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My Hot Firefighter Ex-Boyfriend englishsubtitle watchfull🎯🎯 Zenith Flicks
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00:00So my ex just kicked down my bedroom door. I'm handcuffed to my own bed frame, wearing a black
00:06lease slip that barely covers my ass. Three firefighters are staring at me. Let me back up
00:1230 minutes. I bought pink fluffy handcuffs off Amazon last Tuesday. Don't judge me. I'm 26 and
00:17single. A girl gets curious. Tonight was supposed to be wine, candles, and a little me time.
00:30Then the little release pin slipped through the crack between my mattress and the wall.
00:35I tried for 20 straight minutes. My fingers couldn't reach the gap. My wrists were turning
00:40purple. Looked cute on TikTok. Turns out the fluffy part hides actual steel, like real steel. I scooted
00:47my phone over with my chin and hit speaker. 911, what's your emergency? I panicked. I'm chained up.
00:54I can't get out. My hands are going numb. I think I'm losing circulation. Please
00:59send somebody. Ma'am, I'm dispatching fire rest to your location. Stay on the line.
01:05I should have explained it was a sex toy situation. I was hyperventilating. My hands were turning
01:11blue. I was hoping a narcliffe would show up. Then I heard the sirens. They got louder. Then
01:17they were right outside my window. I heard boots running up the stairs. One kick and my front door
01:23was open. Fire rescue! Anyone home? Three guys in full turno gear flooded down my
01:29hallway. I tried to scream stop. Nothing came out. They burst into my bedroom. The captain
01:35pushed to the front. I stopped breathing. It was Liam, my ex-boyfriend. The man I broke
01:42up with three years ago. He was standing in my bedroom, staring at me. And I was just laying
01:49there. Dress up. Hands up. Everything. Knees apart because that was the only way the cuffs
01:55didn't pull. The rookie behind him made a strangled sound. He spun toward the wall so
02:04fast his helmet almost flew off. Oh god. Oh god. Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't, uh, sir,
02:10these are novelty cuffs. There's no keyhole. We're gonna need the heavy-duty bolt cutters
02:14from the rig. Liam didn't acknowledge him. Liam didn't even blink. He just kept staring
02:19at me. Like he was trying to figure out what he was looking at. Three years ago, he used to
02:23look at me like I was his whole world. Right now, he looked pissed. Like, really pissed.
02:29Everyone out. His voice came out low and flat. The rookie froze. Sir, protocol says we maintain
02:35a two-person... Tyler, out. Nobody argued. Tyler practically ran. The other two followed
02:41with their eyes glued to the floor. The bedroom door clicked shut. And then it was just us.
02:46My heartbeat was so loud I could feel it in my teeth. Liam pulled the bolt cutters off his
02:50belt. He set them down on my nightstand. He didn't move toward my wrists. He put one
02:55knee on the mattress instead. The bed sank. I literally slid toward him. My strap fell off
03:00my shoulder. I tried to shrug it back up. Couldn't. The cusses held my arms in place.
03:06His eyes tracked the strap. Then my collarbone. Then lower. He didn't reach for the cusses.
03:12He reached for me. Then he looked at my thighs and I felt it. Physically. Like he'd touched
03:21me. His hand wrapped around my ankle. His hand was so hot. And rough. Firefighter hands,
03:29you know? I got goosebumps everywhere. Like, everywhere. My thighs clenched together on instinct.
03:36Because I knew that hand. I knew exactly what that hand could do. That hand used to be on me
03:42every single night. My body reacted before my brain even processed it. He felt it. His thumb
03:49dragged a slow circle on the bone of my ankle. My breath hitched. Out loud. The corner of his
03:55mouth twitched. He heard it. Liam, what are you doing? He didn't answer. He leaned over me.
04:05His mouth went to my ear. His chest brushed mine through the lace. My back arched off the
04:11mattress without my permission. Then his hand started sliding up my calf. Up the inside of
04:17my knee. He stopped right above my knee and just left his hand there. Burning a hole through me.
04:24So where is he?
04:26His voice scraped against my eardrum.
04:29Your hookup? Tinder match? Whatever.
04:34He chained you up and bounced?
04:38Real stand-up dude. I'd love to meet him.
04:41Every word hurt. I wasn't scared of him. I was guilty. So guilty I couldn't speak.
04:48He thought there was another man. And I had no idea how to tell him the truth.
04:54Liam picked the bolt cutters back up. Cold steel pressed against the soft skin on the inside
04:59of my wrist. I sucked in a breath. His hands were rock steady.
05:06This guy pulls people out of car crashes for a living. He talked a jumper down off the 17th
05:10floor last spring. His hands don't shake. He was clenching his jaw so hard it looked like
05:15it hurt. I asked you a question, Chloe. His voice was dead quiet. Did you use protection?
05:21My brain stalled. Protection? Like a safety release on the cuffs? Did Amazon sell something
05:26I missed? I was panicking. I spit out the truth. No, I didn't. Wrong answer. Wrong,
05:32wrong, wrong answer. Liam froze. Completely froze. His knuckles went white around the bolt cutters.
05:38Then he snapped the chain. The metal cracked so loud it made my ears ring. A piece of the broken
05:44link ricocheted and sliced across his knuckle. Blood started dripping down his fingers onto
05:49my sheets. Liam, you're bleeding. Your hand. Don't. He threw the bolt cutters on the floor
05:55with a thud. My wrists were finally free. I scrambled back against the headboard and yanked
06:02the duvet up to my chin. Okay, thank you for the rescue. You can leave now. My voice was
06:08somewhere between a squeak and a sob. I really appreciate the response time. Tell the department
06:12I said thanks. Bye. Liam didn't move. He stood up. He turned his back to me and he started
06:18unbuckling his turno coat. What are you doing, Liam? Hello? The heavy coat dropped off his
06:26shoulders. He had on a black compression shirt soaked through with sweat. You could see every
06:31muscle in his back. I just stopped. Like, brain stopped. He grabbed the chair from my vanity,
06:36walked it across the room, wedged it under the doorknob. He sat down, knees wide, elbows on his
06:40thighs, bloody hand dripping onto my floor. He didn't even look at it. I have to file an incident
06:45report. His tone was pure venom. So walk me through it, ma'am. Start to finish. When did he
06:52get here? How long was he here? What position were you in when he left? Take your time. Be specific.
06:59My nails dug into my palms. This was revenge. He'd been holding this in a long time and now I
07:04was
07:04going to pay for all of it. He didn't bandage his hand. He didn't even glance at it. He was
07:08100%
07:09locked in on me. I snapped. Are you insane? I sat up with the dupe still wrapped around me and
07:16screamed it at him. There is no guy. There was never a guy. Get the hell out of my apartment.
07:21This is my house, Liam. You don't get to do this. He didn't flinch. His mouth pulled into a slow
07:28smile
07:28with no warmth in it. No guy. So you cuffed yourself to your own bed. Dressed like that.
07:37And then he stood up and started searching my room.
07:42I opened my mouth. I closed it. What was I supposed to say? That I bought sex toys to feel
07:48something. That this was my Saturday night, Liam. This is who I am now. He ripped my closet open.
07:53Hangers screeched across the bar. Scanning for anything male. Nothing. He kicked the storage bins
07:59out from under my bed. Flipped one open. Just my shoes. He yanked back my balcony curtains so hard
08:04the rod rattled. Empty. His eyebrows pulled together harder with every drawer. There was
08:09nothing in this apartment except me. There never had been. Then his eyes landed on my vanity.
08:15My heart stopped. Don't go over there. Please don't open it. He started walking. I jumped off
08:21the bed so fast the dupe fell. I sprinted across the room and threw myself in front of the vanity
08:26with my arms spread wide. Stop! You can't open this one!
08:30My voice came out shrill and wet. He looked down at me. I'm 5'4". In a slip. Trying to
08:37block a six-foot
08:38fire captain. Yeah. It was not going to work. Move, Chloe.
08:42No.
08:43No. I'm not asking twice.
08:45No! He didn't repeat himself a third time. His arm went around my waist and he picked me up like
08:50I
08:51weighed nothing. He set me down against the wall and held me there with one hand on my hip.
08:55With his other hand, the bloody one, he pulled open the bottom drawer.
09:01There were no men's things inside. Just a brown Amazon box. Sealed and resealed with packing tape
09:07so many times the cardboard had gone soft. He sliced the tape with his thumbnail. The box flopped
09:12open. A photograph fluttered out and landed face up on the floor. Us. Summer. Three years ago.
09:20Outside Station 12. He was in his Navy duty uniform. I was up on my toes holding a Gatorade above
09:26his head,
09:27laughing because he was reaching for it. We looked stupid happy. Next to the photo was a leather
09:32journal. Forest green. The spine was cracked from being open so many times. Liam crouched down.
09:38He picked up the photo first. His thumb dragged across my face on the paper. Real slow. Then he
09:43picked up the journal. No! Don't! Liam, don't! I lunged at him. I clawed at his arm. I grabbed at
09:50the
09:51cover. He held it straight up over his head. I jumped. He stepped back. I jumped again. He stepped
09:57back again. The world's most humiliating game of kippawa. My bare foot caught the edge of the
10:02photograph and slipped. I fell forward. His arm caught my waist before I hit the floor. He never
10:08lowered the journal. He sat me down on the edge of the bed. Like a kid in timeout. He backed
10:14up two
10:14steps. Out of my reach. He opened the cover. First page. The day I dumped him. His pupils flinched.
10:24He flipped through the pages faster and faster. His hands started to shake. He stopped dead on
10:29the last entry. Yesterday's date. And then he read it out loud. His voice was already breaking
10:34before he got the first word out. Day 1023. They changed the sign tone at the firehouse down the
10:41block. Took me three days to get used to the new one. The old one was the siren Liam used
10:48to roll out
10:49on. I used to count seconds until the trucks came back. He kept reading. Walked past a guy at the
10:54mall today. Smoking Marlboro Reds. Liam used to smoke Marlboro Reds. I stopped in the middle of the
11:00food tort. I couldn't move. People were staring at me. I told myself I was just waiting for someone.
11:05I was actually waiting for my eyes to stop watering so I could keep walking. And then the last line.
11:11The one I wrote last night. Drunk on cheap wine. His voice cracked all the way through.
11:16Why does the smell of cigarettes still make me want to cry? The journal dropped from his hand
11:21and hung at his side. His knuckles were bone white around the spine. And then his whole face changed.
11:30His eyes were bloodshot. Like he hadn't slept in a week. The bedroom was completely silent. He looked
11:35down at the pink fluffy cusses on the floor. The anger drained out of him. The cruel smile was gone.
11:40What was left that some never seen on his face before. Grief. He'd figured it out. There was
11:46no guy. There was no hiccup who ran. There was just me. Three years of just me. Sleeping with his
11:53photo in a drawer. Writing his name in a book I never let anyone read. Even the sex toys were
11:59mine.
12:00There's been nobody else. I slid off the bed onto the floor and put my face in my knees.
12:05My shoulders were shaking. This was officially the worst moment of my entire adult life.
12:10I looked up and gave him the most pathetic smile I've ever produced.
12:15There. Happy now, Captain?
12:17Mystery solved. Chloe Park, 26, certified loser. Can't get over her ex three years later.
12:24Buys sex toys to cope. You can put that in your incident report. Have a great night.
12:29I pointed at the door. Get out. Just leave me a little bit of dignity. Please.
12:35He didn't move. He should have left. I had ghosted him. I had blocked his number and ignored 137 phone
12:43calls. That's what a normal person would do. Instead, I heard the journal hit the rug. Soft.
12:49Soft. Then footsteps. Coming closer. Close enough that I could smell him. Smoke. Sweat. Iron from his
12:58blood. His hand came up under my chin and lifted my face. His palm was rough and warm. His fingertips
13:04were trembling against my jaw. I had to look at him. His eyes were wet. Red rimmed. He looked like
13:11he was barely holding it together. He dropped to one knee in front of me. This is the guy who
13:16rips
13:17car doors open with his bare hands. He carried two kids out of a 15th floor fire last year.
13:23And I'm the idiot who walked away from him. If you missed me this bad. His voice was barely
13:30working. His thumb wiped the tears off my cheek. He reached for the duty belt at his hip. The
13:36buckle came undone with a metallic clink that I felt in my stomach. He leaned in and pressed
13:41his forehead against mine. Nose to nose. Why are you using plastic toys, baby?
13:47Use me. I couldn't speak. He kissed me. Hard. Like everything he'd swallowed for years
13:53coming out at once. The back of my head bumped against the side of the bed. His palm shot
13:58up to cradle it before I felt it. His other hand grabbed my waist and hauled me onto the
14:03mattress. He climbed on top of me. And then my brain finally caught up to what was happening.
14:11I shoved both hands against his chest. I bit down on his bottom lip until I tasted iron.
14:16He didn't pull back. He didn't slow down. He kissed me deeper. I beat my fists against
14:21his shoulders. He didn't move. At all. I twisted my head sideways and screamed.
14:27Who the hell do you think you are? You don't get to disappear for three years and then just
14:33show up and kiss me. What am I to you, Liam? He braced himself over me on his elbows.
14:39His chest was heaving. He licked the blood off his bottom lip and looked down at me.
14:45I disappeared? His voice dropped to a whisper.
14:49Chloe, you have some nerve. His right hand caught my wrist. He laced his fingers between
14:54mine and squeezed until my knuckles popped. Three years ago, you're the one who left me.
15:01And just like that, I was sobbing. Because he was right. Three years of running. Now
15:06we're left to run.
15:08Because...
15:09My voice cracked.
15:10Because I was terrified you were going to die in a fire.
15:13Liam went completely still on top of me. His breathing stopped. Then it came back fast
15:19and unseaven, hot against my collarbone. I looked at him through tears. His face had gone
15:24white under the soot. It was pure terror.
15:27What did you just say?
15:28His voice was barely a thread.
15:32I lifted my hands. The cuffs had left thick red welds around both my wrists. I cupped
15:37his face anyway. My turn.
15:40Every time I hear a siren downtown, I start counting seconds. I never stop.
15:44Every fire on the news, I scroll the comments. I look for your name.
15:48Two years ago, a firefighter died at a building collapse over on 6th Avenue.
15:52I locked myself in my office bathroom and threw up for an hour.
15:56When I found out it wasn't you, I sat on the bathroom floor and laughed until I cried.
16:01Like a literal crazy person.
16:03My thumb brushed the old scar under his cheekbone. The one from the collapse he survived two summers
16:07ago.
16:08Liam, I never stopped loving you.
16:11I loved you too much to sit around waiting for that phone call. I'd rather lose you on
16:15my terms than lose you to a fire. At least this way I got to choose. At least this way
16:21I could lie to myself and say I left you.
16:24Liam's eyes spilled over. He couldn't get a word out. He buried his face in the cook of
16:29my neck. I could feel his heart slamming through his shirt. He held onto me like if he let go,
16:34I'd evaporate. I pushed my fingers into his sweaty hair. I cried so hard I couldn't get
16:40a full breath. And then his breathing started to change.
16:46It got hotter. Heavier. His mouth moved up the side of my neck. Under my jaw. To the corner
16:53of my mouth. My fingers fisted in his hair. My back arched up off the mattress. Then a radio
16:59shrieked. We both froze. The radio on the chest of his coat. The red transmit light
17:05was blinking.
17:05All units. All units. Multiple explosions reported at Sinclair Chemical on the east side. Active
17:10fire. Structural failure. Engine 12. Respond code 3.
17:13Liam's eyes changed instantly. Heat gone. Hesitation gone. Pure work mode. He pushed off me so fast
17:20my fingers ripped out of his hair. He swiped his coat off the floor. Shrugged into it. Snapped
17:24every buckle in under 15 seconds. Belt back on. Rodeo on his shoulder. Helmet under
17:29his arm. He stopped at my bedroom door with his hand on the knob. He looked back at me.
17:33His face was calm. Almost flat. Lock the door behind me. If I make it back.
17:39The corner of his mouth lifted into that same crooked half-smile.
17:43We're not done. The door closed. His boots pounded down my hallway. The fire engine roared
17:48to life on the street below. The siren screamed past my window and faded into the distance.
17:53And I was alone again. Counting seconds. Just like three years ago.
18:00I sat on the bed in the dark. The only thing in the room was the broken pink cuffs on
18:04the rug.
18:05I pulled my knees up to my chest and started shaking. Chemical fire. Multiple explosions.
18:11Active structural failure. Every nightmare I'd ever had was happening tonight. I scrambled for
18:16my phone and opened the news app. The top story was already live aerial footage. The eastern sky over
18:22the city was orange. Black smoke pumping into the air. The fire glow lighting up half the skyline.
18:27The anchor was talking fast. 27 units on scene. Heavy rescue is now pushing into the interior of
18:33the second structure. Liam, come back. Please come back. And just like that, I was right back where I'd
18:38been three years ago. Back then, I lived two blocks from his firehouse. The second the siren faded,
18:44the waiting would start. The longest he was ever gone was almost two hours.
18:48When he finally walked back in, his left eyebrow was singed off. He poured himself a glass of water
18:55in my kitchen and drank it without saying a word. That night, I cried into my pillow until three in
19:01the morning. The next day, I told him it was over. And now here I was. Same fire glow. Same
19:07silence.
19:08Same fear.
19:11I watched the news for two hours. The fire was getting bigger. The first explosion had set off
19:17a chain reaction. The storage tanks were going one after another. The comments under the live stream
19:23went from praying for the crews to any casualties yet in real time. The aerial footage went from full
19:28dark to gray dawn to actual sunrise. The fire was still burning. By hour 10, I'd stopped crying. My eyes
19:34were swollen shut. Hour 11, a push notification dropped onto my lock screen. Breaking. Secondary
19:40collapse at Eastside Chemical Fire. Two firefighters reported critical. Identities pending family
19:45notification. My phone hit the floor and the screen shattered. There was a high ringing sound in my
19:50ears. I don't remember putting on shoes. I don't remember leaving my apartment. Uber wouldn't load.
19:56I started running down the sidewalk in my pajamas. One of my converse came off around the third block.
20:01I kept running with one bare foot. A cab pulled over for me eventually.
20:07The driver took one look at me and fluttered it across town. The ER doors were propped open.
20:12Wall of noise. People crying. Doctors yelling. Radios crackling. The hallway was packed.
20:17Hospital gowns. Soachford turnout coats. Family members with red eyes. I pushed through.
20:22I checked every face. I must have looked at 20 firefighters. None of them was Liam.
20:27At the end of the corridor, I spotted Tyler.
20:31The rookie. Curled up in a plastic chair like he wanted to disappear into it. His turnout coat had
20:37melted holes in it. The right side of his face was wrapped in gauze. He was sobbing into his fire
20:42gloves. I crossed the hallway in three steps and grabbed his collar. Tyler, where is he? Where is
20:49Liam? Tyler looked up. He saw me and his face crumpled. Oh, ma'am. Oh, God, ma'am. The captain,
20:57he pushed us out first. He stayed in the front so we could get clear. And then the wall came
21:01down
21:02right on top. I didn't hear the rest. My knees folded and I dropped onto the line emolium. I
21:07couldn't breathe. Like physically couldn't breathe. I crawled across the floor to the trauma room doors.
21:12The red light above them was on, in procedure. I bought handcuffs. I played with them alone in my
21:18bedroom. He came in to save me. Now he was on a table behind those doors and he wasn't coming
21:23out.
21:23The light over the doors clicked off. The doors swung open. A white sheet was pulled all the way up
21:29over the body. The corner hung off, swaying as the orderly pushed it. I lost it. I crawled to the
21:35gurney. My knees hit the metal frame and I didn't feel it. I grabbed a fistful of the sheet.
21:42I was crying so hard, I didn't even sound like myself.
21:47Liam. Liam! You son of a bitch! You do not get to die on me! I swear to God, if
21:54you die,
21:55I'm going on Tinder tonight. I'm going on Hinnage. I'm gonna date a hundred guys. Do you hear me?
21:59The orderly froze with his hands on the gurney rails. The nurse just stared. The whole ER was
22:04watching. I did not care. The only thing in the world was the white sheet. And then, from behind me,
22:09a voice. Tired. Horsey. A little amused.
22:14Hi. Looking for me?
22:16My spine locked up.
22:20I'm not dead yet, sweetheart.
22:22I didn't dare move. I was still gripping the sheet. If I turned around and he wasn't there,
22:29I was gonna die right on this floor.
22:31Chloe.
22:32He said my name again. Closer now. Weak. Smiling. I turned around so slowly. Liam was
22:38heening against the wall at the end of the hallway. His termout coat was bunched around
22:42his waist. There was a thick wad of gauze taped to his left shoulder. His left arm was in a
22:46temporary
22:46cast in a sling. His face was streaked with soat and blood. His bottom lip was split. His left eyebrow
22:52was scorched off again. He was upright. He was breathing. He was smiling crooked at me.
22:59The doctor walked up and pushed his glasses up his nose.
23:02Ma'am, there's been a misunderstanding. The patient under the sheet is one of the chemical
23:05plant employees. He didn't make it. Captain Reyes here walked into the ER on his own two feet.
23:09He refused the wheelchair, refused the gurney, refused the elevator.
23:12The doctor looked at Liam.
23:14He's a pain in my ass, frankly.
23:16I stood up off the floor. My legs were jelly. One bare foot, one sock. I walked across the hallway
23:21in
23:21slow motion. And then I ran the last two steps and threw myself at his chest. He grunt hard,
23:26his back slammed into the wall. His cast banged against the doorbrain and he sucked in a sharp
23:30breath. He didn't push me away. His good arm wrapped tight around my waist. I shoved my face
23:36into his shirt and started screaming. He patted my back. Real awkward.
23:41Hey. Hey. What's all this?
23:44His voice was scratchy and warm.
23:46You know what they say. Bad guys never die. And I still owe you a real night, baby.
23:52I'm not gonna miss that for a fire.
23:53His mouth dropped to my ear, to a whisper only I could hear. I cried harder and hit his chest
23:59with
23:59my fist. The nurses started laughing. Tyler was wiping his eyes and laughing too. A few bandaged
24:05up firefighters poked their heads out of the next room. One of them whistled.
24:09Get it, Captain!
24:12Liam flipped them off over my head. The tips of his ears went red.
24:21Three days later, Liam signed himself out AMA. He said the hospital bed was too hard and the food
24:27was an insult. He moved into my apartment with a paper bag full of prescriptions and zero discussion
24:34about it. He was propped up against my headboard with his clasped arm on a pillow,
24:39flipping channels with his good hand.
24:42Water.
24:46I brought him water.
24:48Babe, peel me an apple.
24:50I peeled an apple.
24:51Did you peel this with a chainsaw? The skin is still on half of it.
24:56I took a deep breath. I owed him three years. I could take this. He took a bite and talked
25:02with
25:02his mouth full. There's chicken soup in the fridge. Heat it up. I'm dying over here.
25:07I started walking toward the kitchen. Hey! Hey, hold up!
25:12I turned around. His good hand came out of his pocket holding the broken pink cuffs.
25:18You kept those? When did you even pick those up? You were on a call!
25:22He held them up to the light and examined them like an antique.
25:27Stuffed them in my coat pocket before I rolled out.
25:30He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. I lunged at him. He held the
25:35cuffs
25:35up over his head, way out of my reach. I climbed onto the bed and tried to push up on
25:40my knees. I
25:41could not get close. Liam, give them back right now.
25:47Nope.
25:49You are literally a 30-year-old man.
25:54Yep.
25:56And then I lost my balance and tipped forward.
26:01He laughed under his breath. His good arm caught me around the waist and pulled me down against his
26:06chest. The cuffs landed on the pillow somewhere. I ended up straddling his lap with his good hands
26:11splayed on my lower back. Our faces were two inches apart. I could smell antiseptic on his bandage.
26:16His good hand slid down past my hip and gripped my thigh. Hard. My breath caught. He stopped smiling.
26:23His eyes went serious.
26:25Chloe.
26:26He said my name really quiet. Really careful.
26:29In the hospital. I didn't get to finish what I was saying. When you broke up with me three years
26:36ago, I already knew why.
26:40I stopped breathing.
26:42After you moved out, I went to your old landlord, Mr. Henderson. He told me you'd been calling him at
26:49three
26:49in the morning, every week, asking him if he'd heard whether any firefighters got hurt that night.
26:56You thought you got out clean. You did not. You weren't as careful as you thought, baby.
27:03He tipped his forehead down against mine.
27:06I knew you still loved me. I knew you were scared.
27:11I didn't come after you because you were scared I was going to die. And I was scared of that
27:16too.
27:18I'd go down in a fire one day and you'd be a 23-year-old widow getting a folded flag.
27:23I couldn't do that to you.
27:27His good hand slid up into my hair.
27:29So I let you go. I figured you deserved a clean break.
27:34I thought you'd meet some accountant, a nice guy with a nine-to-five, who came home every night at
27:40six.
27:41That was the plan.
27:42His voice dropped soft.
27:46Then I read your journal tonight, baby. A thousand and twenty-three days.
27:52You weren't free for a single one of them.
27:56He looked up at me.
27:57I'm done hiding. I'm done being noble.
28:01I'm still gonna do the job. I'm still gonna run into the building. That part isn't changing. You're mine.
28:07You don't get to leave again.
28:08A tear ran off my chin and landed on his bottom lip. He didn't wipe it off. I leaned down
28:13and kissed it off him.
28:15This kiss was different from the one in my bedroom.
28:18This one was slow. His cracked lips. The bitter taste of iodine off his bandage.
28:24His fingers tightened in my hair. He was holding back.
28:27I straddled him with both palms flat against his chest. I could feel his heart murmuring through his t-shirt.
28:36The kiss moved off my lips. Across my jaw. Down to the side of my throat.
28:42His good hand slid down the length of my spine. Slow.
28:46When his palm hit the small of my back, I shivered. My tank strap slid off my shoulder.
28:51His mouth moved down to my collarbone. He bit me there. Soft. And then he froze.
28:59His thumb had pressed into the bruise on the inside of my wrist. I winked. He stopped instantly.
29:04He pulled my wrist into the light of the bedside lamp. The marks the cuffs left behind had bloomed
29:08into ugly purple bruises.
29:10Chloe, why didn't you put anything on these?
29:13His voice went sharp.
29:14This is bruising plus surface abrasion. You're gonna get a skin infection. What is wrong with you?
29:18I... I forgot.
29:19He glared at me. He used his one good arm to physically lift me off his lap and sit me
29:23down on the mattress.
29:24He stood up and immediately started walking weird. His good leg and his casted arm tried to swing at
29:30the same time. He had to stop and reset. On his way out the bedroom door, his shoulder banged the
29:37door
29:37fame. I laughed out loud. From the hallway, I heard a very loud...
29:41Shut up, Chloe!
29:42He came back with the first aid kits tucked under his good arm. He dropped down on one knee next
29:46to the
29:46bed and pulled my wrist into his good hand. Everything about him got gentle. He squeezed a
29:50little neocabine onto his finger-fip and rubbed it in. Slow, careful circles.
29:54His fingers were rough with calluses. His touch was almost too soft.
29:57Another one.
29:58I held out my left wrist. The bruise was darker. His jaw clenched. He rubbed in more knee-openon
30:03and blew a slow breath across my pulse. He capped the tube and put it back in the kit. He
30:07stood
30:07up and looked at me. His eyes dropped straight from my wrist to my mouth. And then he did the
30:11last
30:11thing I expected.
30:14He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. He grabbed my comforter with his good hand and pulled
30:20it up over me. One corner was way too high. The other was on the floor. It looked like a
30:26disaster.
30:27He nodded at it like it was a job well done.
30:29Okay. Medicine's on. Get some sleep. I'll make you breakfast in the morning.
30:38He turned and headed for the door. Two steps in, he stopped and looked back. His face was dead serious.
30:46One more thing. His ears went red again. No more playing with weird stuff by yourself, okay?
30:55You've got me now. He turned around and his shoulder hit the doorframe a second time on his way out.
31:03I heard a muttered, God damn it, from the hallway. Then the couch creaked as he laid down on it.
31:08I lay there in the dark, smiling like an idiot, crying the good kind. 1,023 days. I waited. He
31:17came home.
31:22I curled up under the lopsided comfort. I listened to him breathing on my couch in the living room.
31:27I whispered to him through the wall. Okay, Liam. From now on every single day. Sirens or no sirens.
31:34I'll be right here waiting.
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