Chapter Seventy-four

**GABRIEL**
I sighed heavily as I folded the last shirt and dove it into my box, my heart heavy as I zipped it up. The past few days had been a blur with Oliver, and in the end, I realized that Carrie was right. We needed the distance, we needed the space, I could feel us coming apart at the seams, and I felt too powerless to stop it. Maybe this would help, and if it didn’t, no one can say that I didn’t try.
It was midday, and Oliver wasn’t home. I had purposely planned it this way, it was better if there was less confrontation. In the back of my mind, my wolf disagreed, my wolf wanted to come out, to fight, to stay. I looked up at the pictures and paintings of us in the living room, pictures from a different time, a time when we were happy and free, and didn’t have secrets and pain that now threatened to tear us apart.
On the bright side, I would be taking a much-needed break.
My heart caught in my throat as the front door slowly opened and Oliver sauntered in, a large paper bag of groceries in hand. I stood still, my hand tightening around the handle of my luggage, my heart beating in my chest as he walked into the living room and saw me. His eyes traveled slowly, from my head down to my luggage my hand tightly held, and then back up to my face, his bright blue eyes dimming with each second.
His eyes, although surprised to see me home at such an odd time, carried in its depths confusion as he tried to absorb the scene before him.
“What’s going on?” He asked quietly.
I opened my mouth, but the words refused to flow, they were stuck in my throat.
I took a deep breath. “I can explain.”
He sets the back down carefully next to him, and ventures closer to me, so close that his perfume wafts up my nose. His eyes roam me again, as though trying to convince himself that he wasn’t hallucinating, that I was the one truly standing there, with a box in hand, about to sneak out of our house at midday without as much as a call or text. Or at least, have the guts to say my goodbyes in person.
“I didn’t expect that you would be home so early,” I said and swore under my breath as soon as the words left my mouth.
Oliver scoffed. “Clearly, you didn’t. What is the meaning of this? Where are you going?”
A cold sweat broke out on my brow as I thought about the situation, I wondered how to break the news to him, and I wondered how he would react. I took a deep breath and steeled myself.
“I’m leaving.”
I cursed myself as I said those words, realizing that I could have worded it better. Much better. Oliver withdrew and took a few steps back, his eyes widening in shock, his blue eyes vacant.
“What? You’re leaving? To where? Why?”
“Oliver, it’s not like that.”
“You’re leaving me?!” He asked, his voice cracking.
“No. It’s not like that.”
“Then what’s it like.”
“I just think that we need a little bit of space from each other…”
Oliver gasped loudly and ran his hands through his hair. “You’re leaving me…”
“No, I would never do that,” I said.
My hold on my luggage loosened as my palm began to sweat. I wiped it down on my blue Jean as my heart broke with Oliver’s.
“Then what is this?!” He screamed. “You have your luggage in your hand, you were sneaking out!”
“Oliver, please calm down—“
“You weren’t even going to tell me you were leaving?! Is that how it is now?!”
“Oliver, please!” I yelled, feeling my patience slipping and my frustration growing. “Just listen to me.”
Oliver nodded slowly, and a line tear rolled down his cheek. He cleared his throat and wiped his cheeks.
“I’m listening.”
“I promise I didn’t intend for this to be this painful…”
“And yet here we are,” Oliver said, a sense of melancholy hanging in the air.
I took a deep breath and wiped my forehead with the back of my palm. I hadn’t expected this to be easy, which was why I had intended to do it while I was away…on the phone, and not have to face Oliver. Not have to face his pain.
“We need the space, Oliver,” I said pleadingly. “This would be good.”
“For who?” He asked solemnly.
I started to speak and then stopped. I didn’t know the answer to the question. I didn’t feel right, but I knew that it would help in the long run. I didn’t want to leave him, my Oliver, alone.
“I’m not leaving you, Oliver. It’s just for a short while.”
“To where?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m not telling you that yet. I will text you the location when I get there.”
The truth however was that I hadn’t decided where to go to, and I didn’t want to tell him that. There was no need to add to his pain.
Oliver chuckles and begins to tap his foot. “I can’t believe this is happening…”
“For the umpteenth time, I’m not leaving you.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing?!” He screamed. “What the fuck are you doing?!”
“We need a break. Let’s not stand here and act oblivious to our problems, Oliver.”
“And your grand solution to our problems is to run away with your tail between your legs?!”
His eyes were opened wide, pain and panic fighting in the blue depths. He was breathing heavily and tears ran down his cheeks. My wolf howled in my mind, itching to reach out to comfort our mate. But I held myself back, I didn’t trust myself not to waver, not to kick my bag to the side and grovel in front of him for his forgiveness, for even thinking of this.
But I couldn’t because regardless of the pain we felt now, we needed this.
“We need a break, Oliver,” I said again, hoping to convince myself just as I was trying to convince him.
“A break from what?!”
“This relationship is broken, Oliver.”
He just stood there, his heart in his eyes, broken to pieces, his hands hanging limply by his side. He sighed heavily, and his shoulders sagged. My heart reached out to him, wondering if this would benefit us, wondering what would become us if this didn’t work.
“You’re giving up on me, aren’t you?” He asked his voice Carey above a whisper.
“I promise you that it’s not the way it is.”
“Really? It isn’t?”
“Oliver, I’m begging…”
“You’re leaving me for someone else and lying to my face!!”
I felt rage boil beneath my skin, my nose flared and my chest puffed. At that point, I was tired of explaining, tired of trying to get him to understand, to see that this was for the best. This would be great for us.
“For fuck’e sake, Oliver!” I yelled. “Carrie would be here, she would take care of you until I’m back.”
Oliver paused, and I bit my lip. I swore loudly realizing that of all the mistakes I could have made, mentioning Carrie was the worst. Oliver turned slowly to me, the sorrow and pain in his eyes quickly replaced by anger. Raw anger.
“Carrie,” he said, calling her name with a calm that was not reflected on his face. “This is Carrie’s idea?”
I nodded. “Yes. And I think it’s going to wolf just fine.”
Oliver threw back his head and laughed, he laughed long and hard, so much so that tears began to roll down his cheeks.
“What’s funny?” I asked.
“You let Carrie get in your fucking head?!” He asked. “You let that bitch get in your ducking head, Gabriel?!”
“She’s not a bitch, Oliver. She’s my cousin.”
“Oh, if only you knew…”
“If only I knew what?”
He opened his mouth to speak and then stopped and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”
I scoffed, just about tired of the gymnastics. “Why won’t you just come out and tell me what your problem is with her?”
He didn’t answer, rather, he sat on the sofa and leaned back against the backrest, exhaustion apparent in his features.
“You will never understand,” he muttered.
“Then make me understand. I swear I’ll kick Carrie out right now if you just tell me what’s happening?!”
He didn’t. Rather, he frowned and looked away from me, fixing his eyes on the large painting of us hanging on the wall, a crease between his brows. He had built the wall again. I could almost see it. He would never tell me what the problem was. At that point, I wasn’t just leaving to save our relationship, I was slashing to save my sanity. I sighed heavily and headed for the door.
“That demon isn’t your cousin, Gabriel,” he said solemnly, still looking away from me. “And she has never had your best interest one day in her life. Not like me. Never like me. Remember that.”
And with those touching words, I rolled my luggage out of the house we shared, a house where beautiful pour had been made, and into my car. I sat there, breathing heavily and thinking. I felt my resolve weaken and I immediately put the leg into the ignition and made my way to Crystal Cove. The place where it all began.