I knew that Eric was not having the best week and that he hated physicals. He really hated physicals, even under the best circumstances, and his current emotionally vulnerable state was far from the best circumstances. So as I drove home, I made sure that I psyched myself up to deal with his emotional whirlwind that was probably waiting on me at home.

The Cypress trees blew in the rapid gusts of the early winter weather. Some of the winds that we were able to get in Raleigh during December were truly exceptional, and were great fun to walk around town in and see the sights. Maybe if Eric felt like it, we could both throw on our hoodies and go for a romantic stroll in the winter air. Perhaps it would clear both of our heads, and the clear air would help with Eric's ongoing sense of being overwhelmed. Romantic winter walks with your fiancé were definitely good for over-stressed MMA champions, weren't they?

Upon arriving home, I noticed that most of the lights were off. That was odd, I thought, but maybe Eric was upstairs taking a nap. He hadn't responded to my last text, after all.

"Eric?" I called gently as I walked in.

I didn't get a reply, so I headed upstairs to the bedroom. What I saw when I walked in was hard for my brain to come to terms with, but eventually it clicked loud and clear: Eric was packing a bag.

"Eric, what's going on?"

A sense of panic was welling up inside of me again. Putting our relationship back together had seemed so easy at the time, but the past week had made me wonder if maybe we should have taken things more slowly. Eric was always ready to fight or cry, and always quick to throw the latest text message back into my face.

Eric looked up at me, and he looked like he had been crying. Putting my own worry aside, I walked around to the side of the bed that he was on and reached out for him, only to have him jerk away, grab his duffle bag, and quickly brush past me.

What was going on? Was he leaving? Was it permanent or for long term? Why wouldn't he talk to me? A cold sweat broke out as I became unable to shake the memory of the last time that that he had walked out of my life. Those two years of being miserable and lonely were the last memories that I ever wanted to relive.

"Eric!" I called as I ran after him. "Stop! You can't just leave. We need to talk about where you are going."

To my own ears, my words sounded weak and hoarse. If any of my clients could see me know, standing here on the stairs, pleading with my boyfriend, there was no way that they would ever be to take me seriously as a strong, dominating alpha. But that was okay, because I didn't exactly feel like one, either.

He turned around once he got to the bottom of the stairs, and he no longer had tears in his eyes. Instead, he just looked angry.

"What's there to talk about?" he snapped. "I think it's obvious that this isn't going to work out. I have to go. I can't deal with any of this anymore."

I frowned, even as my heart felt like it had been punched. "What are you talking about?" I asked quietly. "Why don't you think we are going to work out?"

"Gee, I don't know, pick a reason!" Eric yelled, loud enough that I was sure our neighbors heard it. "Maybe I don't want to face a life with a man who can't stand to touch me or look me in the face after a punch or two. Maybe I can't risk my entire career that I've worked so hard for over someone who makes his career out of stripping people down and spanking them!"

All of the words that I could have said, or should have said, left me immediately. I suddenly knew how Eric's opponents must feel in the ring, because the wind and all of my ability to argue against the insanity that I was hearing left me.

I could do nothing but stare at Eric's retreating back as he turned around and continued to walk out the door. Sliding to the bottom of the step I was standing on, I tried to consider a way to process what Eric had said.

But nothing Eric had said made any sense. Sure, we'd been going through some growing pains, but I honestly didn't think they were that bad. Eric's overly emotional state presented constantly new terrain for us to figure out how to navigate.

But wasn't that what you were supposed to do as a couple? Wasn't that part of the plan when you had promised to spend the rest of your life together? Weren't you supposed to go great lengths to figure out exactly how to work out the problems that you had with your partner?

Apparently, that wasn't the case where Eric was concerned. I bitterly noted that this was the second time that he walked out on me. No, that sounded selfish. It was the second time that he walked out on us and the life that we had agreed to share together.

I wanted to go upstairs and cry my eyes out for the rest of the night. That wasn't exactly a very alpha like thing to do, I supposed. But more importantly, I wanted to get drunk.

Making my way to the kitchen, I was made aware of the fact that we had absolutely no alcohol in the house. What a terrible time for the house to be devoid of alcohol. I guess it was time to make a run to the store, because I had every intention of sitting down and getting as drunk as possible tonight.

When I arrived at the drug store, I was pleased to see that it was mostly empty. Dealing with anyone right now was hardly in my plans. That was the primary reason that I was avoiding the liquor store. If the drive through hadn't closed so early, I would have taken that route instead.

I was in the middle of looking over the options when I heard another voice, and I cringed at the familiar sound of my boss calling my name!

"Samuel!" Lila called from the end of the aisle.

She was, of course, dressed impeccably in a pair of dark black slacks and gray sweater. The black fedora completed the look. She was absolutely completely put together, in a way that I was sure I didn't look like at the moment.

"Ms. Paige," I greeted as cheerfully as possible.

It must not have been very cheery after all. She stopped dead in her tracks and surveyed me for a long moment.

"Are you alright, Samuel?" she asked. "No offense, but you look terrible."

I stood there and thought about the way that Eric had thrown my job in my face. He'd made it seem so shady and seedy. It wasn't just the hypocrisy of the words that annoyed me - though the fact that Eric had been so willing to try the kinks that he was so quick to dismiss was definitely among my list of things that angered me.

It was also the fact that my boss was so kind. So was her wife. I thought of all of the people that I had worked with, and I was unable to come up with anyone that I hadn't enjoyed working with, including the guy who had walked out after two weeks and left me with a complete bio hazard of a mess to clean up.

It wasn't fair of Eric to judge these people when he shared their deepest desires. But it also wasn't fair because they were just kind people.

They were, I thought bitterly, the kind of people I would invite to the wedding that I apparently wasn't going to have.

Lila placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Samuel?" her voice was gentle, that of a friend and not just a boss.

"Sorry," I said softly. "I'm just not having a great day. Personal problems."

"Oh."

Her comment was punctuated with a frown, as she surveyed a face that I'm sure told her that there was a great more to the story than "personal problems."

"Did Muscles break your heart?" she asked. "Omegas who don't want to be seen with their alpha in public never make good boyfriends."

There was plenty of judgment in her voice, but none of it was for me. Any other time, I might have defended Eric. But tonight was not a good night for that. Some other time, I might have been willing to play the knight in shining armor and come to the defense of my boyfriend’s honor.

Eric had pretty much abandoned the position of boyfriend, hadn’t he?

“Anyway, do you have recommendations?” I asked, jerking my head towards the display. “My normal red wine loyalty doesn’t seem right for spending the night getting drunk over a bad break-up?”

She turned her gaze towards the shelf and then pulled out a big bottle of vodka.

“Vodka is the best for break-ups,” she answered.

I took the bottle and looked at it doubtfully. Maybe it would work. How long had it been since I tried vodka, anyway? I didn’t think I had any vodka since I was in college, years ago.

“Thanks,” I said. “Don’t worry. I’ll still be in tomorrow.”

“Absolutely not,” she said firmly.

“What? Come on, I can’t just cancel my clients because I am having a bad break-up,” I argued.

In truth, my words pretty half hearted. The last thing I wanted to do was to go into work tomorrow. I didn’t want to have to fake my enthusiasm long enough to listen to other people’s problems and pretend to be sympathetic towards whatever was going on in their life so that we could figure out what worked best for them.

“Nope,” Lila said firmly. “Take a personal day. Take two personal days, in fact. We want you to come back, but only when you’re ready to. You’ haven’t missed any work for two years until Muscles showed up, so I’m sure that this is all his fault and I’m perfectly willing to blame him.”

I offered as much of a smile as I could. “Thanks, Ms. Paige. I’ll take those two days. I might need them.”

“You’ll definitely need them. You’ll need some aspirin for that hangover, too,” she suggested. “Feel better, Samuel.”

I watched her go, and tried not to cry over something as stupid as my boss being kind to me.

Shaking myself out of my stage of self pity, I went to the cash register to complete my purchase. I had two days to go home and do nothing but drink away my sorrows, and I absolutely planned on doing just that.

Before I got into my car, I double checked my phone, just in case Eric had called or texted.

But there was nothing there.

Swallowing back my tears, I put the car into gear and started the trip back to the large, empty house.