Jason Morgan had never known the anger and pain of jealously. Not until he spotted Elizabeth, -his soft, sweet, caring Elizabeth- in the arms of another man. Now, he knew jealously. It was a dangerous rage that boiled his blood and made him smell the hate that permeated from his skin. It was a hot, pungent aroma that made the bile rise in his throat.

Watching Ric touch Elizabeth, even if it was just to brush past her, made his skin crawl. She had laughed for him. A wide toothy smile had coated her face when he spoke and Jason Morgan knew at that moment he would do anything to make her smile for him like that.

How long had it been since he'd seen her smile or laugh? Certainly if he had, it was never because of him. He'd brought her pain and heartache. He was a bastard and a coward and even as he watched her, he knew as much as she needed him to he couldn't walk away. She deserved to have a life. Deserved happiness and love. All the things he'd tried to give her and failed.

When had he become so selfish? If he wasn't so guarded, wasn't so afraid of being hurt, maybe he would never have made the stupidest mistake of his life. Never would he have let Elizabeth go without telling her how he felt. Without telling her how much he needed and loved her. How much he still needed and loved her. That after she'd left his penthouse, he'd slipped into the room she'd stayed in and layed down, smelling her all around him. Torturing himself.

Maybe if she knew, she could forgive him. He needed that forgiveness. Needed her to wrap her slim arms around him and cradle his head against her, whispering soft words of comfort. But he'd betrayed her. And for what? One night of lousy sex with a woman he could barely stand. No one could hate Jason more than he hated himself for that.

So he'd created his own private hell and would live in it for as long as Elizabeth was hurting and even long after that. Grown men weren't supposed to cry. But he did. Softly. Slowly. A tear ran down his cheek and another followed. It wasn't because he was a wimp or an emotional basket case. It was because he finally realized he'd waited too long, wanted too long and not given enough, not made the right efforts and now he had nothing. He'd lost everything that was important to him and would never get it back. Unless he tried.

He told her he would try when they decided to be together, but he hadn't. Not really. But now that he was suffering, he would try to make the hurt go away. Try to make her happy even if it was from afar.

Stepping back from the window at Kelly's, he caught his last vision of Elizabeth Webber before he hopped on his motorcycle. This time he would try.