For Your Heart [BxB]

26. Karma

Leo opened his eyes to so much light, it wasn't something he was used to as he always woke up on the dead of night. He shielded his eyes to give them time to adjust instead of just squinting.

He had to admit, it felt good to wake up after his body was well rested. He only frowned because Brady wasn't next to him, but he figured he hadn't gone far, with the muffled noises outside the door.

Freshening up took him less than five minutes because he was really desperate to see his boy. The closer he got, the better he understood that something was wrong. Brady was using a voice Leo knew so well, to anyone else he might have sounded normal but Leo knew him well enough to recognize the undertones of anger lying beneath every muffled word.

He immediately went on the offensive, ready to get rid of whatever was ruffling Brady's feathers so much.

What he didn't expect was for it to make his blood run so cold when he saw her. He couldn't move, just stopped where he was as their eyes finally locked. And the memories came flooding back, a whole swamp of them. Years of happiness and laughter and all the times they'd shared. How she'd always pick him up when he was down, she was always there for him through and through.

This couldn't be her in the flesh, maybe now that he had finally slept, his brain was conjuring up hallucinations.

"Lisa," he said, sounding as broken as he felt.

She stopped talking to Brady and looked his way. Her beauty never waned, he realized as she silently regarded him.

"I'll leave you guys to talk," Brady broke the silence.

Leo Linked two fingers with Brady as he passed him by. It lasted only about a second and it might have lasted longer, if Leo wasn't so distracted. Brady nodded and gave him a small smile that didn't reach his eyes, before walking away.

"Leo! How are you?" her eyes brought back all the care he was so used to receiving in the past. He closed his eyes almost as if he could feel it, her small hands soothing his back as they lay talking on lazy afternoons.

Lisa's excited tone changed when the look on Leo's face didn't falter or soften. "I'm really really sorry. I must have put you through a lot."

Yeah no kidding. "Why are you here? Why now? I thought you were happy somewhere," he said.

"Karma, mostly. I now realize what I did to you was really unfair. I shouldn't have broken up with you like that."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I want you to know the truth," Lisa paced further. "I haven't been totally honest with you, before I left you, I was already seeing someone else.

"You cheated on me?"

"I hate to admit that I did. He made me feel things I've never felt before."

Leo winced at the bruise to his ego.

"But it's not until I broke things off with you that I realized I couldn't let you go either. He told me he lost feelings for me and just left, with no explanation whatsoever and I finally got to know how much it hurt. Knowing I did that to you," Lisa shook her head. "I'm so sorry Leo."

Leo's entire body stiffened when Lisa's pulled him into a hug, his every instinct was to pull away but somehow he was frozen. So rooted to the ground he didn't even breathe. Instinctively, he reciprocated the gesture.

"Enough Lisa," he said calmly, even as he let her be.

He did miss it, but all he could think of in that moment was Brady. It dawned on him that he felt nothing even as she hugged him, she didn't fit his body like he did, didn't feel like him. Didn't smell like him, didn't make his heart race like Brady did with just a touch.