The Vincent Boys 02 - The Vincent Brothers

as I made my way back to the condo. I’d run for over an hour. My lungs burned and my legs would probably feel like Jell-O tomorrow. I wasn’t big on exercise so this was gonna hurt.
    Pulling up my window, I stepped inside to find someone sitting on my bed in the dark. Naturally, I screamed.
    “Lana, it’s me.” Sawyer’s hands were on my arms instantly. Sawyer... Sawyer was here.
    I stood frozen, trying to decide if I’d passed out from the running and this was a dream.
    “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.” The words “ I’m sorry,” snapped me out of my shocked haze and I jerked out of his grasp and moved away from him and toward the door quickly.
    “Lana, please don’t. Please listen to me. Don’t shut me out. You have no idea—”
    “I have no idea? Me? Yes, I have an idea. I want you to leave. Do you understand me? LEAVE. I. Do. Not. Want. To. See. You.” I was yelling but I knew no one would hear me over the noise outside.
    “Lana, please,” Sawyer begged and walked toward me hesitantly. I closed my eyes and crossed my arms protectively over my chest. I hated how the pleading sound in his voice pulled at me.
    “If you ever felt one small amount of anything for me, you’ll leave and let me move on,” I whispered fiercely.
    When he didn’t respond, I was torn between joy that he was leaving meaning he felt something for me, no matter how small it may be, relief that he wouldn’t be here to witness me crumble to the floor, and agony because seeing him had completely ripped me open.
    I heard the faint rattle of paper and I opened my eyes slowly to see Sawyer standing in the same spot with a worn looking letter in his hands. He began to read:
    “I made the mistake of opening my heart up to someone who clearly could never feel the same about me. I knew Sawyer loved you. I’ve known it since we were kids. I thought maybe just getting his attention for a short time would be enough. It wasn’t.”
    My chest felt like it was going to explode. He had the letter I’d left Ashton. Oh, God.
    He lifted his eyes from the paper and looked directly at me with so much pain in his eyes and something else... “I loved Ashton once. She was my childhood crush. She was all I really knew. But when she left me, I didn’t cry. When you left me, I wept like a baby.”
    I stopped breathing as he lowered his eyes back to the paper in his hands.
    “I’ve grown up with two parents who never once thought about me in the choices they made. My emotions weren’t something they concerned themselves with and maybe that is my fault because I didn’t speak up. I just pushed the hurt and anger deep inside me. I wanted to be strong because I knew they were weak. I’m tired of being strong. I’m tired of being second best. I need someone to love me.” He stopped reading and lifted his eyes to stare at me once again. “You should never and I mean, never, be anyone’s second choice. Anyone who doesn’t see you for the incredible gift you are is a blind bastard.”
    He lowered his eyes back to the paper and began reading again,
    “Staying in Grove isn’t a possible option for me. I let myself hope for too much. I’ve been broken too many times. I can’t stay somewhere near... someone who will eventually destroy me.” His green eyes lifted to meet mine and the tears glistening in them took my breath away. “If I lose you because of the blind idiot I’ve been then I will be the one who is destroyed.”
    He continued to read:
    “You had the right Vincent boy all along. Don’t take him for granted this time. He loves you in a way that I hope to one day inspire in someone. He would give up the world for you. When you have someone that special, that incredible that loves you, don’t let it go. This is your second chance to treasure what you’ve had all your life. Sawyer was always the Vincent boy worth fighting for. He’s the special one.” Sawyer slowly folded the paper and rubbed his thumb over it as if it were something precious then tucked it back into his pocket.
    “Ashton didn’t have the right Vincent boy. I know this because I understand now what love really feels like. The kind that consumes you. Love holds the power to break you. It holds the power to complete you. When I read this letter, I was standing in Ashton’s living room after fixing things for her and Beau, which was all I wanted to do. They belong together. They’ve always belonged together. I get that now. Not because she