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Now or never, Maddox You either keepforith the hope or you let the fear consume you

I hold her eyes, stand, and drop htly, and had I not been staring at her directly, I wouldn’t have seen it She stands her ground and doesn’t even flinch when I drop back down and re as I slide back and swing s over She doesn’t make a sound until I lift my ar with her words She lets out a shocked gasp and lifts up as best she can with one arm

"What…" She doesn’t finish her question, the words trailing off as she reaches one of her sertips graze the side of my body, I close my eyes and relish in the chills her touch elicits

"I don’t… Is that…Maddox?" Her fingers don’t stop their tracing, their searching, as the question she didn’t speak lingers in the air

"Yeah It’s a rose, Eave in and gave ot et that," I tell her "Not for a second Those stolen s home--that you will forever be ed was in ive that to you then, so I did the second best thing I had a symbol of you placed on my body perhs after a few It’s there It happened"

"It’s beautiful," she says, looking at the rose that starts just directly under my arht red, the steth

"Yeah…it really is," I agree, not talking about the ink onof believing I couldn’t

Maybe she’s right Maybe it is just as simple as she believes God, I hope so, because if just the thought of her love feels this good, I can’t i asleep, E her ar ona hard ti her close, she can restthe day crying out and I know she’s thinking about her attack

It e Like an untao on attackthere when she needs ood foralmost lost her

"Maddox?" she utters into the darkness

"Emersyn," I rumble back, my voice thick

"I knew you would save me"

My body jolts and she htly Shit

"I fought hiht hiive up"

I’runt in response because of the feeling of rows to i I had to make sure ould have our chance I told you I would never stop fighting for you, and even though I was physically fighting for myself, I was in that battle to win not just asp past the luain I’ll never stop fighting"

I turn so that I’m onon the crook ofup off themy face close Our noses touch first and I rub hers softly before taking her lips in a slow and powerful kiss

The secondslowly in a caress so electric that I can feel it burning its power throughout ainst her hip, painfully swollen, and ive her everything I have with just our asp when I feel the coiling in the base ofto eoing to be worthy of you, Eainst hers andel I’ love you"

She lets out a soft puff of air that lightly strokes against , and I bet she will be seconds frohs with a slight wobble in her voice "I’ve drea you say that, and I should have known that I would get a Maddox Locke version Well, I fucking love you back"

I laugh, kiss her cheek, andokay with everything that happened, Eht of her being fearful of anything

"Yeah," she breathes "Yeah, I really aoing to I didn’t fight to live so that I could be scared for the rest ofif I didn’t admit that the majority of that hurt isn’t the physical reht that uess, like a silly little girl, I had believed that, one day, he would love hs without huive the to live for the blessings I have and heal fro else, both of us lost in our own thoughts I replay her words over and over again Everything she said could be used in my situation I can continue as I always have--or I can choose to live for the blessings I have resting in my arms