The Sheikh's Rebel (gay) ☑️

64. "All that remains is me."

Jared looked up at a house in scaffolding. Through the open front door he heard the howling sound of a sander and could see stripped walls and bare floors. For the third time, he checked the address. He walked a few steps further and looked through the large window in the living room.
There, Tyler stood on a ladder in an old shirt and washed-up jeans. He moved a small polisher along the ceiling frames.
Jared drank in the sight of Tyler's delectable shape. His body craved those soft lips, to sniff his scent and to drown in those endless blue eyes.

His heart skipped a beat. His feet moved by himself, and before he knew it, he was standing at the edge of the living room. For no apparent reason, Tyler seemed to freeze. He watched Tyler slowly lower his sander and put it on the top of the ladder. He pulled the goggles down before turning around. Without moving from his elevated position, he looked down at Jared.
"Congratulations on your marriage. How's your wife? Is she with you?" he asked politely, but with an unmistakably caustic undertone.
Jared took a step closer and shook his head.
"What? Already fighting?" sneered Tyler, who misinterpreted the head shake.
"I don't have a wife," he said, staring him in the eye intensely.

"What do you mean?" whispered Tyler, who was now shivering on the ladder.
"Are you deaf, young man?" teased Jared just a step down the stairs.
"Not deaf and not blind," Tyler exclaimed indignantly. "I can see you're wearing a ring."
Angry, he jumped down the ladder and dived into the kitchen. Jared followed him closely.
"This is the ring you  picked out, including inscription."
Tyler blushed. "That was before you chose Fleur over me."
"Tyler," Jared countered.
"You chose her and broke my heart." He stewed on. "So whatever's wrong? Buy a bunch of flowers and make up for it."
Jared abruptly stopped his pursuit. "Thanks for the advice."
On his heels, he turned around and walked out through the open door, leaving a stunned Tyler.

Half an hour later, BJ found him as a pile of misery, crying on the dirty kitchen floor. "It went so well the last two days," BJ said. "Why the relapse?"
"Jared came by," Tyler hiccups.
The muscled man froze. "Did he hurt you?" he growled dangerously.
"He was arguing with his wife and then I told him to buy flowers and make up with her," he cried.
"I told you I don't have a wife," he heard behind BJ's back.
"Here." Jared bent around BJ and pressed a huge bunch of flowers into Tyler's hands.
Tyler stared at the expensive bouquet.
"What?" he muttered confusedly.
Jared was looking at BJ. "Please," was the only thing he said.
BJ pricked a hard finger in his chest. "Listen carefully. If you break him, I'll break you, you understand?"
Jared nodded.
"I'm going to get a beer from Larry's," BJ said, closing the front door behind him.

Tyler's head was spinning with questions. The most pressing he spoke out:
"What are you doing here?"
Jared knelt down in front of him.
"I'm here to beg your forgiveness for the injustice I've done to you."
With a raised eyebrow, Tyler looked at him sniffing.
"There is nothing to forgive, because nothing has changed."
He pushed Jared aside, got up and walked to the pantry.
"Will you stop running away. I'm talking to you," Jared said angrily.
The words he'd been practicing for three weeks had flown out of his head and Tyler, stubborn as he was, wasn't cooperating.
  "Aren't you happy with the flowers?" he asked surly.
"Of course I am. They're beautiful," Tyler said with his back turned to him.
In the absence of a vase, he used a clean bucket to arrange the flowers.
"You're so willing to take them, but you don't want me," Jared said hurt.
"You have to many thorns," Tyler countered.

"I know I've caused you pain," Jared began.
Tyler turned around.
"Pain?" he spat incredulously.
"Since the day I met you, you've made me suffer. The disdain you felt so clearly touched me deeper than I ever wanted to admit. With all of my might, I tried to get away under your yoke, but you sucked me in deeper and deeper with your power games. Desperately in love, I did everything to make you proud of me.
My body craved yours, and you seized your opportunity to completely dominate me. You used my lust to make your point of view clear and then threw me aside like a pair of worn out shoes," he said mercilessly honestly.
"Hold on, wait a minute," Jared countered.
Livid blue eyes silenced him.
"Everything I did for your family, I did for you. When I saw the opportunity to free you from the obligation that has been pressing on you all your life, I did. Where my heart and soul lay on the street, I kept your secret."