Watching Them Burn: My Rebirth Story novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Are You Satisfied Now

Darby's POV

"Get up, Dane," I said.

"No."

"Everyone is watching you."

"I know." He was looking up at me with his whole face open. "I want them to. I want them to see I'm saying it to your face."

"Then say it."

He took a breath that shook his shoulders.

"I played your voice every night for two years. I knew it by heart. I loved it more than anything alive. And when you were standing right in front of me, I didn't know you."

"No."

"I put a letter on your desk, and I didn't ask your name. I came to your door and asked for three notes." His voice broke. "You were right in the dining hall. I don't know your middle name. I don't know what you want."

"It's Marie."

He stopped.

"My middle name is Marie," I said. "You asked in the dining hall. Now you know."

A sound went through the rows, half a laugh and half something else.

"I'll learn the rest," he said. "I'll learn everything. Give me a year. Give me a month. I'll quit the team. I'll walk away from my father's money. Whatever you want."

"I don't want any of that."

"Then what?"

"I want you to stand up."

He didn't.

"Dane."

"Please don't leave me. You're the only good thing that ever came out of that night. You're the reason I got through it." His hands were open on his knees. "I love you."

I looked at him.

For a moment I saw the boy in the voice room, two years younger than the man in front of me, crying alone at three in the morning.

I had been kind to him then, with nothing, in a hospital chair.

I did not owe him anything else.

"You love a voice," I said. "You love what it did for you. That's not me, Dane. I'm a person who's been standing next to you for three weeks."

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend