21. Sacrifice

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I don't leave my bathroom all day

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I don't leave my bathroom all day. Amber comes every once and a while to make sure I'm okay then gives me my space. All I do is cry and stare numbly at the shower curtain or my orange cast, not caring if I'm causing permanent damage to my wrist.

When the bathroom darkens, I stand and touch the door handle not wanting to face what's about to happen. I straighten and turn the knob anyways. It's dark out and the night has fully drowned out all daylight.

I change my clothes and walk downstairs to it empty. I look over and everyone is in the backyard. I don't even bother going over and leave.

My feet take me right to where he sits in front of his house, waiting for me and for the first time he's not wearing a cut. His stare takes me in and he gets up and strolls over until he's right in front of me.

I get a stunning view of his serious eyes that maybe just as exhausted as mine. His mouth is set in a straight line but there is no indication that he's frowning. His beard is no longer neat, but roguish and his rusted gold hair is matted, which falls in front of his eyes as he looks down at me.

Friction surrounds us and my body is heavy from the pain of it. My eyes trace every piece of him and my hands follow from all of his tattoos, to his muscular body, to every single thing about his face. I finally make eye contact with his deep forest green and opal eyes. They hold so much in them I choke back on an uncontrollable sob.

My fist hits his chest as he continues not to say anything because he doesn't have to. His hard stricken eyes gleam at me and I have no idea how to react to it, to him. Soon I start pushing him and crying hard taking all my frustration and pain out on him.

He takes every hit, every shove, every part of me.

The second he tries touching me I slap his hand away. He's a thief that easily passed my imaginative barricade tape and has taken something precious from me that can't ever be returned whole again.

He steps closer as all my constructed walls fall, crumbling into dust. I have no more defenses, no more walls to protect me from this intense emotion and pain.

His hands gently gather me into him and my assault starts to weaken as he puts his forehead against mine. When I look up my orange cast reaches for him allowing my fingers to trace the cross tattoo on his neck and then his scar.  He eliminates the space between us and opens my mouth with his and draws out new sensations from me. It's desperate, and unforgiving.

My body presses against his, my lithe against his hard toughness loving how powerful every inch of him is. Heat swirls around me and my stomach is in knots as he destroys me with such raw tenderness. He coaxes me into beautifully pained whimpers as we breathe one another in. It's not enough for either of us. We're pressed so hard against one another it's like we're one person and all of me belongs with him.

He tastes me so intimately with each stroke that I'm shattered into pieces. I find new ways to intertwine us and fall deep into the burning need that scorches me with desires I will never have fulfilled. I cling to him and selfishly store every single thrill he gives to me.

There's no one else.

There'll never be anyone else.

I know it's over when he kisses me hard pressing all my curves so deep into him they'll be imprinted on him forever. When he pulls away, he steps away and then around me.

I open my mouth to say something, but he cuts me off, stopping. "Don't."

Tears run down my face and lips quiver as I bite down hard on them.

"I'm not going to hide anything from you, Tater Tot. I wanted nothing more than to be like my dad growing up and become a Silencer. I did everything I could to show him I was tough. I broke all kinds of laws as a kid. I cheated. Fell for the wrong kinds of girls, showing them off to him like they were nothing more than property. I beat people with my bare hands."

He looks down, clenching them into fists. "I chased all the wrongs things and made so many bad choices. I was wild, reckless, and cold. I used, hurt, and killed people. Girls I dated never brought me around their families because I was the tough dangerous guy they wanted to try to change only to get hurt in the end. I was an idiot. Selfish. Miserable. Even with JoJo in my life all I wanted was to be like him, but then she died and I served. That's when things started to change. I became part of the Salvation and reinvented myself. When I looked in the mirror, I liked the man I was becoming. The man so opposite of what I thought I had wanted to be like as a kid. I got to a good place, but I was still lost and making dumb choices, running and hiding from my past. I was going to start fresh somewhere else with Bones, so I could open my door without feeling like something bad was going to happen. Then..."

He takes a deep breath, shoving his fists in his pockets, and looks up at the sky. "My whole life I've been at the wrong place at the wrong time, only to be at the right place the day I'm about to leave."

The gas station.

He tilts his head around so he can look at me smiling. "You were standing there, talking to yourself with a tower of snacks in your arms. I barely touched you when I slid past you, but that was enough." He chuckles. "That simple contact fueled something in me with a desire to protect you, be with you, and keep you all to myself.  The day I met you I became selfish and wanted something for the first time in my life so badly it scared me." He turns away from me. "You destroyed me that day and I've loved you for it ever since."

He sighs out. "I was so close to thinking I could have everything. That I could have you."

"You still can!" I cry out. "We can go anywhere you'd like, I'll—"

"You belong here, Georgie and I'm done running. If I make it through and somehow survive then I'll be coming to you even if I barely have any life left in me, but..." He takes a deep breath. "If I die, I thank God that I had the time I had with you and only regret that I had known you sooner."

"You probably wouldn't've even looked my way if you did." I laugh out numbly through tears.

"I would've," he says with so much confidence.

He leaves and as he gets further and further away from me, I drown in the night's darkness, standing there in denial and anger.

He didn't stay to hear what I had to say.

And that's not going to fly.

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