- 20 hours ago
My Hot Firefighter Ex-Boyfriend
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
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
00:46my 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 send
00:59somebody. 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 narcloth 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
01:23door was open. Fire rescue. Anyone home? Three guys in full turno gear flooded down my hallway.
01:30I tried to scream stop. Nothing came out. They burst into my bedroom. The captain pushed to the front.
01:37I stopped breathing. It was Liam, my ex-boyfriend. The man I broke up with three years ago.
01:45He was standing in my bedroom, staring at me. And I was just laying there. Dress up. Hands up.
01:51Everything. Knees apart because that was the only way the cuffs didn't pull.
01:59The rookie behind him made a strangled sound. He spun toward the wall so fast his helmet almost
02:05flew off. Oh god. Oh god. Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't, uh... Sir, these are novelty cuffs.
02:11There's no keyhole. We're gonna need the heavy-duty bolt cutters from the rig.
02:14Liam didn't acknowledge him. Liam didn't even blink. He just kept staring at me. Like he was
02:20trying to figure out what he was looking at. Three years ago, he used to look at me like I
02:24was his
02:24whole world. Right now, he looked pissed. Like, really pissed. Everyone out. His voice came out low
02:32and flat. The rookie froze. Sir, protocol says we maintain a two-person... Tyler. Out.
02:37Out. Nobody argued. Tyler practically ran. The other two followed with their eyes glued to the
02:42floor. The bedroom door clicked shut. And then it was just us. My heartbeat was so loud I could
02:47feel it in my teeth. Liam pulled the bolt cutters off his belt. He set them down on my nightstand.
02:52He didn't move toward my wrists. He put one knee on the mattress instead. The bed sank. I literally
02:58slid toward him. My strap fell off my shoulder. I tried to shrug it back up. Couldn't. The cusses held
03:05my
03:05arms in place. His eyes tracked the strap. Then my collarbone. Then lower. He didn't reach for the
03:12cusses. He reached for me. Then he looked at my thighs and I felt it. Physically. Like he'd touched
03:20me. His hand wrapped around my ankle. His hand was so hot. And rough. Firefighter hands, you know?
03:29I 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
03:43single night. My body reacted before my brain even processed it. He felt it. His thumb dragged a slow
03:49circle on the bone of my ankle. My breath hitched. Out loud. The corner of his mouth twitched. He heard
03:57it.
03:59Liam. Liam. What are you doing? He didn't answer. He leaned over me. His mouth went to my ear.
04:06His chest brushed mine through the lace. My back arched off the mattress without my permission.
04:12Then his hand started sliding up my calf. Up the inside of my knee. He stopped right above my knee
04:19and just left his hand there. Burning a hole through me.
04:23So where is he? His voice scraped against my eardrum. Your hookup? Tinder match? Whatever.
04:34He chained you up and bounced? Real stand-up dude. I'd love to meet him.
04:40Every 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 of
04:59my wrist. I sucked in a breath. His hands were rock steady. This guy pulls people out of car
05:07crashes for a living. He talked a jumper down off the 17th floor last spring. His hands don't shake.
05:13He was clenching his jaw so hard it looked like it hurt.
05:15I asked you a question, Chloe. His voice was dead quiet.
05:19Did you use protection? My brain stalled. Protection? Like a safety release on the cuffs?
05:24Did Amazon sell something I missed? I was panicking. I spit out the truth. No, I didn't.
05:30Wrong answer. Wrong, wrong, wrong answer. Liam froze. Completely froze. His knuckles went white
05:36around the bolt cutters. Then he snapped the chain. The metal cracked so loud it made my ears ring.
05:42A piece of the broken link ricocheted and sliced across his knuckle. Blood started dripping down
05:48his fingers onto my sheets. Liam, you're bleeding. Your hand. Don't.
05:53He threw the bolt cutters on the floor with a thud. My wrists were finally free.
06:00I scrambled back against the headboard and yanked the duvet up to my chin.
06:04Okay, thank you for the rescue. You can leave now.
06:07My voice was somewhere between a squeak and a sob.
06:09I really appreciate the response time. Tell the department I said thanks. Bye.
06:14Liam didn't move. He stood up. He turned his back to me. And he started unbuckling his turno coat.
06:23What are you doing, Liam? Hello?
06:25The heavy coat dropped off his shoulders. He had on a black compression shirt soaked through
06:29with sweat. You could see every muscle in his back. I just stopped. Like, brain stopped.
06:34He grabbed the chair from my vanity, walked it across the room, wedged it under the doorknob.
06:38He sat down, knees wide, elbows on his thighs, bloody hand dripping onto my floor. He didn't
06:43even look at it. I have to file an incident report. His tone was pure venom. So walk me
06:49through it, ma'am. Start to finish. When did he get here? How long was he here? What position
06:55were you in when he left? Take your time. Be specific. My nails dug into my palms. This
07:01was revenge. He'd been holding this in a long time and now I was going to pay for all of
07:05it.
07:05He didn't bandage his hand. He didn't even glance at it. He was 100% locked in on me. I
07:10snapped.
07:11Are you insane? I sat up with the dupe still wrapped around me and screamed it at him.
07:16There is no guy! There was never a guy! Get the hell out of my apartment! This is my house,
07:23Liam! You don't get to do this! He didn't flinch. His mouth pulled into a slow smile with no warmth
07:29in
07:29it. No guy. So you cuffed yourself. To your own bed. Dressed like that. And then he stood
07:38up and started searching my room. I opened my mouth. I closed it. What was I supposed to
07:45say? That I bought sex toys to feel something? That this was my Saturday night, Liam? This
07:50is who I am now? He ripped my closet open. Hangers screeched across the bar. Scanning for anything
07:56male. Nothing. He kicked the storage bins out from under my bed. Flipped one open. Just
08:01my shoes. He yanked back my balcony curtains so hard the rod rattled. Empty. His eyebrows
08:07pulled together harder with every drawer. There was nothing in this apartment except me. There
08:11never had been. Then his eyes landed on my vanity. My heart stopped. Don't go over there.
08:17Please don't open it. He started walking. I jumped off the bed so fast the dupe fell.
08:23I sprinted across the room and threw myself in front of the vanity with my arms spread wide.
08:27Stop! 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
08:37six-foot fire captain. Yeah. It was not going to work.
08:41Move, Chloe.
08:42No.
08:43I'm not asking twice.
08:45No!
08:46He didn't repeat himself a third time. His arm went around my waist and he picked me
08:50up like I weighed nothing. He set me down against the wall and held me there with one
08:54hand on my hip. With 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
09:06tape so many times the cardboard had gone soft. He sliced the tape with his thumbnail. The box
09:12flopped open. A photograph fluttered out and landed face up on the floor.
09:17Us. Summer. Three years ago. Outside station 12. He was in his navy duty uniform. I was
09:24up on my toes holding a Gatorade above his head, laughing because he was reaching for
09:28it. We looked stupid happy. Next to the photo was a leather journal. Forest green. The spine
09:34was cracked from being open so many times. Liam crouched down. He picked up the photo first.
09:39His thumb dragged across my face on the paper. Real slow. Then he picked up the journal.
09:45No! Don't! Liam, don't!
09:47I lunged at him. I clawed at his arm. I grabbed at the cover. He held it straight up over
09:52his head.
09:53I jumped. He stepped back. I jumped again. He stepped back again. The world's most humiliating
09:59game of kippawa. My bare foot caught the edge of the photograph and slipped. I fell forward.
10:04His arm caught my waist before I hit the floor. He never lowered the journal. He sat me down on
10:10the edge of the bed. Like a kid in timeout. He backed up two steps. Out of my reach. He
10:17opened the
10:18cover. First page. The day I dumped him. His pupils flinched. He flipped through the pages faster and
10:26faster. His hands started to shake. He stopped dead on the last entry. Yesterday's date. And then he
10:31read it out loud. His voice was already breaking before he got the first word out.
10:36Day 1023. They changed the sign tone at the firehouse down the block. Took me three days to
10:43get used to the new one. The old one was the siren Liam used to roll out on. I used
10:49to count seconds
10:50until the trucks came back. He kept reading. Walked past a guy at the mall today. Smoking Marlboro Reds.
10:56Liam used to smoke Marlboro Reds. I stopped in the middle of the food tort. I couldn't move.
11:01People were staring at me. I told myself I was just waiting for someone. I was actually waiting
11:06for my eyes to stop watering so I could keep walking. And then the last line. The one I wrote
11:11last night. Drunk on cheap wine. His voice cracked all the way through. Why does the smell of cigarettes
11:18still make me want to cry? The journal dropped from his hand and hung at his side. His knuckles were
11:24bone 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 Sussam never seen on his face before. Grief. He'd figured it out. There was no guy.
11:46There was no hiccup who ran. There was just me. Three years of just me. Sleeping with his photo in
11:54a
11:54drawer. Writing his name in a book I never let anyone read. Even the sex toys were mine. There's
12:00been nobody else. I slid off the bed onto the floor and put my face in my knees. My shoulders
12:06were
12:06shaking. This was officially the worst moment of my entire adult life. I looked up and gave him the
12:12most pathetic smile I've ever produced. There. Happy now, Captain? Mystery solved. Chloe Park, 26,
12:20certified loser. Can't get over her ex three years later. Buys sex toys to cope. You can put that in
12:27your incident report. Have a great night. I pointed at the door. Get out. Just leave me a little bit
12:32of
12:32dignity. Please. He didn't move. He should have left. I had ghosted him. I had blocked his number and
12:41ignored 137 phone calls. That's what a normal person would do. Instead, I heard the journal hit
12:48the rug. Soft. Then footsteps. Coming closer. Close enough that I could smell him. Smoke. Sweat. Iron from
12:58his blood. His hand came up under my chin and lifted my face. His palm was rough and warm. His
13:04fingertips
13:04were trembling against my jaw. I had to look at him. His eyes were wet. Red rimmed. He looked like
13:11he was
13:11barely holding it together. He dropped to one knee in front of me. This is the guy who rips car
13:17doors
13:17open with his bare hands. He carried two kids out of a 15th floor fire last year. And I'm the
13:24idiot who
13:24walked away from him. If you missed me this bad. His voice was barely working. His thumb wiped the tears
13:32off my cheek. He reached for the duty belt at his hip. The buckle came undone with a metallic clink
13:38that I felt in my stomach. He leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. Nose to nose.
13:44Why are you using plastic toys, baby? Use me. I couldn't speak. He kissed me. Hard. Like everything
13:52he'd swallowed for years coming out at once. The back of my head bumped against the side of the bed.
13:57His palm shot up to cradle it before I felt it. His other hand grabbed my waist and hauled me
14:03onto
14:03the mattress. 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 his shoulders.
14:22He didn't move. At all. I twisted my head sideways and screamed.
14:26Who the hell do you think you are? You don't get to disappear for three years and then just show
14:33up and kiss me. What am I to you, Liam? He braced himself over me on his elbows. His chest
14:40was heaving.
14:41He licked the blood off his bottom lip and looked down at me. I disappeared? His voice dropped to a
14:47whisper. Chloe, you have some nerve. His right hand caught my wrist. He laced his fingers between mine and
14:55squeezed until my knuckles popped. Three years ago, you're the one who left me. And just like that, I was
15:02sobbing. Because he was right. Three years of running. Now we're left to run. Because... My voice cracked.
15:10Because I was terrified you were going to die in a fire. Liam went completely still on top of me.
15:15His breathing
15:16stopped. Then it came back fast and unseaven, hot against my collarbone. I looked at him through
15:22tears. His face had gone white under the soot. It was pure terror. What did you just say? His voice
15:29was barely a thread. I lifted my hands. The cuffs had left thick red welds around both my wrists.
15:37I cupped his face anyway. My turn. Every time I hear a siren downtown, I start counting seconds. I never
15:43stopped. Every fire on the news. I scroll the comments. I look for your name. Two years ago,
15:48a firefighter died at a building collapse over on 6th Avenue. I locked myself in my office bathroom
15:54and threw up for an hour. When I found out it wasn't you, I sat on the bathroom floor and
15:59laughed
15:59until I cried. Like a literal crazy person. My thumb brushed the old scar under his cheekbone.
16:05The one from the collapse he survived two summers ago. Liam, I never stopped loving you.
16:10I loved you too much to sit around waiting for that phone call. I'd rather lose you on my terms
16:16than lose you to a fire. At least this way I got to choose. At least this way I could
16:21lie to myself
16:22and say I left you. Liam's eyes spilled over. He couldn't get a word out. He buried his face in
16:28the cook of my neck. I could feel his heart slamming through his shirt. He held onto me like if
16:33he let
16:34go I'd evaporate. I pushed my fingers into his sweaty hair. I cried so hard I couldn't get a full
16:40breath. And then his breathing started to change. It got hotter. Heavier. His mouth moved up the side
16:50of my neck. Under my jaw. To the corner of my mouth. My fingers fisted in his hair. My back
16:57arched up off
16:57the mattress. Then a radio shrieked. We both froze. The radio on the chest of his coat. The red
17:04transmit light was blinking. All units. All units. Multiple explosions reported at Sinclair Chemical
17:09on the east side. Active fire. Structural failure. Engine 12. Respond code 3. Liam's eyes changed
17:14instantly. Heat gone. Hesitation gone. Pure work mode. He pushed off me so fast my fingers ripped out
17:20of his hair. He swiped his coat off the floor. Shrugged into it. Snapped every buckle in under 15
17:25seconds. Belt back on. Rodeo on his shoulder. Helmet under his arm. He stopped at my bedroom
17:31door with his hand on the knob. He looked back at me. His face was calm. Almost flat. Lock the
17:36door
17:36behind me. If I make it back. The 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 to life on the
17:49street below. The siren screamed past my window and faded into the distance. And I was alone again.
17:55Counting seconds. Just like three years ago. I sat on the bed in the dark. The only thing in the
18:03room
18:03was the broken pink cuffs on the rug. I pulled my knees up to my chest and started shaking. Chemical
18:09fire. Multiple explosions. Active structural failure. Every nightmare I'd ever had was happening
18:14tonight. I scrambled for my phone and opened the news app. The top story was already live aerial
18:20footage. The eastern sky over the city was orange. Black smoke pumping into the air. The fire glow
18:25lighting up half the skyline. The anchor was talking fast. 27 units on scene. Heavy rescue is now pushing
18:32into the interior of the second structure. Liam. Come back. Please come back. And just like that I was
18:38right back where I'd been three years ago. Back then I lived two blocks from his firehouse. The second the
18:43siren faded. The waiting would start. The longest he was ever gone was almost two hours. When he finally
18:49walked back in, his left eyebrow was singed off. He poured himself a glass of water in my kitchen
18:56and drank it without saying a word. That night I cried into my pillow until three in the morning.
19:01The next day I told him it was over. And now here I was. Same fire glow. Same silence. Same
19:09fear.
19:11I watched the news for two hours. The fire was getting bigger. The first explosion had set off a
19:17chain reaction. The storage tanks were going one after another. The comments under the live stream went
19:23from praying for the crews to any casualties yet in real time. The aerial footage went from full dark
19:28to gray dawn to actual sunrise. The fire was still burning. By hour 10 I'd stopped crying. My eyes were
19:34swollen shut. Hour 11 a push notification dropped onto my lock screen. Breaking. Secondary collapse
19:40at east side 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. The driver took one look at
20:08me
20:08and fluttered it across town. The ER doors were propped open. Wall of noise. People crying. Doctors
20:14yelling. Radios crackling. The hallway was packed. Hospital gowns. Sochford turnout coats. Family members
20:20with red eyes. I pushed through. I checked every face. I must have looked at 20 firefighters. None of
20:26them was Liam. At the end of the corridor. I spotted Tyler. The rookie. Curled up in a plastic
20:34chair like he wanted to disappear into it. His turnout coat had melted holes in it. The right
20:39side of his face was wrapped in gauze. He was sobbing into his fire gloves. I crossed the hallway
20:44in three steps and grabbed his collar. Tyler. Where is he? Where is Liam? Tyler looked up.
20:51He saw me and his face crumpled. Oh ma'am. Oh god ma'am. The captain. He pushed us out
20:58first. He
20:58stayed in the front so we could get clear. And then the wall came down right on top. I didn't
21:03hear the
21:03rest. My knees folded and I dropped onto the line emolium. I couldn't breathe. Like physically
21:08couldn't breathe. I crawled across the floor to the trauma room doors. The red light above them
21:13was on. In procedure. I bought handcuffs. I played with them alone in my bedroom. He came in to save
21:19me. Now he was on a table behind those doors and he wasn't coming out. The light over the doors
21:25clicked off. The doors swung open. A white sheet was pulled all the way up over the body. The corner
21:30hung off, swaying as the orderly pushed it. I lost it. I crawled to the gurney. My knees hit the
21:37metal
21:37frame and I didn't feel it. I grabbed a fistful of the sheet. I was crying so hard I didn't
21:44even
21:44sound like myself. Liam. Liam! You son of a bitch! You do not get to die on me! I swear
21:54to god if you
21:54die I'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
22:09me, a voice. Tired. Horsey. A little amused. Hi. Looking for me? My spine locked up.
22:20I'm not dead yet, sweetheart. I didn't dare move. I was still gripping the sheet. If I turned around
22:28and he wasn't there, I was gonna die right on this floor. Chloe. He said my name again. Closer
22:34now. Weak. Smiling. I turned around so slowly. Liam was heening against the wall at the end
22:39of the hallway. His termout coat was bunched around his waist. There was a thick wad of
22:43gauze taped to his left shoulder. His left arm was in a temporary cast in a sling. His face
22:48was streaked with soap and blood. His bottom lip was split. His left eyebrow was scorched off
22:52again. He was upright. He was breathing. He was smiling crooked at me. The doctor walked
23:00up and pushed his glasses up his nose. Ma'am, there's been a misunderstanding. The patient
23:04under the sheet is one of the chemical plant employees. He didn't make it. Captain Reyes
23:07here walked into the ER on his own two feet. He refused the wheelchair, refused the gurney,
23:11refused the elevator. The doctor looked at Liam. He's a pain in my ass, frankly. I stood up
23:16off the floor. My legs were jelly. One barefoot. One sock. I walked across the hallway in slow
23:21motion, 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.
23:40Hey. Hey. What's all this? His 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 going to miss that for a fire. His mouth dropped to my ear, to a whisper
23:56only I could hear. I cried harder and hit his chest with my fist. The nurses started laughing.
24:02Tyler was wiping his eyes and laughing, too. A few bandaged-up firefighters poked their heads
24:06out of the next room. One of them whistled. Get 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
24:27the food was an insult. He moved into my apartment with a paper bag full of prescriptions and zero
24:33discussion about it. He was propped up against my headboard, with his clasped arm on a pillow,
24:39flipping channels with his good hand. Water.
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
25:01with his mouth full.
25:03There's chicken soup in the fridge. Heat it up. I'm dying over here.
25:07I started walking toward the kitchen.
25:09Hey! 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.
25:33I lunged at him.
25:34He held the cuffs up over his head,
25:37way out of my reach.
25:38I climbed onto the bed and tried to push up on my knees.
25:41I could not get close.
25:43Liam,
25:44give 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.
26:03His good arm caught me around the waist and pulled me down against his chest.
26:06The cuffs landed on the pillow somewhere.
26:08I ended up straddling his lap with his good hand splayed on my lower back.
26:12Our faces were two inches apart.
26:14I could smell antiseptic on his bandage.
26:16His good hand slid down past my hip and gripped my thigh.
26:20Hard.
26:21My breath caught.
26:22He stopped smiling.
26:23His eyes went serious.
26:25Chloe.
26:25He said my name really quiet.
26:28Really careful.
26:29In the hospital.
26:31I didn't get to finish what I was saying.
26:34When you broke up with me three years ago,
26:36I already knew why.
26:40I stopped breathing.
26:42After you moved out, I went to your old landlord, Mr. Henderson.
26:47He told me you'd been calling him at three in the morning, every week.
26:52Asking him if he'd heard whether any firefighters got hurt that night.
26:56You thought you got out clean.
26:58You did not.
26:59You weren't as careful as you thought, baby.
27:03He tipped his forehead down against mine.
27:06I knew you still loved me.
27:08I knew you were scared.
27:11I didn't come after you.
27:13Because you were scared I was going to die.
27:15And I was scared of that too.
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.
27:31I figured you deserved a clean break.
27:34I thought you'd meet some accountant.
27:36A nice guy with a 9-to-5.
27:38Who came home every night at 6.
27:41That was the plan.
27:42His voice dropped soft.
27:46Then I read your journal tonight, baby.
27:49A 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.
27:59I'm done being noble.
28:01I'm still going to do the job.
28:02I'm still going to run into the building.
28:04That part isn't changing.
28:05You're mine.
28:06You don't get to leave again.
28:08A tear ran off my chin and landed on his bottom lip.
28:10He didn't wipe it off.
28:12I leaned down and kissed it off him.
28:14This kiss was different from the one in my bedroom.
28:18This one was slow.
28:19His cracked lips.
28:21The bitter taste of iodine off his bandage.
28:23His fingers tightened in my hair.
28:26He was holding back.
28:27I straddled him with both palms flat against his chest.
28:31I could feel his heart murmuring through his t-shirt.
28:35The kiss moved off my lips.
28:38Across my jaw.
28:40Down to the side of my throat.
28:42His good hand slid down the length of my spine.
28:45Slow.
28:46When his palm hit the small of my back, I shivered.
28:49My tank strap slid off my shoulder.
28:51His mouth moved down to my collarbone.
28:53He bit me there.
28:54Soft.
28:55And then he froze.
28:59His thumb had pressed into the bruise on the inside of my wrist.
29:02I winked.
29:02He stopped instantly.
29:04He pulled my wrist into the light of the bedside lamp.
29:06The marks the cuffs left behind had bloomed into ugly purple bruises.
29:10Chloe.
29:11Why didn't you put anything on these?
29:13His voice went sharp.
29:14This is bruising plus surface abrasion.
29:16You're going to get a skin infection.
29:17What is wrong with you?
29:18I forgot.
29:19He glared at me.
29:20He used his one good arm to physically lift me off his lap and sit me down on the mattress.
29:24He stood up and immediately started walking weird.
29:27His good leg and his casted arm tried to swing at the same time.
29:31He had to stop and reset.
29:34On his way out the bedroom door, his shoulder banged the door fame.
29:38I laughed out loud.
29:39From 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.
29:44He dropped down on one knee next to the bed and pulled my wrist into his good hand.
29:48Everything about him got gentle.
29:49He squeezed a little neocabine onto his fingerfip and rubbed it in.
29:52Slow, careful circles.
29:54His fingers were rough with calluses.
29:56His touch was almost too soft.
29:57Another one.
29:58I held out my left wrist.
29:59The bruise was darker.
30:00His jaw clenched.
30:01He rubbed in more knee-openon and blew a slow breath across my pulse.
30:04He capped the tube and put it back in the kit.
30:07He stood up and looked at me.
30:08His eyes dropped straight from my wrist to my mouth.
30:10And then he did the last thing I expected.
30:14He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead.
30:17He grabbed my comforter with his good hand and pulled it up over me.
30:21One corner was way too high.
30:23The other was on the floor.
30:25It looked like a disaster.
30:27He nodded at it like it was a job well done.
30:30Okay.
30:31Medicine's on.
30:32Get some sleep.
30:33I'll make you breakfast in the morning.
30:38He turned and headed for the door.
30:41Two steps in, he stopped and looked back.
30:44His face was dead serious.
30:47One more thing.
30:48His ears went red again.
30:50No more playing with weird stuff by yourself, okay?
30:55You've got me now.
30:58He turned around and his shoulder hit the doorframe a second time on his way out.
31:02I heard a muttered,
31:04God damn it, from the hallway.
31:05Then the couch creaked as he laid down on it.
31:08I lay there in the dark, smiling like an idiot.
31:11Crying the good kind.
31:13One thousand and twenty-three days.
31:15I waited.
31:16He came home.
31:22I curled up under the lopsided comfort.
31:24I listened to him breathing on my couch in the living room.
31:27I whispered to him through the wall.
31:30Okay, Liam.
31:31From now on every single day.
31:33Sirens or no sirens.
31:35I'll be right here waiting.
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