4338.206 · July 25, 2018 AD
Four Words, Ten Years
Jamie's mask cracks. His eyes glisten. And before Luke can brace himself, the confession spills out—four words that shatter ten years of believing they were unshakable. What follows is not forgiveness, not resolution, but a collision. And when Luke crosses back to Earth alone, the study becomes a tomb where darker thoughts begin to surface.
Luke opens his arms, expecting to comfort. What he receives instead is confession.
Jamie's voice breaks around the words—I was with Ben—and ten years of shared life suddenly teeter on a precipice. The signs Luke had buried, the excuses he had accepted, the distance he had blamed on stress and timing—all of it reshapes itself into a pattern he can no longer deny.
His response is not words. It is collision.
The kiss that follows is storm and wreckage, desperation dressed as desire. Jamie surrenders into it with a hunger that tastes of guilt. For one fierce moment, the fracture between them blurs. Then Paul's voice cuts through, and the spell shatters. What remains is neither resolution nor comfort—just Jamie handing over bank details with trembling hands, and Luke stepping through the Portal carrying betrayal like a stone in his chest.
Alone in the study, he collapses.
The tears come freely. And in the darkness, a cruel thought surfaces: he controls the Portal Key. He controls the supplies. He could let Jamie rot in the dust, a punishment proportionate to the wound.
The temptation is real. The vow that follows is harder.
But death, I will not allow.
