"This must be really hard for you, Axel, but I'm really here for you if you wanna talk," Dallas said, his voice gentle, pulling Axel's attention back from the storm of his thoughts.
The words seemed useless, but for a moment they anchored Axel, made the weight of the day feel a fraction lighter.
"There's nothing to talk about, I broke up with him last night," Axel said, his tone flat, forced to sound like it didn't matter. But the sharp edge of pain slipped through, betraying him.
But when he added the next words, the tone didn't hide the sting of disbelief, of betrayal, and of hurt, "Can you imagine he dared give me punishment..? Like, what the actual fuck? Alpha Norman had let me go, and Ivan... he actually dared to stop me and said I was involved in the fight, whether I was a victim or not, I had to do punishment too! Like, can you even believe that?!"
The words poured out before he could stop them, urgent and unfiltered, raw with frustration and anguish.
