The Exiled Alpha's Human Male Mate.[BL]

"A national drama festival competition was being held at our school."

Dave finally continued, and this time, Bryce already knew what had happened next, even before Dave said it.

In highschool, Bryce had been part of the drama club, and he had participated in the competition more times than he could remember.

The moment Dave mentioned it, Bryce’s thoughts began spiraling again, despite his desperate attempt to remain calm and simply listen.

"You were there."

Dave slowly lifted his eyes to Bryce.

"The first time I saw you, I honestly thought I was looking at a ghost. Eli’s ghost. For a moment, I even wondered if my family had lied to me, if they’d somehow convinced me Eli was dead just to keep us apart when he was actually still alive.

You were standing on that stage, and I had to use every bit of self-control I had not to walk up there and take you away. You looked exactly like him. You still do."

Dave’s gaze moved over Bryce’s face with an intensity that made him uncomfortable.

"Your blond hair, the way you always let it fall across your forehead. Your beautiful face. Those sharp blue eyes. Your full, reddish lips. Your height, your build... Everything about you reminded me of him."

For a moment, Dave looked at Bryce as though he were seeing someone else entirely.

As though Bryce had disappeared and Eli had taken his place.

Bryce forced himself to remain composed, but something inside him was beginning to fracture. The feeling he had been trying to dismiss as jealousy or insecurity sharpened until he could no longer pretend it wasn’t there.

"Before I continue..." Dave moved closer, apparently noticing the discomfort written across Bryce’s face. "I want you to know that..."

"Just... go on."

The words came out strained, almost painfully, as though Bryce had to force them past the tightness in his throat.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the rest anymore. He didn’t want Dave’s reassurance either.

Dave remained quiet for a moment before shifting back and sitting straighter.

"It was almost impossible to believe two people could resemble each other that closely without being related. I was convinced you were Eli, even though Eli had never shown the slightest interest in drama club activities. That should have been enough to make me question myself, but it wasn’t."

He paused.

"The moment you came off the stage, I went looking for you. But your schoolmates had already surrounded you, so I couldn’t get close enough to speak to you. But I was close enough to hear them calling you by a name that wasn’t Eli."

Dave’s eyes lowered briefly.

"I was close enough to notice you didn’t have the mole above your upper lip that Eli had. Eli’s blond hair was darker than yours. Your eyes were almost identical to his, but not quite. Even your voices sounded remarkably similar, but there were differences once I actually paid attention."

His expression tightened.

"Those differences shattered whatever hope I had allowed myself to believe. I was finally convinced that you weren’t Eli, and the realization dragged me straight back to the place I’d been in the day I learned he was dead.

I went home in a worse state than I’d ever been before. I didn’t return to school for the rest of that week. I shut myself away again, stayed in my room, and barely spoke to anyone. But as the days passed, I started wanting to see you.

Seeing you had destroyed me, and I couldn’t understand why I was suddenly craving another glimpse of you. I kept thinking about you even though I knew you weren’t Eli. Eventually, I told my parents I wanted to transfer school."

A faint, humorless smile touched Dave’s mouth.

"They didn’t even question it. They agreed immediately."

He looked at Bryce.

"And that’s how I ended up at your school."

Dave exhaled slowly, his expression tightening as though he already knew the next words would hurt Bryce.

"I know you remember how hard I tried to befriend you when we first met. I made sure I became the person you spent the most time with because I wanted you close to me. I enjoyed being around you. You made me feel better. You made me feel alive again."

He hesitated before continuing.

"Sometimes I’d look at you and, for a moment, all I could see was Eli. I knew it was wrong, but I forced myself to pretend you were him because it was the only thing making sane.

I knew I was using you in ways I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I was desperate to have some part of what I’d lost."

Dave’s voice faltered.

"I did some things deliberately because I wanted you to fall in love with me. I wanted to recreate what I used to have with Eli, to do the things we used to do togeth..."

"Is that why you’ve been calling me E-Love all these years?"

Bryce surged to his feet, his voice rising before he could restrain it, his breathing loud and ragged as anger tore through him.

"All this time, you refused to tell me what the E meant. Was it because you wanted to call me something that started with E?"

"Let me finish, please."

Dave stood as well, his voice pleading, but Bryce was already moving toward the door.

Dave hurried after him and stepped into his path. "It stopped being about Eli. It became about you. I genuinely love you, Bryce."

"Did it?" Bryce demanded, glaring at him. "Did it really?"

His chest rose and fell sharply as everything Dave had confessed crashed him.

"Because yesterday morning, when I left the house before coming back and catching you with your fucking girlfriend, you called me that. You called me E-Love before I walked out the door."

His voice cracked with fury.

"You’ve called me that practically every day for six years. So tell me, when exactly did it stop being about him and become about me?"

Dave opened his mouth, but Bryce didn’t give him the chance.

"You’ve been using me all this time!"

The accusation tore out of him, carrying years of trust that had just been ripped apart.

"What am I to everyone? What is it about me that makes people think they can just use me whenever they want?"

His mind flashed back to Vincent, to the revelation that he had intended to use him too, just as Dave had.

He pressed a hand against his chest, struggling to steady himself as the weight of it all closed in around him.

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