Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

“No,” she wheezed. “No, Claire, we can make this—”

“Work? We can’t. I’ve gone over and over it. I want to keep

you. That’s the truth. I want to keep you here with me forever,

but that’s not the life you should have. You should be with

someone your own age. Someone who isn’t entirely fucked up.

Someone who isn’t…who doesn’t…who can feel and be

normal and want the things that everyone else wants, on your

timeline. If you stayed here, it would be us always fighting the

world. You’d be choosing me over your family, which you’d

come to regret. Maybe, after all of it, after you’ve given up

everything, it wouldn’t even work out. That’s usually how

things go. Very few people make it work out. It’s only been a

few weeks, Haley. If you go now…” Then I won’t have

damaged you permanently.

Haley trembled. Her hands fell away. The reality of the

situation started to finally sink in. Claire watched it all, the

fires dying away, the embers going out, the burning, twisting,

monstrous sadness, grief, and regret that took its place.

Reality. That was the real killer of dreams, and she’d just

crushed whatever hope Haley had because the facts were

brutal.

Something roiled under Claire’s skin and burrowed through

her brain. She wanted to change her mind, just to stop the pain

she never thought she’d be capable of feeling. Haley had

drawn it out. In only a few weeks, she’d upended and changed

everything. She’d wrought destruction, but she’d also wrought

creation. Claire wasn’t sure which was more painful. They

were both probably equally as bad. All her secrets had been

exposed, the horrible truths she’d kept hidden behind a veneer

of power and coldness, they were out there now.