CHAPTER 236: DON’T LEAVE ME

Chapter 236- Don’t Leave Me

LOGAN’S POV

I thought it was over.

I thought that was the end of the conversation—that he wasn’t going to answer me But then...his voice sounded honest.

"It broke me... writing you that letter," he said.

I turned to face him as I was confused on caught off guard.

He wasn’t even looking at me when he said it. He was just staring at the wall like he was afraid to see my face.

"I couldn’t stop thinking about you after I sent it," he added. "Every day, every night... I’d close my eyes and you were there. In my head. In my chest. Everywhere."

My throat tightened, and I swallowed hard.

"I hated you," he said suddenly. "I really did. When you told me about Alexa... when you kissed her in front of me, I thought you did it just to destroy me."

I looked down. That was one of the worst days of my life—because I knew it would hurt him, but I did it anyway. Because I wanted him to see who he fell for.

"But now I know," Tyler said quietly. "You didn’t make her cheat. She was already a cheater. You just opened my eyes."

He finally turned to look at me, and I could see how tired his face looked.

"You think I don’t care about you?" he asked. "You think all the times I pushed you away meant I hated you?"

I didn’t know how to answer.

"I didn’t hate you," he said. "I just didn’t know how to say what I was feeling. I didn’t know how to tell you I was starting to like you."

I took a slow breath, but it didn’t help. My hands were already shaking.

"The plan was to avoid you," he continued. "To keep hating you. That was the deal, right? But something happened. I don’t even know when or how it started... but I just started falling."

I stood up. I couldn’t lay down anymore. I needed to breathe.

I looked at him with my eyes stinging and tears already falling.

"Then why didn’t you tell me?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Why didn’t you say something—anything? Why did you make me suffer in silence like that?"

"You knew how much I liked you, Tyler. You knew how much I was hurting. Yet you kept shutting me out. You made me think I was the only one feeling anything at all."

He looked down again, and for the first time, I saw guilt on his face.

"Would you have believed me?" he whispered. "If I told you after all the hatred... that I was starting to fall for you?"

I blinked. "What?"

"Would you have believed me?" he repeated. "Or would you have just thought I was lying to mess with your heart?"

I wiped my face, still looking at him.

"No," I said. "I would’ve believed you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted—to hear you say you like me back."

I gave a weak, shaky laugh.

"But praying for that felt like hoping to find a shiny nail in a pile of rusty ones," I added. "Something impossible. Something I was stupid to wish for."

He stood up now, and we just stood there, looking at each other.

"The night you saved me from the rain," Tyler said suddenly, "do you know what you did to me?"

I shook my head slowly.

"I woke up that night while you were sleeping beside me," he said. "And I just stared at you. Because you were peaceful. And beautiful. And I knew I couldn’t look at you like that if you were awake."

He bit his bottom lip.

"I kissed you," he confessed. "You didn’t know. You were sleeping. But I kissed you because I couldn’t stop myself."

My mouth fell slightly open, but I couldn’t even speak.

"I care about you, Logan," he said softly. "I really do. But who was I to say that out loud? Who was I to think that someone like me would still care after everything?"

I felt like my heart was about to give up from all the emotions.

"I’ve been liking you for a long time," he continued. "I just didn’t know how to tell you. So I let you do all the liking, and I thought that pushing you away would make my feelings fade..."

He looked into my eyes

"But it didn’t," he said. "It made it worse. It multiplied it. Because you never gave up on me, Logan. You didn’t stop liking me even when I was at my worst. And that... that made me fall for you more than I ever meant to."

"Then why didn’t you tell me, Tyler?"

My voice cracked before I could stop it.

"Why didn’t you just say you were in love with me... the same way I love you?"

I took a shaky breath, but it didn’t help. My chest was burning, like everything inside me wanted to explode.

"Why did you have to keep pushing me away? Why, Tyler? Why?"

My voice got louder with every word.

"Why did you make me feel like I was the only one hurting?"

A tear slipped down my cheek before I could wipe it.

He stood there quietly, not saying anything at first. His eyes looked sad and tired. But then he finally spoke.

"How did you expect me to do that?" Tyler said, his voice soft and broken.

"My dad and your dad... they’re best friends. Everyone knows that," he continued. "Especially my dad—Logan, we both know Declan. You know what kind of man he is."

He paused. I felt my heart sink even more.

"We both know what he said to you when he started suspecting that... that you liked me."

My lips parted in shock. "How... how did you know that?"

Tyler looked at me then. Really looked at me.

"I overheard it," he said. "I heard everything that night."

His voice shook. "When he told you to spy on me. When you refused. And when he said those cruel words to you, threatening to tell the world if he ever found out you were in love with me..."

He looked down and shook his head. "I knew about all the threats, Logan. I heard them."

I could barely breathe.

"Even though your dad and mine are close, I was scared," Tyler said quietly. "Scared that if Declan found out, he’d hurt you. And your dad wouldn’t be able stop him.

He took a deep breath.

"So I buried the love I had for you."

My heart dropped.

"I thought if I killed those feelings, if I acted like they weren’t real... I could keep you safe," he whispered. "But I was wrong. It didn’t keep you safe. It just tore me apart."

He stepped closer now, like he was ready to confess everything all at once.

"You remember the kiss?" he asked. "That night of the party?"

Of course I did. I remembered every single second.

"Do you really think that kiss was a mistake?" he asked. "That was the night I started falling for you."

I stared at him in silence, my whole body frozen.

"I wanted to give us a chance," he said, his voice getting smaller. "But after thinking about everything, I talked myself out of it. I told myself I had to let it go. That I had to pretend none of it ever happened."

He looked up at me again.

"That’s why I denied it when you confronted me. Not because it didn’t mean anything, but because it meant too much."

I sat down slowly on the edge of the bed. My hands were shaking now.

"I wanted to talk about it, Logan," he said, walking closer. "Even that night when you saved me from the rain...

He took a step toward me, eyes glistening.

"I wanted to confess everything to you that night. I wanted to tell you that I cared. That I loved you. But then I thought about Declan. What he’d do to you. And I got scared all over again."

My chest exploded with frustration. I couldn’t take it anymore.

"You don’t get to make that decision for me!" I shouted, standing up quickly.

Tyler flinched.

"That decision—it’s not yours, Tyler. It’s mine. You should’ve let me choose what I wanted. You should’ve trusted me!"

I felt the tears coming again, but I didn’t wipe them. I let them fall.

"If you love me," I said, voice trembling, "then just say it. Say it out loud. Let’s try. Let’s give this a real chance."

I walked up to him, eyes locked on his.

"Forget about your dad. Forget about mine. Forget about Declan," I whispered. "He’s not the one who has to live with this. We are. You and me."

I looked at him, begging.

"Please... don’t let him come between us."

Tyler’s eyes filled up with tears again. He stepped closer, slowly.

Then he sat on the bed and gently held my face in his hands.

His palms were warm and soft.

He leaned in and kissed me.

It wasn’t rough or fast. It was soft.

He pulled away, his forehead resting on mine.

"Please don’t leave me," I whispered.

Tyler closed his eyes. The tears didn’t stop.

"I don’t have a choice, baby," he whispered back.

"There are things... bigger than us," he said, still crying.

My heart cracked in half.

"Wasn’t this worth saying, at least?" I asked. "Wasn’t I worth hearing the truth? Why couldn’t you just tell me, Tyler?"

He looked into my eyes with so much pain that it made me want to scream.

"When we grow older than this... maybe then you’ll understand,"