Chapter 17

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Molly's POV

"Molly?" Calum calls as I close the front door. I slide down to the floor, too exhausted to keep standing at this point. He turns the corner and sees my bruised and bloody body sitting there. He gasps and runs over, dropping down beside me. "Babe what happened? Molly?"

"Shockwave kicked the shit out of me," I answer, pulling my mask off. I throw it and my leather jacket over to the side. I kick off my boots, adding them to the pile. "I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me, Calum. I've never been this useless before." I sniffle, unsure of whether I'm about to cry from physical or emotional pain.

"You're not useless, baby. Come here," he stands up and pulls me to my feet.

"Can you help me get changed into my sweats and tee shirt?" I ask, my voice shaking as I lean against him for support, "I don't think I can." He nods and helps me hobble up to his room.

As soon as we get there, I'm collapsing on the bed. I pull my tight shirt off and toss it to the ground, over near my bag. Calum already has the NASA shirt I stole from him in his hands and helps pull it over my head. I take a deep breath and slowly pull my leather pants off, trying to be careful with the gash on my calf. Calum notices and his eyes go wide.

"You need to clean that, babe," he cuts in, tossing my sweats beside me. I shrug and finish pulling the tight pants off as he disappears into the bathroom to get a wet wash cloth. He comes back a few moments later and gently cleans the blood from my leg. I watch, my eyelids drooping slightly. 

"You know this is why Sierra found out about me," I say softly, breaking the quiet.

"What?"

"Back during my first fight with Shockwave, I got cut really badly and had shit inside the cut. Luke gets light-headed at the sight of blood, and I was in no shape to get the glass out of my leg myself, so I called Sierra up to my room, and she helped me," I recall, making him smile. Calum wraps a gauze pad around my leg and tapes it there before helping me pull my sweats on. He goes back into the bathroom to wash the cloth off. I lay back down in the same spot from earlier, smiling as Duke hops up next to me and curls against my stomach. Cal returns and crawls onto the bed beside me, his body pressed against mine gently. One arm rests on my hip as he holds onto my body.

"She's so powerful," I choke out, running my fingers through Duke's soft fur, "She makes me look like an amateur. It's like every fight against her is my first fight ever. And my powers are acting all weird, and I don't know what's going on. What if I'm losing my powers? I mean, it's been years since that chemical spill. What if I'm losing my powers because they weren't permanent?"

"You aren't, Molly," Calum soothes, running his fingers through my tangled hair. "You can't blame yourself for these fights babe. Shockwave is psychotic. Who knows how long she's had these powers? For all we know, she's had them since she was born and has been training and developing them her whole life." His words don't make me feel any better. I sigh softly and stay quiet, closing my eyes even though I know I'm not going to be able to sleep anytime soon. I feel Calum sit up and glance down at me. He sighs to himself and lays back down beside me, thinking I'm asleep. He brushes a piece of hair behind my ear and kisses my cheek.

"I love you, Molly," he tells me, even though he thinks I'm asleep, "You'll figure it out. I know you will." He swallows and snuggles closer to me, burying his face in my hair and neck. He starts softly snoring a few minutes later. I reopen my eyes and stare into the darkness of the room as I wonder how he can have so much confidence in me.

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