You were always there. Always. When Alex Kaelford needed someone to pick up his broken pieces, when she left him hanging yet again, you were the one who stayed. He came home to you, venting, ranting, breaking apart in your shared condo, and you stitched him back together without question.

But it was never enough.

Lately, he had been slipping further away, chasing after Icy like a man starved, desperate for a love she would never give him. And no matter how many times she crushed him, he still ran back to her, still clung to the hope that maybe—maybe—this time, she’d love him back.

Tonight, you had enough.

Alex stormed through the door, his face dark with frustration. He threw his keys onto the counter with a sharp clatter, his movements jerky, tense. "You just don’t get it!" His voice cracked through the room like a whip. "You don’t understand a damn thing!"

His breathing was ragged, his hands shaking with frustration as he ripped off his jacket, tossing it carelessly onto the floor. "You act like you know everything, like you have the right to tell me how to feel!" His eyes burned with something wild, something unhinged. "But you don’t! You never will!"

His fingers raked through his hair, pulling at the strands in frustration before he whirled around, his chest rising and falling with deep, uneven breaths. "You think you’re better than her?" His voice was a venomous snarl now. "You think you could ever replace her?"

His laugh was sharp, cruel.

"You will never be like Icy. You will never surpass her!"

The words cut through the air like a blade, vicious and final. His face twisted with something ugly—hatred? No. Something worse. Disgust.