I fumbled through my phone, hoping to see a message with his name next to it, but nothing showed up. He’d left his bag and clothes unlike the last time. I wondered if having evidence of him hit me harder than having none at all.
My fingers trembled as I pulled off my mask while tears streamed down my cheeks. How could he leave me again?
My chest ached, and my breaths seemed short as his departure from my life soaked in. I hated this feeling. I’d tossed on my metaphorical armor when it happened the first time, but now my armor became rubber. I’d let him in, and the emotions he inspired in me were written in my song journal in the other room.
I’d survive this, that I knew. However, I doubted I’d give another a chance at my heart. He always held my love in his hands, and when he left, he took it with him.
“Honey, I’m home.” The door unlocked and Maddox walked through the door wearing sweats and a sweat-soaked shirt.
“Hazel.” He had a smile on his face when he entered the room until he saw me crumbled on the floor, covered in tears.
“Hazel? What happened? What’s wrong?” His knees hit the floor inches from me and his hands were at my cheeks, wiping my tears as his blue eyes probed for the cause of my sadness.
“You left me,” I whispered, completely unsure how to feel seeing him. Had he truly left me? Had I overreacted to coming here and not seeing him?
“You didn’t get my message?” I couldn’t look into his pleading eyes.
In my confused mental state, I stayed silent, liable to say so many wrong things if I talked too much. I shook my head, my gaze dropping to my phone for the supposed message he sent me.
“Fuck. Hazel, I did not leave you. I went to the gym at headquarters, worked out, then came back to you. I will always come back to you.”
I heard his words, I understood them, but the trauma from when I thought he left me battered my thoughts and soul. His strong arms pulled me into his lap and held me softly.
He murmured over and over that he was here with me, and he wasn’t leaving. I didn’t know what to think or believe, so I retreated inward, hoping to forget this whole night.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maddox
I fucked up, and I didn’t know how to make it right.
The message I’d sent Hazel showed up two hours after I found her in a crying heap on the floor. I hated that she’d assumed I’d left her again, but I hadn’t earned another reaction from her yet.
After I held her on the floor for half an hour, I stood with her in my arms, then walked to the shower. I cleaned us both, and then dried us off before carrying her to bed. I continued to hold her, letting her feel my warm body holding her, and my breaths beneath her cheek as she slowly drifted to sleep. Over and over, the memory of her crying stabbed me in the heart. When I’d left her after the incident with my powers at sixteen, I didn’t see the fallout of my decision.
Now, I’d lived firsthand the fallout if I left again. How her joyous face became marred by despair. She ruled the world and climbed high to share her passions with everyone, only to fall apart from thoughts of abandonment.
The next day she stayed glued to my body, even an hour after she woke up. I refused to move or speak unless she needed me to. Words weren’t doing me any good, only actions.
At breakfast, she mumbled a “thank you” after I set down her plate of food and cup of tea by the couch. We ate and watched mindless TV for most of the day. She snuggled close, and when she changed positions as the hours passed, she always kept a part of herself touching me. Like she needed to feel I stayed with her even when her memories and emotions told her differently.
We spent the night in bed and watched more TV wrapped in each other. The world outside didn’t exist in our minds, only she and I inhabited our world.
Hazel’s spirit lifted when we woke up the next day. Her fingers traced my pecs and the lines of my arms and I smiled for the first time in twenty-four hours.
“I’m sorry.” She leaned in to kiss my shoulder, then her gaze flicked upward to my face.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. I should have left another note or—“
Her guitar-string calloused fingers pressed against my lips, stopping me from uttering another word.
“It’s safe to say I’m damaged when it comes to you leaving me. You’re allowed to go out and do stuff without me. I should have trusted you’d be back and only freaked out if you didn’t return after a few hours.” My heart broke hearing her words, she tried to swallow down her thoughts and I knew the strength it took to battle your own mind.
“We’re both damaged, which has to be taken into consideration. I’ve only been back in your life for a little over a month. Be kind to yourself. I promised I’m not going anywhere, and now I have to prove it with care. I never wanna see you so heartbroken on the floor again because of me.” I looked into her eyes as I shifted my head closer to her lips, a silent question lingering between us.
“I’ll try to act a little more reasonable,” she sheepishly admitted, and I smirked, our lips a breath away.
“You’ve never acted reasonable, so no need to start now. I’ve known who you are and loved you anyway.”
