Beth stands next to me, and I feel her hand on my arm to stop me from moving. I watch Brooklyn as she comes down the stairs, not able to take my eyes off her, and walks over to us, but she ignores me as she stands in front of Rhys.
"Can you please take me back to my apartment?" She asks him, and I stand to make my way towards her, but Beth's grip tightens around my arm.
I never got rid of Brooklyn’s apartment, I paid for the years’ rent, and got someone to keep up with the cleaning just in case anything would have happened.
Rhys looks at me hoping I’d say something to her. I don't want Brooklyn to go, and everything in my body wants to stop her, but Beth is standing in my way.
"If I can expla-"
"Rhys, please can you take me home?" Brooklyn asks again.
"This is your home!" I shout a little louder than I wanted to. My mouth starts to dry, my chest tightens, frustration running through me that she's not giving me the chance to explain. "Give me five minutes, that's all I'm asking."
Brooklyn walks over to the table and sits down, I walk over to her, as the guys and Beth walk over to the kitchen, so that they can see us, but not hear what I'm going to say to Brooklyn.
I've never spoken about Lucy, not even to them, so talking to Brooklyn about it isn’t going to be easy.
One thing that's killing me is Brooklyn not even looking at me, she’s doing everything to avoid eye contact with me.
"Lucy was my world, she and I just worked, everything felt right for us." I shift in my chair a little as I choke on my words talking about Lucy. "She was mine, her heart, her soul, they were both mine. She loved me, as much as I loved her."
I have no idea if what I'm saying is making this better or worse right now for me, as Brooklyn still hasn't looked at me.
"I loved her so much it killed me when she wasn't around me." I pull my chair closer to Brooklyn, taking her hand in mine, but she pulls it away.
"Lucy's dad hated me, thought I made her work here, I brainwashed her. I swear I didn't. She never went over there unless we were sitting at the bar together, but no matter what I said, he didn't like it." Pain fills my insides talking about all this, and what happened next to her. "One night she was here, we were sitting in the garden," I have to stop for a moment with the onslaught of emotions suddenly building in my throat.
"Her dad came, angry. He dragged Lucy from here, I didn't stop him...I didn't want to fight with him...maybe I should have," I whisper the last part. Every day I fight with myself for not fighting him to stop. "Two hours later, the police came over and told me there was an accident. Their car hit a tree and Lucy..." I trail off not being able to say the words, but I have to, I have to fight and say the words.
"Lucy died, and my world broke just like that." I stop as Brooklyn looks at me for the first time. "I would give anything to tell Lucy that I love her, to hold her," I tell Brooklyn as I wipe her tear away with my thumb.
"I found out Lucy's heart was donated, I asked the doctors that came to the club to find out who and where Lucy's heart had gone. I...I thought if I could feel it beat one more time, I would be happy, but I couldn't do that because I knew no matter what, that heart belonged to me, beat for me."
I take a sip of my water as my mouth has gone dry, I search Brooklyn’s face for something to let me know what she is thinking.
"When I found out who had the heart, I told the guys I wanted her here, they told me I was crazy. I was still broken, my past was haunting me every night. I wanted the heart that gave me some peace, that's all I wanted." I tell her as my voice breaks as the piercing pain runs through me.
Brooklyn looks away from me again, and I know a million questions are running through her head because I have my own questions too.
"I know I should've spoken to you, and not kidnap you, but I was scared you would tell me to fuck off, I was scared that I finally found Lucy and I was going to lose her again. Then I saw you, you looked so beautiful, so perfect I couldn't take my eyes off you." Dragging my chair a little closer to hers.
"I was broken, but you fixed me. My heart was-is fixed, and that's because of you." I take her hand in mine, and this time she doesn't pull it away from me. "I don't know why, but I'm a lucky bastard who got to fall in love with someone again," I tell her as my head drops, but Brooklyn pulls her hands out of mine.
"I… I don't know… I need time away from you...you think you love me, but you love the heart that’s inside me," I look up at her as the words escape her, and so do the tears. "I'm a consolation prize." She says as she stands, and walks away from me.
I stand to walk behind her but stop at a distance.
"You're not, Brooklyn, I promise you're not."
I can understand why she thinks that everything I've said makes it sound like that, but it's not. I love her.
Everyone starts walking over to us, and Beth stands next to me, as Brooklyn stands by Rhys.
"Can you take me home?" Brooklyn asks Rhys, again.
"Brooklyn." I push Beth's hand off me, as I walk over to her, standing in front of her pushing Rhys out of her way. "I'm not letting you leave, not before you listen to me." My brain scrambles to find the words to say to her. She goes to walk away, but I grab her arm. "Brooklyn!" I shout at her, and yet she's not looking at me.
"Atlas, let her go," Beth shouts at me, but my grip is still there. I'm not letting her leave. "Atlas!"
Aiden grabs my hand, while Rhys takes Brooklyn's arm, as they try to get me to let her go. "I'm not letting you leave, you want space I will give it to you, but-"
I stop when the sting hits my face. Brooklyn slaps me, and before I can even react, Aiden pushes me away, and Rhys pulls Brooklyn closer to him, making sure she stands behind me.
"You two think I would hurt Brooklyn, I would never lay a finger on her," I try to push Aiden away from me, but he doesn’t move an inch. "I love her," I shout at them both.
“You love the heart inside me! You think you can click your fingers and I will do what you want, like the girls in your club. Well, I won’t. You are just like the men at your club. You think that because you have money, you can control everything. The only difference is those men pay you so they can control their women. You simply kidnapped me, what is the difference?’
“The difference is that I love you-”
I stop when Brooklyn slaps me again, and I didn’t think I could be more broken than I am already, but the hurt on her face has just stabbed me in the heart.
"Atlas, look at me," Aiden shouts, and I finally turn to him. "Let her go," I go to say something but Aiden stops me. "You need to let her go," Aiden says again, and all I can do is watch Rhys and Brooklyn walking away.
I've lost her, but I can't let her leave me. I know Brooklyn loves me, I know that the heart in her chest is beating for me like mine is beating for hers. And I will get her back, no matter what.
As I get into my apartment, I throw my stuff on the sofa. Rhys didn't talk to me, and I was happy with that. I had nothing to say, and I wasn't in the mood to listen to either.