The Vacation Chapter 9 part 2

The Vacation Chapter 9 part 2

"No. Sorry, I'm calling bullshit on your excuse. I am not buying it. He may have come on to you as an attractive alternative to me but not for one second do I believe you were not fully in control of the decisions you were making. You need to own up to them."

Gwen pouted as she was not used to not getting her way with Kyle. It felt like she was trying to walk through a minefield. One wrong word and Kyle would feel manipulated, and she would lose him permanently. That thought sent a spike of panic through her.
Another new sensation.

"I don't want to lose you!" she gasped, desperation in her eyes.

"Let me put your mind at rest on that topic. You lost me when you left that letter for me to find in the hotel," he replied with finality.

Gwen glanced at the nearby table where the other members of the tour were having breakfast... and keeping an eye on them. It was the gaze of the woman with the big tits that unnerved her the most. Gwen could almost hear her satisfied purr as the woman's eyes never left Kyle. She suddenly recalled the hot kiss Kyle gave the small redhead the day before and the facts finally sunk in. She was stunned she had missed it before.

Gwen turned her shocked eyes towards Kyle.

"You're having sex with those women!" she hissed quietly in surprise.

Kyle's expression became defiant.

"Those women are wonderful people who shared their time, dinner tables, and yes, their beds with me!" He looked a little flustered. "Not all of them but Helen, Skye, and Fiona have. They're beautiful people, inside and out!" he insisted. He smiled as he realized how much he had enjoyed their companionship. "It's been really nice getting to know them!"

"They're using you!" Gwen asserted and Kyle looked back incredulously.

"Are you kidding me? You are going to actually accuse others of using me?"

Once more Gwen pouted as she could not argue the point. Her eyes dropped to the tabletop, and she forced back her tears of frustration and despair.

She felt... helpless. She could not think of anything to say to sway Kyle's opinion, to make him let her into his life. She had come here to let him back into hers, but she never expected him to reject her. Sure, he would be upset at her treatment of him but he would rush to her side so she could take him back.

Instead, he was demonstrating how much he had grown since they broke up. She was desperate to claim him for herself. This was the man she had worked so hard to make.

He was hers! Why couldn't he understand that? She tried a different angle.

"What... what do I have to do?" she asked quietly.

Kyle saw her fighting to keep the tears from her lovely eyes and his heart ached for her, but he clenched his jaw and looked away. He caught the smiles of the ladies at the table a short distance from theirs. He saw genuine affection, happiness, and yes, lust in those eyes but it was honest and open. He was not going to give that up.

"I don't believe there's anything left to say. I like who I am becoming. Finding out what I want to do with my life and setting my own course. I like sharing my time with these ladies. If you thought I would be eager to give all that up to fall back under your control, you're sadly mistaken. That's not going to happen."

"You- you feel nothing but contempt for me?" Gwen asked, her control on her grief slipping.

Kyle watched her struggling and his heart fought his mind as he desperately wanted to hold her, to ease her pain. His mind knew he could not trust his emotions around her.

His conditioning was too strong to trust his heart.

"You still don't understand. I love you-" He stopped her from rising from her chair with a handheld up. "That love is based on five years of conditioning, not five years of mutual respect and reciprocal love. I see that now. You were in love with the ideal you were working towards while I was in love with you, unconditionally. I still believe you're one of the most beautiful creatures that ever graced the earth but now I fear that beauty goes no deeper than the surface."

"When we go home, you'll see how much I love you!" she blurted.

His heart leapt and his head buzzed with giddy joy to hear her say the words and he felt his face beginning to show those intense emotions before he closed his eyes and leaned his head forward. Once more, he looked within and felt his rejection of the idea of going back to that apartment and slipping into his old life. He shook his head sadly.

"I'm not going back to that life. I'm giving up the apartment and resigning my position at work."

This still felt... right. "I'm going to find out what life has to offer me."

"But I live there too!" she moaned.

"You haven't for months, and the rental agreement is in my name. Maybe the landlord will accept your taking over the apartment. That will be between you and him," he said with a tired finality.

He looked across the table and once more was shaken by how incredibly lovely she was. He understood a small part of his attraction was born of his emotional dependence on her. He also realized this was the least healthy part of who he was. It had to go.

"It's over."

"NO! No! I want you to give me another chance! You cannot do this to me! I don't deserve this!" she cried in frustration and desperation.

"No. What you want no longer concerns me," he said quietly. He frowned hearing his own words. "It's not my intent to be cruel. It's not in me to be like that." He thought about what she truly 'deserved'. "I can honestly say that I'm grateful for some of the changes you brought to my life. If only your intentions hadn't been so self-serving."

He stood and looked back at her as he turned. "I'm going to enjoy the rest of my vacation with my friends and once I get home, I'll pack up my stuff and email you to let you know when you can come by to get your stuff. The landlord will change the locks in the interim. Goodbye and I do wish you happiness in your future." He walked away without looking back.

Before he left the dining room, he put together a quick sandwich at the breakfast bar and grabbed a banana. Then he walked outside to the parking lot. He pulled out his cell and called Mike, the landlord of his apartment complex and left him a message filling him in on the recent changes. He asked the landlord to change the locks and said he would see him when he got back.

Then Kyle wandered over to the bikes and caught smiles from the guides.

"Kyle! What happened?" Vivian asked, seeing the food in his hands.

"I spoke with Gwen and officially broke up with her. I didn't feel like sticking around to finish breakfast," he explained.

She gave him a wide smile. "Good for you!"

He shrugged with a smile then found a bench in the sun and quickly ate his breakfast.

As he finished, he saw the rest of the group walking out of the building and was truly relieved to see Gwen was not with them.

Fiona stopped before him and handed him his helmet. He saw his gloves were inside.

"Thanks!"

"You handled that with far less drama than I could have," the platinum blonde said with a smile.

Ditka walked over to smile at Kyle. "You broke up with her?"

He nodded and Fiona grinned wolfishly. "He turned her down far more gently than I would have!"

Helen walked up to Kyle and kissed his uninjured cheek. "You handled yourself very well in a difficult situation."

"Far better than she deserved," Skye growled as she walked up next to her mum.

"How about we just enjoy our last full day of riding?" Kyle asked giving the ladies a raised eyebrow.

"That reminds me, did you get an upgraded room in the next chateau?" Skye asked with an impish smile.

To be continued