“Thank you.” Maverick says as the song finishes and he stops playing, his lip still touching the microphone, but his eyes haven’t looked up from the floor. The crowd erupts and I hear the sniffs from behind me, other girls wiping a tear away, but not me, my tears are well and truly finished with.
I keep clapping as the crowds applause dwindles down and upon hearing the solo claps, Maverick looks up from the floor.
I’m met with his broken emerald green eyes.
I take my hood down, letting my curls lose, and I cross my arms waiting for one of us to speak. A pin drop could be heard throughout the bar.
“Mabel,” Maverick breathes my name, a sigh of relief as I stand before him.
“Quite a song,” I smirk at him, still holding my arms crossed. He grabs hold of the nape of his neck before shrugging back at me with a sheepish grin.
“Cat got your tongue?” I ask, bringing my arms back down to my sides as I take a step towards him. Maverick notices my body language change and places his guitar on the stand behind him, leaving the stool behind him as he walks towards me, jumping his large frame off the small stage.
“You came,” he says, reaching where I’m stood. He stands so close to me, I don’t stop myself from breathing in his smoky cologne.
“I did,” I offer back, looking up to meet his eyes.
He holds back, looking down at me, trying hard to stop himself from touching me.
“Is that what you wanted to say to me?” I ask back up at him, eyes wide, almost begging him to touch me.
“Amongst other things,” he pauses, looks around him and then back down to me. He takes a breath.
“I’m so sorry, Mabel.” He chokes out, the emotion steaming from his skin, the regret and the heartache.
I reach for his hand, unable to see the pain in his face anymore, knowing that I’m the only one who can rid him out of his demons.
“I hope you are,” I say as his eyes open and look directly into mine. “Now, I have some conditions.” And that alone gives me his full undivided attention.
“My house,” I start, but his brows frown.
“Your house?” He questions.
“Yeah, it needs moving, can you do that?” I ask as serious as I can, receiving murmurs from the crowd who’ve stayed silent throughout our encounter.
“Uh, sure?” he replies, sheepishly.
“Good, because I think it needs moving out to the East, don’t you?” I ask, doing my best to hide my smile. “And maybe we’ll need those four bedrooms after all?” I add,trying to make him understand my hint.
Mavericks eyes shoot up to mine from the floor and I watch him hold himself back from me. “I can do that,” he relaxes and smiles back at me.
“Good, oh, and one other thing?” I say, my smirk firmly placed on my face as I uncross my arms. “Yeah, Firefly?”
I step forward, my body urging me to reach out and touch him. “You never leave us again.”
I hold my breath as I see him digest my words as the boyish grin returns.
“Baby, am I fuck going anywhere without you again,” and with that, his hands hurl towards my face, holding onto it with a fierce might, as his lip smash down onto mine and the bar erupts with cheers.
Maverick kisses me with such force, my whole body becomes alive at his touch as his tongue dances in perfect harmony with mine.
Once upon a time, I believed in fairy tales, I believed that one person was all you needed and that was that.
As I grew, and he left, I became resentful of the fairy tales, and I accepted that my happily ever after left and wasn’t coming home.
Now, stood in the place that so many memories reside, resentment left at the door to this bar, all the anger and hurt left behind.
Because I have Maverick back, no matter the reasons or what could have been; because he’s here now, mine once again,mine at last.
