Romeo exhaled with relief and horror.
Chris, dropping to his knees, looked at his two friends, one of which who he was betrayed by. Still, he was a victim to their knowledge, and he depended on their truth to be set free from the agony he was made to feel that evening. "Please" he mouthed at Alex, who stood frozen, looking at him with wide eyes. Blood has seeped through his shirt after being slammed into the way, and he felt the fabric stick to his back, limiting his movements as it caused him discomfort to move.
"Tell him," he said, no longer fighting against Romeo, who stood next to him, anger seeping out of his pores and out of his system only to be met with pure confusion. And hope.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, realizing that whatever outcome he was faced with, he would most probably lose Chris. To his own guilt or his own heartbreak. Either way, they were both victims of trauma, one haunted by his past, which was filled to the brink with untruthfulness and lack of trust, and one haunted by the present, not being able to believe that he was about to lose everything. If the two boys standing outside refused to speak the truth.
"Please," Chris sobbed out, wiping his puffy eyes. He had cried himself to death, and he was thirsty and cold and sad and angry. he was so angry that one man, who had almost stolen something precious from him forcefully, had also continued to haunt him ever after physically letting him go.
Chris' pleads snapped Alex out of his trace, who regretted ever leaving in the first place. His eyes roamed over Chris' body, which looked broken and abused, something a submissive under the care of a dominant such as Romeo should never look like. He looked as if someone had stolen the light in his eyes that everybody was so used to seeing.
Romeo tightly gripped Chris, not to hurt him or force him out, but to hold him up. If he had let go, the boy would have collapsed ages ago.
"We called you," Alex whispered, looking into Romeo's eyes, hope shining behind his own. He was here to save the day. My hero, or the messenger for my foreseen future filled with neverending guilt? If Chris had been innocent, now that Romeo had gone ballistic on him, uttered unforgivable words, and skinned his heart, Chris wouldn't be here tomorrow morning either way. Either willingly or unwillingly.
"I broke the phone," Romeo whispered back awkwardly, glancing at the broken shards that were once his form of communication. It had been ringing for minutes on end before he had decided to finally shut it the fuck up.
"We need to talk," Alex said slowly, holding Sage's hand tightly, who looked as if he had been crying. The submissive, the brat, and the backstabber had turned himself in? Or had he simply come up with a worse lie to finish what he started: to ruin Chris' life along with anybody he has ever loved. In Chris' eyes, he was pure evil.
Romeo stepped away from the doorway slowly, processing what was about to unravel. His eyes were wide and scared, and he let his two friends in along with the discomfort of truth. Alex shook his head, declining the invitation.
"No. We need to speak outside. It's urgent. Make sure no one hears us." Romeo's face hardened with that as he stood frozen for a second, not knowing what was going on and why these two had come back only to take him outside. Was the truth that hard to handle? What could have been worse than the pain he had felt for the past two hours?
He shook Chris off him before following his friends, who stopped him before he could make it out the door. "No, Chris needs to be with us as well."
Chris perked up, his tears slowing down at the mention of his name. He was wrong. They had come to do the right thing. Everything would be normal again. He would be laying next to Romeo soon, his head on the older boy's chest, listening to his comforting heartbeat. The biggest problem he was faced with would be what to have for breakfast the following morning or what color clothes he should pick out. The pain would stop. He would be loved again.
In only a few minutes, the truth would swoop down and save him, carrying him towards his beloved.
Romeo would once again love and accept him into his heart. Because only a few minutes ago, he had been brutally kicked out with the door slammed on his face.
Romeo grabbed Chris again, a bit gentler this time, leading him outside into the frigid air. Chris ignored the cold and the snow below his feet. He was okay and he would be more than okay soon.
Alex, his eyes glancing back and forth between the two, opened his mouth to explain their return, "We needed to get out of the house, Romeo. There is someone in there causing all of this chaos. Chris is telling the truth, he was fooled into believing that a man, who he assumed was you, had led him into a room for a surprise. The man did not speak, nor did he act weirdly until he refused to speak. I knew about a surprise, assuming it was from you, and I also received a message from a masked man, asking to tell Chris that you were waiting for him. Sage also received this and only passed it on. The reason why he couldn't tell you inside was that you're being spied on."
He took a deep breath, his cheeks burning warm from the pressure of explaining such a messed-up situation.
"What I'm trying to say is, Chris is innocent. He's not unfaithful. Sage also cannot be blamed. He explained everything as soon as we left the palace." Sage nodded, sniffling and offering Chris a smile, who was only looking at Romeo to try and figure out what he was thinking.
Romeo wouldn't move. He wouldn't breathe. He wouldn't look. He wouldn't, no, he couldn't see the damage he had done already. The pain he had caused, the blood he had spilled. All for nothing. His boy was innocent, and he had done that to an innocent man. He had punished his own love and cruelly inflicted immense and total pain on him to make up for the pain he had made. The pain he was made to feel.
How would he be able to look at Chris without seeing his blood smeared on the whip he had used, silently and dutifılly dripping down his wounded back? How would he be able to listen to his sweet voice without hearing his screams ringing in his ears?
Oh god.
What had he done?
Chris felt life being pumped back into his at the confirmation of his faultlessness. He felt like everything was going to be okay. Because now he had his friends on his side, and he had proper witnesses and everything. He let out a small laugh under his breath, almost gasping in relief as he fell down onto his knees. With the tiny amount of physical and mental strength he had left, he crawled over to Romeo, hugging his knees and pressing his cheek against Romeo's thigh.
"I told you, see? I told you the truth. You heard them. I'm being honest, I love you," he started blabbering again, his lungs filling up with sweet, sweet air. He gripped Romeo's hands, kissing them and placing his palm over the hand, pressing it onto his head to feel love flow through Romeo's veins instead of hatred and betrayal.
Chris was free from accusations and proofless claims.
He was free from pain, and could now walk towards the light alongside his lover. His lover. Romeo was his lover again. And he would forgive and forget what had happened if he would just hold him.
Chris peered up at Romeo through tearful eyes, tugging pitifully at his shirt, his fists clutching the fabric desperately.
"Romeo?" He whispered, trying to catch his attention.
"Hold me?" He asked again, hugging him as close as possible.
With trembling lips and tears running down his cheeks, Romeo forced himself to look down at the boy he almost let go of. His eyes held pain and regret, and his chest heaved as he tried to breathe.
"I-I" He had no words. What could he say? He couldn't turn back time. Nor could he truly face the weight of the consequences of his actions. Being met with the boy he had spent hours abusing. For no reason. Nothing.
And yet, he was still down on his knees, asking to be held by him. After everything.
Chris had done enough to prove his loyalty.
"Romeo," Sage said softly, his own eyes tearful at the scene he blamed himself for. But there was nothing he could do. Sage knew something was wrong when he entered the palace. He sensed watchful eyes around him, ears that were made to listen to secrets, and mouths that spilled them to another master they served. All under Romeo's nose.
To avoid further risk, Sage kept his mouth shut until he for sure knew he was alone with Alex. And he did not care if he would be punished for delaying such an important confession. He did not care if he was beaten as hard as Chris was, which would probably be impossible: even in his angriest of states, Alex had never whipped him as hard as Chris was. He was safe. But Chris wasn't. Romeo wasn't. And he needed his friends to be safe.
So, he told.
And Alex listened.
And Alex grabbed Sage, making a run for it all the way back to the palace, jumping out of the car before yelling for the driver to stop. The two boys ran through the falling snow, ignoring the cold blowing at their faces, furious at having been challenged by mere humans.
Romeo was lost. He couldn't touch Chris, not after having hurt him as much as he did. He couldn't bring himself to. He didn't deserve the touch him. He deserved nothing.
He looked around in confusion, not knowing what to say, what to think, and what to do. But he knew what he felt. Relief. And Regret. And Rage.
Then finally, somebody gave him the answers he so desperately needed. He needed someone to guide him through the snow for once, the snow he had allowed to fall.
He had caused the blizzard, and now, he needed help to try and stop it.
"We will be leaving you two alone for some privacy. Call me with another phone if you need anything. Sage and I will drop my tomorrow."
Alex placed a hand on Romeo's shoulder, squeezing with comfort before giving him a side hug, one that was long and meaningful to remind Romeo that he would be okay and Alex would make sure of it.
The two dominants parted, looking at each other with teary eyes before Alex offered him a sad smile, patting Chris' head. Before they left, Romeo briefly heard something.
"Romeo," Sage whispered again. "Hold him." He nodded urgently, almost as if giving him permission to touch his friend.
Romeo, without breaking eye contact, crouched down, taking Chris into his arms finally. He felt his hands wet with the blood from Chris' back. But when Chris jumped on him, tackling him onto the ground, clutching at his shirt with need and love and forgiveness.
Romeo cried silently, his lips quivering and small whimpers escaping past his bitten, bleeding lips. His hands slid up Chris's arms, pulling him close to his chest as sobs racked his body. He placed a hang on his hair, inhaling in his scent, muttering apologies as the snow beneath them wet their clothes. Chris only replied by telling him over and over again that "it's okay, it's okay."
Chris already had forgiven him even before Sage's confession. Now, Romeo would need to forgive himself.