It was supposed to be a vacation, but Leo wasn't having a good time. The days were grey and so was his heart. Three weeks and each day had hurt like a fresh wound. The only salve was thousands of miles away and he couldn't do anything about it.

The point of this was to ease the pain he felt. Even if it was just a temporary illusion. Even for just a little while, but it only seemed to get worse.

The ice breaker came with a single phone call, even after he'd told Met not to. He didn't want to pick up but he needed an excuse.

Right after Leo had hung up on Met, he booked the first flight back home. If even half of what Met had told him was true, he'd never forgive himself. How had it turned to this?

It seemed very unlikely that Brady would need him, at all. Didn't he not want Leo anymore? Wasn't that why he had called after leaving a message like that?
Leo didn't think about any of these things at the moment, they didn't matter. Only Brady and the present did. How fast could he get there?

He was a bundle of nerves through out the entire flight and didn't sleep a wink.
After he landed, he figured it would be easiest to haul a cab to drive him to Brady's and so he did.

He thanked the heavens for how fast the cab driver went. It wasn't as fast as he would have liked but he was grateful. He might have opened the door and rushed out even before the car had come to a stop.

"Sir! Sir!" the cab driver called and in the split second Leo decided to turn only because of his tone. He almost thought he'd forgotten to pay him.

"Your luggage sir," he said. "You might want to slow down."

"I can't do that. He needs me," Leo said to the guy, but couldn't care less about the luggage even as he took it.
And then he was finally there.

Leo discarded his luggage somewhere he couldn't remember when he got into Brady's apartment. He'd probably called more than fifty times on his way but no one answered.

"Brady!" He called and no answer came his way.

"Brady!" He called once again. And this time he met Jade's cold eyes.

"Outside," he said.

"I need to see him," Leo insisted.

"He's asleep, let's talk outside." This time, Leo listened. He decided it wouldn't take long, he'd just bare with it.

"How is he?" He asked as soon as they were out.

"You want to know something? Today was one of the scariest days of my life. I even panicked," said Jade. "Leo, I don't panic."

"What are you—"

"Do you want to know why I panicked?" It was a rhetorical question. "I hate hospitals. Their stench, the design, hopes slowly drowning as you wait helplessly."

Leo flinched at the guilt that threatened to consume him. "No! You don't mean..."

"That is exactly what I mean, how did you let it get to this?"

"You don't understand what happened," Leo began.

"You're right, I don't, but I do understand it started with you and has to end with you. Which is why I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. I'm going to leave and let you take care of him. Hurt him again and cross my heart Leo I'll end you myself. You're only getting off easy because he needs you, I know that. But Brady is not the kind of person you should take for granted."

"You don't think I know that?!" Leo asked. "Fuck. I've messed up so bad. I need to see him."

"Nothing can keep you from him at this point. Which is why, I'm counting on you," Jade somehow managed to make it sound like a threat while he looked him dead in the eye. And then he walked away.

Leo rushed in to find his lifeline, dreading every moment away from him. And when Leo finally saw him, his heart broke all over again.

Brady lay there looking nothing like he'd last seen him. Where his cheeks were round and full, they sagged. His eyes looked dark and a bit sunken. His collarbones looked way more defined than they should have, and he looked so frail.

"I did this," Leo whispered. "How could I have..."

Leo took Brady's hand in his and squeezed. "I'm going to take care of you now okay?" He brushed a hand against Brady's cheek. "Everything is going to be okay."

Leo didn't move from Brady's side till the sun came up, he still didn't sleep. Like if he wasn't watching then something might have gone wrong.
Brady looked worse than he did the night before because of all the light that came pouring in.
Leo questioned himself for the millionth time what he had done.

He let his hand go after brushing kisses on his knuckles.

It was well late into the morning and Brady could wake up any time. He needed food, lots of it. And so he got to preparing it.

Brady slept on until the afternoon, and into the late afternoon. Leo worried on until the afternoon, and into the late afternoon. And well beyond that.

Brady's first thought as his eyes first cracked open was there was too much light. Reflexively he closed his eyes and attempted to open them more slowly.

He felt tired, but it didn't matter. He'd just sink back to the bed, or not. He had nothing to do anyway. He should have wondered how he got himself into the bed but his brain was foggy as he tried to remember. Which he gave up in half a second.

His stomach was empty, but as far as he knew, it had always been like that and he didn't find it in him to care. The movement around him didn't bother him in the least bit, it was always that way lately.

Brady caught a glimpse of the person shuffling around before closing his eyes to sleep again.

"Brady you're awake!" the voice said.

It was almost like a fire had been set on all of Brady's organs. His mind battled as it pinpointed the voice. The voice that made all of Brady's insides feel alive. He fought between the grays and mists within his mind, against everything that tried to convince him that the voice wasn't important.

After a long battle of wills, Brady's eyes finally opened, wider than they had been in a while, they zeroed in on the source of the voice as it came into focus.

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I'll be posting the next few chapters randomly at any time as this book comes to an end. Thank you for being here🥺❤️

Don't worry just probably less than five short chapters and we're done. Yayy