Campus Love (sequel) Malexmale

14

The silence was dreadful and numbing. I pressed my lips together, knowing that I needed to give them this moment alone.

I stood up, looking down at my hands. "You two should talk," I said.

"Cas―" David began to call my name.

"No. You guys have a lot to sort out, and... Rowan, I'm incredibly sorry about your leg." I turned around and walked out of the living room, rounding the corner. I stood behind the wall for a minute, letting everything that I'd just heard sink in. I let my back rest against the wall, tilting my head back and closing my eyes. I could even feel a little bit of tears slipping past them.

I straightened up and took a step forward to watch them from behind the wall. I knew that eavesdropping was wrong, but at the moment I was desperate to know what exactly was going to happen between them.

"I blame myself," David said, but Rowan wouldn't let him speak that way.

"Blame me. I didn't tell you what was really going on and you can't read minds."

"But I can read body language so well. So how did I miss this? You were miserable right in front of me."

"Most of the threats didn't upset me. I just kept thinking about our wedding day and... it made all the scary things disappear."

David faced him as much as he could on the sofa. "If you don't mind... Would you let me see your leg?"

Rowan visibly tensed up, but he nodded anyway. Reaching down, he grabbed the hem of his loose fitted pants and pulled them up to reveal his leg. He was amputated right below the knee, and the rest was prosthetic.

I shook my head, feeling immense sympathy for him. It couldn't have been easy to go through losing part of a limb.

David shut his eyes and cupped his mouth. "God, I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"It's just who I am now."

"I'm trying to imagine what you went through and I-I can't." He opened his eyes.

"It was horrifying," Rowan admitted. "In and out of the hospital, getting accustomed to living this way... the pain... I just wanted all of it to go away and I wished I'd died in the crash."

"Please tell me you still don't believe that."

"No, I've had a long time to get used to being an amputee. Just realizing that there are people worse off can keep you from giving up."

David placed a hand gingerly on Rowan's leg, and they looked at each other cautiously. "You feel my hand, right?"

"Yeah." He sucked in a breath, a frightened look on his face. He seemed scared of rejection. "I'm sorry, David. I know I'm one damaged prince, huh? I got a bullet wound, half a leg, PTSD..."

"Hey, stop. We're all damaged, and you know that you'll always be my prince no matter what happens."

A rosy blush spread across Rowan's cheeks as they had a moment, just staring at each other. I had to glance away for a second and it hit me that Rowan was right. We were more alike than I knew. For one thing, we both pretty much crumbled under David's gaze -he just had that effect.

David lifted his hand tentatively, running one of his fingers across Rowan's bottom lip most likely with the desire to kiss him. He resisted the urge, dropped his hand and looked away.

I folded my arms, releasing the breath I'd been holding in because I thought he was actually going to do it.

"I just really wish I could've been there to support you through the hardest time of your life. I can't believe you lost your leg and... went through all of that without me."