sounded so tired; had he always had bags under his eyes?
“What?” I whispered. “You knew?”
“I sent out plans to every government in the world. Gave em’ ways to rebuild and protect themselves for what was coming but instead of preparing, you know what they did? Nothing.” He took off his glasses and ran his fingers through his hair.
“You never told me. Why didn’t you tell me or the team?” My heart was punching my throat; all I could hear was its incessant pounding in my ears.
“You know why, Sapph. I learned about it the same time we…” he glanced at Guy and sighed.
“Same time we what?” I gulped, trying to mentally prepare for what he would say next. But I’d seen that despair in his eyes before, the tragedy we couldn’t say out-loud. The tears fell like Niagara Falls; I couldn’t contain them.
Guy’s eyes softened as he quietly took in everything. He may not have had the context, but he read the room, and I’m so grateful for that.
Wyatt leaned against the wall, hands in his lab coat pockets as he blinked back tears. His jaw clicked, and it finally dawned on me how much of this he’d been carrying on his own.
“My DNA…” I moved to stand near him. “You released it into the water supply, not because of my postpartum depression…but to protect Cyran City.”
“Doesn’t excuse the lives that were lost. I always knew there was a margin for death, but here's the part where we differ, Sapph; you would give your life for 2 million people…I would give up 2 million people for you—saving the rest of the world was just a bonus. ‘Tried to give people a chance. I had to do something—”
I grasp his shoulders, jostling him. I had to get through his thick skull.
“You could have told me! I would have gotten past it or at least functioned long enough to talk to the U.N. and get everyone on board, goddamn you! Wyatt, you’ve always been the tactician, but there are lines we don’t cross, ever!”
His hand cupped my cheek as tears slid down his warm black skin. His thumb wiped away my tears as his lips brushed pressed against my forehead.
“There are no lines for me when it comes to you.”
My fist hit the ground weakly, three times repeatedly. Something had to give, or we would both burn.
Our eyes locked. Every moment we’d ever shared came rushing back in at once—a flood of pain and love. I let it drown me, tasting oblivion with him just one more time.
My lips crashed into his, and we fought with our souls for a moment. His never-ending, all-consuming devotion to me versus my martyrdom and need to love all clashed with every breath—every tongue lash. My body screamed for him and at him, this man whom I have loved since I was a child.
“I hate you.” I whispered breathlessly as he pulled me closer to him, pressing him against the wall with my hips. I could feel the slightest hint of his ache for me grinding against my thigh.
“Hate you more.” He smirked, teeth grazing against my bottom lip. I wanted him inside me but I needed to push him away. Before long, I will drive myself insane fighting against this desire. I nearly melted when his fingers cupped my mound; a gasp escaped me before reality hit me.
My hand slipped through his shoulder.
Did I forget that this was never the real Wyatt, it was only what’s left of him…but for that small moment, a leftover Wyatt was just as delicious as the real thing.
“Fuck.” I mumbled, ripping myself away from him.
“Where’s your body, Wyatt? I can’t…I need to put you to rest or put you back together, but I can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep living with you as an echo of the man I married.”
“I…I don’t know, Sapph.” He gasped, getting his bearings back and adjusting his glasses. He glanced up at the pictures on the wall–slipping back into his coldness.
“I might not know where my body is, but if there’s an answer, it might be here.”
“Okay…okay. Let’s search—” My blood ran cold as I glanced around for Guy.
He was nowhere to be found.
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