56. Olivia #3
Wade’s eyes roll back, and his body immediately slumps to the ground with a hard thud. He doesn’t move again.
My breath pours through my nose, but an elephant sits on my damn chest. Pain weaves its way through my body, constricting every goddamn muscle inside me. If I don’t get out of here now, I really will die in this damn cave.
And I can’t die in this town again.
“Fuck,” I gasp out, stumbling backward over my damn feet.
My bloodied hand lands on a rock protruding from the ground that catches me before I fall.
Adrenaline runs through my veins as I stare down at the psycho passed out in the darkness of the caves.
I don’t have time to do anything but turn around and follow the sound of their voices through the caves, praying they’re close.
“JJ!” I cry out, stumbling again and again. “JJ!” I cry again as my vision blurs and the dark caves become darker and fucking darker. “Huxley! Mack!” I cry again because I’m running out of fucking time. The blood loss is becoming way too fucking much.
The last thing I hear as I stumble through the caves blindly is the sound of three sets of footsteps coming my way and a warm embrace pulling me into them. Hands roam all over my body, cursing when they find the knife still protruding from my stomach.
“Fuck! No, Trouble. Don’t you fucking dare do this to me again,” Huxley whispers desperately, emotions clogging his throat, and brings me into his arms.
“Wade,” I whisper-cough. “It was that asshole.” I take in several breaths. “I can’t fucking breathe,” I cry again, as tears track down my cheeks and my glasses fall from my face.
“Don’t think about it, you hear me?” Hux grunts, picking up his speed. “Bring the oxygen into your lungs. You can breathe. Do it with me. Feel the breaths in my lungs?” he desperately pleads with me.
“What the fuck!” Mack yells from beside us, keeping up with Hux as he hightails it out of the damn caves.
“Fuck no,” JJ cries. “Spitfire, stay with us,” he pleads from beside me, his fingers briefly touching my cheeks. “She’s turning gray, Huxley!”
“What the hell are you two talking about? She? Why are you calling him those names? Why…” Mack’s words trail off, mixing with the static filling my mind, and the need for sleep almost overtakes me.
But his words register in my head. Huxley. He called me Trouble. My old nickname, even though I’m dressed as Oliver. Like, he knows who I am. Like he knew from the start.
“You-you called me Trouble,” I garble out, hazily looking up at the image of the man who I thought murdered me.
God, these years have done wonders for him.
He’s as handsome as he was when we met. Huxley doesn’t answer me right away as he yells demands at Mack and JJ to get me help.
Words like ambulance and 911 ring through the air as sunlight beams from the broken sky above.
“Hux…” I trail off again, trying to focus on the commotion around me rather than my brain begging me to shut off and go to sleep for good.
“If you thought you could come back to this town without me knowing it was you, you were delusional,” Hux whispers, pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead.
“I’ve wanted to have you in my arms for weeks now.
I wanted to tell you, you didn’t have to hide from me.
From us. But it wasn’t safe. I knew that.
Now, Trouble. I need you to fucking stay with me, because I can’t go through this again.
I can’t lose you again. You can’t die on me because I fucking need you.
I always have. Always will. Do you fucking hear me?
” he chokes out, with tears streaming down his cheeks. “Do you understand?”
“How?” I cough out again, aching for the answers.
“Because I know you and I always will. I kept my vows and my fucking promises to you, Trouble. Now, it’s your turn to keep your promises to me. To stay with me here on this earth.”
“She’s bleeding, Hux. Like fucking crazy,” JJ cries, sniffling beside us as we finally come to a stop. Sirens blast in the distance, getting closer and closer by the second.
“Please,” Mack whispers. “Please tell me I’m not hearing what I think I’m hearing.” His voice is thick with emotion.
“Later,” Huxley says to Mack, sucking in a breath and leaning down.
“I’ve kept you safe for over five years now.
And I’ll continue to do so until the oxygen in my lungs ceases to exist and the stars cry.
I don’t exist in a world without you. I never have and I never will.
Olivia Viotto, you have to stay alive, please,” he begs with shuddering breaths as my eyes close.
“And I’ll explain anything you want to know, but you have to keep breathing.
I need you to pinky promise, Trouble,” he whispers desperately, holding up his pinky to mine.
To be continued