"Edward calls me Michael because he had a son... he was my friend. Michael Gray. The boy was my best friend and we were going to grow up together." I stayed quiet. I could sense the impending doom. "Edward's wife was my mom's best friend. They had grown up together. I would probably have married Michael if he were a girl. They were that close." He waited for me to interrupt, but I offered me nothing.

"Edward was working overnight at the hospital that night and there was snow. Something went wrong."

"They were killed in the accident."

"Edward lost his family."

"Mom lost her best friend."

"I lost mine."

"I haven't made any friends since then... I couldn't."

"Anth-" he cut me off. He pressed his palm over my lips and just stared into my eyes for a moment.

"Edward calls me by his son's name. He's the only family I have. He was the one who saved me from my father."

"What is your reason, Anthony?" I could feel the lump in my throat growing.

"I trust you with my only weakness. I am putting my whole life at your feet. You decide if I have lied to you or not."

"Anthony," I shook my head.

"Michael. That is what I want you to call me," he demanded. Why?

"It wipes away all the things I did to be where I am. Michael is innocent. He is the only redeeming thing about me. I want to think that you can want one of us... any one of us. I don't care." I felt something inside me shake. It threatened to ooze out from every pore. I wondered if my body shook with the intensity of it.

It was like stone cracking and then melting into hot, molten lava; only to flow and solidify into something much more binding.

It scared me.

"Michael..." It almost broke me.

"Thank G.o.d," he whispered as he closed the distance between us. His lips were warm against mine. We sat there, pressed together. Unmoving—we relished the heat of the other.

There was no going back.

Death was near.

I was closer to embracing it.

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