He's my guy

Chapter Twenty

"So..." Tyler dragged, looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

"So...ummm.." I paused, not sure if he was back to his normal self. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts while we were driving away from Dylan's house and after a while, he had brought us to a park which over looked a small lake, not far from my house. We were sitting on one of the park benches and staring at the still lake.

Usually, I would have found this place scary and creepy at night but with Tyler beside me, I felt safe and the cold winter air felt good against my skin.

"I bet you have a lot of questions from what Hunter told back there. I wanted to tell it all myself." He spoke softly, shaking his head and I turned to face him. Even though it was dark, I could still make out his facial features.

"It's okay and honestly, it doesn't matter at all. I don't care about your past." I added, touching his hands which were warm and he held mine tightly.

"Hunter goes to my old school and we used to be best friend."

What?

"What?" I repeated the question in my head as I did not expect that. From the way hunter spoke to him at the party, I guessed they might have known each other but this was surprising.

"Yeah, we used to be so close but then, he got involved with the wrong gang. He started selling drugs for money and he dragged me along with him. I was dumb and stupid. I thought it was cool and we used to get high every day after school." He started to explain, looking straight ahead while I kept staring at his face, trying to remember this moment forever. I didn't want to interrupt him so I let him continue.

"I became addicted to it and my mom knew I was doing something wrong so she made my little brother hang out with me, hoping it would be good and set a good example for him."

I sensed his voice breaking a bit and my hands started to tremble because I knew. I knew he was going to tell me something bad, something my mind already predicted the moment he uttered the word brother.

"Al..Alex is your..." I stuttered and he swallowed hard before looking down at me with a sad smile.

"Was. He was my little brother. He was 13 years old when he..." He looked away squeezing his eyes shut and I felt his pain. My heart ached to comfort him and I wanted to take his pain away somehow if that was even possible.

I knew something bad was about to be thrown my way but what scared me most was how bad was it.

"Alex, he was such a smart kid, always curious and he loved me so much. He used to think I was cool and he tried to be like me. Eventually, he knew we were doing drugs and I didn't make any effort to hide it from him." He continued but he sounded angry now.

"I should have been more discreet and careful. Heck, I should have fucking stopped when my mom suspected and none if it would have happened." He spoke through gritted teeth and I felt some wetness on my hand. I looked up and that's when I noticed that he was crying.

Oh my God! My heart broke at the sight of him in tears.

I reached out my hand to wipe his tears and I cupped his face softly. I knew this was hurting him, to relive all the bad memories and I wanted him to know that he didn't have to tell me anything.

"Tyler, it's okay. You don't have to continue."

"I need to, Chloe. The worst is yet to come and you have to know how bad I am and why I keep pushing you away. I owe you atleast that much."

"Don't you get it? Nothing you say will push me away anymore. I don't care because... because I love you, Tyler." I blurted out, not caring if it was bad timing or if it was way too soon. I was in love with him and I don't think whatever he was going to say would change the way I feel about him.