Why would she do this to him? Did she really not love him? Didn’t she know that he didn’t lie, that he had stayed true? That above all, he loved her more now than he did when they were younger. Why would she blatantly ignore what he was saying? Did he really just waste a lifetime waiting for someone that was never going to be his?

There were so many questions and no answers.

Lucas entered the house and found Levi and Audrey in the kitchen, still caring for Levi’s nose. He walked past them to the laundry room to grab a towel. He wrapped the towel around his neck, and then turned to see that Audrey and Levi were staring at him.

“Go home Audrey. Levi, pack your shit and get the f**k out of my house,” he said. Shock went over both their faces as Lucas stood there staring at them. “Now!”

Audrey jumped in surprise, letting out a small cry before leaving the kitchen. Levi looked over at Lucas, shaking his head. “You are going to let some girl come between us, for real dude?”

Lucas shook his head. As much as he wanted to blame Levi for all of this, it wasn’t his fault. Lucas should have told Fallon, but he felt that it was something that Audrey needed to tell her. There was no one to blame but Fallon. She threw them away. She had given up what they had over something so juvenile, so small and petty. It made Lucas want to scream. He was so mad, so hurt, and so broken that he couldn’t even form words to say to Levi.

When Levi walked out of the room in a huff, Lucas fell into the chair, looking down at the ground. When he looked up, he was staring at himself in the mirror that hung by the doorway. He looked sad, and he hated that he looked that way. He got up, moving around the kitchen, looking through the cabinets. When he opened the top one above the microwave, he reached for the bottle of vodka that he had seen Levi stash up there. The bottle burned in his hand as he made his way to the island before opening the top.

The strong smell of the liquor burned Lucas’ nose as he looked down at the opening of the bottle. His hand shook as he brought it to the base of the bottle and squeezed the cool glass in his hand. As he brought it up to his lips, his eyes filled with tears. Was he really about to do this? Was he about to throw away years of sobriety because the girl he loved threw him away like the trash he was about to come once that bottle touched his lips? What was he doing?

Lucas let the bottle fall back onto the counter and then took a deep breath in as he moved away from it. He couldn’t do this; he couldn’t resort to his old ways just because he was miserable. He still had Aiden, and that thought alone gave him the strength to dump the bottle in the sink. As he watched the liquid spill down the drain, he shook his head. He may have lost Fallon but he would never lose Aiden. No matter what, that little boy would be his for the rest of his life. Lucas closed his eyes, leaning his head against the sink as he took in deep breaths.

Fallon had all of him. He loved her with every cell in his body and probably always would, but maybe it was time to just let her go.

No matter how bad it hurt.

Fallon and Aiden ran through the rain into the house before she slammed the door behind her. Audrey sat at the kitchen table, her arms crossed across her chest and a distressed look on her face. Fallon moved her hand over her face, wiping the tears and rain off her face. She removed her shoes and went to the kitchen to get Aiden’s medicine. When she turned from the counter, she found Aiden wrapped up in Audrey’s arms. He was in so much pain and Fallon felt horrible for forgetting to give Nora his medicine. She brought the pill and a box of Hi-C over to Aiden. He took it eagerly and drank the juice quickly before handing the box back to the Fallon.

“Go on upstairs and lay down, honey,” Fallon said. Aiden nodded before running up the stairs and when she heard the door shut, she looked down at the back of Audrey’s head. “I am beyond mad at you.”

Audrey whipped her head around. “For what?”

“For keeping something so horrific from me! How dare you!”

“What I do is my business, not yours!”

“It is my business when the ass**le is hurting you, and all along it was Levi!? Have you gone to the doctor? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure that douche has herpes or at least the clap. No telling what you have.”

“Oh shut up, he doesn’t have anything, he’s clean. I’m clean.”

“He’s the nastiest person I know and you’ve been f**king him!? Are you crazy?”

Audrey stood up, glaring as she put her hands on her chest. “At least I’m trying Fallon! At least I am going for my happily ever after! You’re just standing there, hoping your prince comes, but you’re so blind and too stubborn to see that you have the most amazing man ever standing in front of you!”

“You know nothing about me and Lucas, so you shut up!” she said pointing her finger in Audrey’s face. Audrey laughed as she slapped Fallon’s hand away.

“Ha! You know nothing about me and Levi. Maybe he won’t change. Maybe I am supposed to go through all these frogs to get to my prince but at least I’m trying.”

“Audrey, you’re stuck in a damn Disney fairy tale! Levi will not change, he is a douche and always will be, and damn it I tried with Lucas! I gave it my all but he f**king lied to me! Again!”

“He didn’t lie Fallon, he kept my secret,” she stressed, pressing her hands into her chest again. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you? He loves your baby sister enough to keep something like that for me? I asked him not to tell you, that I would tell you. Don’t blame him for me being too scared to tell you. He did right by me.”