Kapitel 109: Chapter 109

ALEX

If I wasn't so interested in her answer, I might tell Connie to shove it. I asked first and then she had to tack on that last part. I wish she hadn't. I can see the tears forming in Autumn's eyes and I want to take in her my arms right now and hold her. Tell her that I don't care what happened in the past; I'm glad we're together now.

Autumn looks from me to Connie.

Her lip trembles.

"Hey." I brush my hand farther up her face, to the back of her head, bringing it to mine. "We can talk about this later."

"Why talk about it later when you can talk about it now? Let's get it all out in the open - what do you say?"

The crowd cheers, but not as loudly as before. It's like they're still excited, but I can feel the empathy in the air. "Hey." I focus on Autumn. "Don't worry about them."

"I didn't want to leave you," she whispers. "I should've fought harder."

My heart stops. It's something I've been waiting to hear for years - the reason behind it all. The truth about everything.