Self

Chapter 65

Yale stopped. “You-

Memories of that day at the villa flooded

“Yara..” Yale’s voice cracked with pain. “That day, I-”

“Enough! Just leave. There’s nothing left between us to talk about.”

“Yara…” His eyes were red–rimmed, and he stood there like a statue.

e things.

“I’m sorry; it’s all on me. Can we just call a truce? I shouldn’t have said and done those

“I just missed you too much. It was a spur–of–the–moment thing. I came here to ask you to come back with me.”

“Come back?” Yara’s voice was icy as she looked up. “To what? Be your side chick?”

Yale said, “If you agree to return to me, I’ll break up with Xandra immediately.”

Yara shook her head, her voice firm. “I refuse.”

“Yara-” He reached out to her, but she spun on her heel, dashed to her bedroom, and slammed the door behind her.

Time passed in silence until she dared to peek outside.

There was Yale, slumped against the wall, fast asleep.

Yara just stared.

As the morning light broke, the sun began to rise.

The rays slipped through the window, casting a gentle glow inside.

Yale stirred on the couch, blinking away the fog of sleep. His head spun, and he squinted against the light.

When the room stopped spinning, he sat up, rubbed his temples, and took in his surroundings.

The place was unfamiliar and cramped, but it was neat and tidy–still, it felt too small for him.

Yara emerged from the bedroom.

Their eyes met–hers, a pair of cool, clear black pools.

“Yara?”

She sat down, her face blank. “Remember anything about last night?”

Yale’s brow creased, and he shook his head.

It figured.

Yale, in his right mind, would never beg her to return to him.

“Last night at eleven, you wouldn’t stop pounding on the door. You interrupted my sleep, and you bugged everyone else, too.

“So, cut it out with the kiddie games, okay? We’re all grown–ups here. It’s time to act like it.”

Yale’s head was throbbing, and those words hit him like a sucker punch to the gut.

Chaplet 65

He scanned the room with a judgmental look and laughed mockingly.

“This dump is tiny and falling apart. You think I want to be here? I wouldn’t live here if you gave me a hundred bucks!”

With that, he grabbed his coat, slammed the door behind him, and stormed off.

Reaching the end of the alley, he pulled out his phone and called Zachary. “What’s up? Get out here and grab a drink with me!”

“Dude, did you just crawl out of a party? You reek of booze.”

Zachary showed up to find Yale at the bar, knocking back drinks like there was no tomorrow, still in the previous day’s clothes.

He plopped down next to him, a grin on his face as he made fun of him.

Yale said, “I called your

to drink, not to yap.”

Zachary raised his hands and said, “Cool, cool, I’ll zip it. Let’s just drink.”

The sun was high, the bar staff had gone, and they were the only two souls in the joint. Zachary scratched his head, feeling kind of awkward.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Michael got dragged back by his old man, and Shane? He’s been missing, super busy with who knows what. Haven’t caught a glimpse of him in days.”

Yale did not care; he was just making conversation.

He lifted his glass and downed his drink in one go.

Zachary could see Yale was down in the dumps, so he stuck around.

They kept at it from daylight to way past dark until Zachary had to take the plastered Yale back to his villa.

After tucking him in, Zachary watched Yale conk out, mumbling Yara’s name repeatedly.

He shook his head as he wondered what that was all about.

Yale was clearly unable to let her go. Why did he have to make things so hard on himself?