- 8 hours ago
My Hot Firefighter Ex-Boyfriend
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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
00:46my 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 arrest to your location. Stay on the line. I should
01:06have 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.
01:17Then they were right outside my window. I heard boots running up the stairs. One kick and my
01:23front door was open. Fire rescue. Anyone home? Three guys in full turno gear flooded down
01:29my hallway. 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 didn't
01:55pull. The rookie behind him made a strangled sound. He spun toward the wall so fast his
02:04helmet almost flew off. Oh god. Oh god. Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't, uh, sir, these are novelty
02:11cuffs. There'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
02:24I 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.
02:34Sir, protocol says we maintain a two-person- Tyler. Out.
02:37Nobody argued. Tyler practically ran. The other two followed with their eyes glued to the floor.
02:42The bedroom door clicked shut. And then it was just us. My heartbeat was so loud I could feel
02:47it 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.
02:57I literally slid toward him. My strap fell off my shoulder. I tried to shrug it back up. Couldn't.
03:04The cusses held my arms in place. His eyes tracked the strap. Then my collarbone. Then lower.
03:11He didn't reach for the cusses. He reached for me.
03:16Then he looked at my thighs and I felt it. Physically. Like he'd touched me. His hand
03:22wrapped 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 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 mouth
03:56twitched. 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
04:10mattress without my permission. Then his hand started sliding up my calf. Up the inside
04:16of my knee. He stopped right above my knee and just left his hand there. Burning a hole through
04:22me.
04:23So 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
04:59inside of 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 it hurt.
05:16I asked you a question, Chloe.
05:17His voice was dead quiet.
05:19Did you use protection?
05:21My 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.
05:29No! I didn't!
05:30Wrong answer. Wrong, wrong, wrong answer.
05:33Liam froze. Completely froze. His knuckles went white around the bolt cutters.
05:37Then 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.
05:46Blood started dripping down his fingers onto my sheets.
05:50Liam, you're bleeding. Your hand!
05:53Don't.
05:53He threw the bolt cutters on the floor with a thud.
05:56My 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.
06:17And he started unbuckling his turno coat.
06:23What are you doing, Liam? Hello?
06:25The heavy coat dropped off his shoulders.
06:27He had on a black compression shirt soaked through with sweat.
06:30You could see every muscle in his back.
06:32I 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.
06:43He didn't even look at it.
06:44I have to file an incident report.
06:46His tone was pure venom.
06:48So walk me through it, ma'am. Start to finish.
06:51When did he get here?
06:53How long was he here?
06:55What position were you in when he left?
06:57Take your time.
06:58Be specific.
06:59My nails dug into my palms.
07:01This was revenge.
07:02He'd been holding this in a long time and now I was gonna pay for all of it.
07:05He didn't bandage his hand.
07:07He didn't even glance at it.
07:08He was 100% locked in on me.
07:10I snapped.
07:11Are you insane?
07:13I sat up with the dupe still wrapped around me and screamed it at him.
07:16There is no guy.
07:18There was never a guy.
07:20Get the hell out of my apartment.
07:21This is my house, Liam.
07:23You don't get to do this.
07:25He didn't flinch.
07:26His mouth pulled into a slow smile with no warmth in it.
07:30No guy.
07:30So you cuffed yourself to your own bed.
07:35Dressed like that.
07:37And then he stood up and started searching my room.
07:42I opened my mouth.
07:43I closed it.
07:44What was I supposed to say?
07:46That I bought sex toys to feel something.
07:48That this was my Saturday night, Liam.
07:50This is who I am now.
07:51He ripped my closet open.
07:53Hangers screeched across the bar.
07:55Scanning for anything male.
07:57Nothing.
07:57He kicked the storage bins out from under my bed.
08:00Flipped one open.
08:01Just my shoes.
08:02He yanked back my balcony curtain so hard the rod rattled.
08:06Empty.
08:06His eyebrows pulled together harder with every drawer.
08:09There was nothing in this apartment except me.
08:11There never had been.
08:12Then his eyes landed on my vanity.
08:15My heart stopped.
08:16Don't go over there.
08:18Please don't open it.
08:19He started walking.
08:20I 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!
08:28You can't open this one!
08:30My voice came out shrill and wet.
08:32He looked down at me.
08:34I'm 5'4".
08:35In a slip.
08:36Trying to block a 6 foot fire captain.
08:39Yeah.
08:39It 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.
08:48His arm went around my waist and he picked me up like I weighed nothing.
08:51He 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.
09:03Just a brown Amazon box.
09:05Sealed and resealed with packing tape so many times the cardboard had gone soft.
09:09He sliced the tape with his thumbnail.
09:11The box flopped open.
09:13A photograph fluttered out and landed face up on the floor.
09:17Us.
09:18Summer.
09:18Three years ago.
09:20Outside Station 12.
09:21He was in his Navy duty uniform.
09:24I was up on my toes holding a Gatorade above his head, laughing because he was reaching for it.
09:29We looked stupid happy.
09:31Next to the photo was a leather journal.
09:33Forest green.
09:34The spine was cracked from being open so many times.
09:36Liam crouched down.
09:37He picked up the photo first.
09:39His thumb dragged across my face on the paper.
09:42Real slow.
09:43Then he picked up the journal.
09:45No!
09:45Don't!
09:46Liam, don't!
09:47I lunged at him.
09:48I clawed at his arm.
09:50I grabbed at the cover.
09:51He held it straight up over his head.
09:53I jumped.
09:54He stepped back.
09:55I jumped again.
09:56He stepped back again.
09:57The world's most humiliating game of kippawa.
10:00My bare foot caught the edge of the photograph and slipped.
10:03I fell forward.
10:04His arm caught my waist before I hit the floor.
10:07He never lowered the journal.
10:09He sat me down on the edge of the bed.
10:11Like a kid in timeout, he backed up two steps.
10:15Out of my reach.
10:17He opened the cover.
10:20First page.
10:21The day I dumped him, his pupils flinched.
10:24He flipped through the pages faster and faster.
10:26His hands started to shake.
10:28He stopped dead on the last entry.
10:30Yesterday's date.
10:31And then he read it out loud.
10:33His voice was already breaking before he got the first word out.
10:36Day 1023.
10:38They changed the sign tone at the firehouse down the block.
10:42Took me three days to get used to the new one.
10:46The old one was the siren Liam used to roll out on.
10:49I used to count seconds until the trucks came back.
10:51He kept reading.
10:53Walked past a guy at the mall today.
10:55Smoking Marlboro Reds.
10:56Liam used to smoke Marlboro Reds.
10:58I stopped in the middle of the food tour.
11:00I couldn't move.
11:01People were staring at me.
11:02I told myself I was just waiting for someone.
11:05I was actually waiting for my eyes to stop watering so I could keep walking.
11:09And then the last line.
11:11The one I wrote last night.
11:12Drunk on cheap wine.
11:14His voice cracked all the way through.
11:16Why does the smell of cigarettes still make me want to cry?
11:19The journal dropped from his hand and hung at his side.
11:23His knuckles were bone white around the spine.
11:25And then his whole face changed.
11:30His eyes were bloodshot.
11:31Like he hadn't slept in a week.
11:33The bedroom was completely silent.
11:34He looked down at the pink fluffy cusses on the floor.
11:37The anger drained out of him.
11:38The cruel smile was gone.
11:40What was left Sussam never seen on his face before.
11:43Grief.
11:43He'd figured it out.
11:45There was no guy.
11:47There was no hiccup who ran.
11:49There was just me.
11:50Three years of just me.
11:52Sleeping with his photo in a drawer.
11:55Writing his name in a book I never let anyone read.
11:58Even the sex toys were mine.
12:00There's been nobody else.
12:02I slid off the bed onto the floor and put my face in my knees.
12:05My shoulders were shaking.
12:06This 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.
12:16Happy now, Captain?
12:17Mystery solved.
12:19Chloe Park, 26, certified loser.
12:21Can't get over her ex three years later.
12:24Buys sex toys to cope.
12:26You can put that in your incident report.
12:28Have a great night.
12:29I pointed at the door.
12:30Get out.
12:31Just leave me a little bit of dignity.
12:33Please.
12:35He didn't move.
12:37He should have left.
12:38I had ghosted him.
12:39I had blocked his number and ignored 137 phone calls.
12:44That's what a normal person would do.
12:46Instead, I heard the journal hit the rug.
12:49Soft.
12:50Then footsteps.
12:51Coming closer.
12:54Close enough that I could smell him.
12:56Smoke.
12:57Sweat.
12:57Iron from his blood.
12:59His hand came up under my chin and lifted my face.
13:02His palm was rough and warm.
13:03His fingertips were trembling against my jaw.
13:06I had to look at him.
13:07His eyes were wet.
13:09Red rimmed.
13:10He looked like he was barely holding it together.
13:13He dropped to one knee in front of me.
13:15This is the guy who rips car doors open with his bare hands.
13:19He carried two kids out of a 15th floor fire last year.
13:23And I'm the idiot who walked away from him.
13:26If you miss me this bad.
13:28His voice was barely working.
13:31His thumb wiped the tears off my cheek.
13:33He reached for the duty belt at his hip.
13:36The buckle came undone with a metallic clink that I felt in my stomach.
13:40He leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine.
13:43Nose to nose.
13:44Why are you using plastic toys, baby?
13:47Use me.
13:48I couldn't speak.
13:49He kissed me.
13:50Hard.
13:51Like everything he'd swallowed for years coming out at once.
13:54The back of my head bumped against the side of the bed.
13:57His palm shot up to cradle it before I felt it.
14:01His other hand grabbed my waist and hauled me onto the mattress.
14:04He climbed on top of me.
14:06And then my brain finally caught up to what was happening.
14:11I shoved both hands against his chest.
14:13I bit down on his bottom lip until I tasted iron.
14:16He didn't pull back.
14:17He didn't slow down.
14:19He kissed me deeper.
14:20I beat my fists against his shoulders.
14:22He didn't move.
14:23At all.
14:24I twisted my head sideways and screamed.
14:26Who the hell do you think you are?
14:29You don't get to disappear for three years and then just show up and kiss me.
14:35What am I to you, Liam?
14:37He braced himself over me on his elbows.
14:39His chest was heaving.
14:41He licked the blood off his bottom lip and looked down at me.
14:45I disappeared?
14:45His voice dropped to a whisper.
14:48Chloe.
14:50You have some nerve.
14:51His right hand caught my wrist.
14:53He laced his fingers between mine and squeezed until my knuckles popped.
14:57Three years ago.
15:00You're the one who left me.
15:01And just like that, I was sobbing.
15:03Because he was right.
15:04Three years of running.
15:06Now we're left to run.
15:08Because?
15:08My voice cracked.
15:10Because I was terrified you were going to die in a fire.
15:13Liam went completely still on top of me.
15:16His breathing stopped.
15:17Then it came back fast and unseven, hot against my collarbone.
15:21I looked at him through tears.
15:23His face had gone white under the soot.
15:25It was pure terror.
15:27What did you just say?
15:28His voice was barely a thread.
15:32I lifted my hands.
15:34The cuffs had left thick red welds around both my wrists.
15:37I cupped his face anyway.
15:39My turn.
15:39Every time I hear a siren downtown, I start counting seconds.
15:42I never stop.
15:43Every fire on the news, I scroll the comments.
15:46I look for your name.
15:48Two years ago, a firefighter died at a building collapse over on 6th Avenue.
15:51I 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
16:00cried.
16:00Like a literal crazy person.
16:03My thumb brushed the old scar under his cheekbone.
16:05The one from the collapse he survived two summers ago.
16:08Liam, I never stopped loving you.
16:11I loved you too much to sit around waiting for that phone call.
16:14I'd rather lose you on my terms than lose you to a fire.
16:17At least this way I got to choose.
16:20At least this way I could lie to myself and say I left you.
16:24Liam's eyes spilled over.
16:25He couldn't get a word out.
16:27He buried his face in the cook of my neck.
16:29I could feel his heart slamming through his shirt.
16:32He held on to me like if he let go I'd evaporate.
16:35I pushed my fingers into his sweaty hair.
16:38I cried so hard I couldn't get a full breath.
16:41And then his breathing started to change.
16:46It got hotter.
16:47Heavier.
16:48His mouth moved up the side of my neck.
16:51Under my jaw.
16:52To the corner of my mouth.
16:54My fingers fisted in his hair.
16:56My back arched up off the mattress.
16:58Then a radio shrieked.
17:00We both froze.
17:01The radio on the chest of his coat.
17:03The red transmit light was blinking.
17:05All units.
17:06All units.
17:06Multiple explosions reported at Sinclair Chemical on the east side.
17:10Active fire.
17:11Structural failure.
17:12Engine 12.
17:12Respond code 3.
17:13Liam's eyes changed instantly.
17:15Heat gone.
17:16Hesitation gone.
17:17Pure work mode.
17:18He pushed off me so fast my fingers ripped out of his hair.
17:21He swiped his coat off the floor.
17:23Shrugged into it.
17:24Snapped every buckle in under 15 seconds.
17:26Belt back on.
17:27Rodeo on his shoulder.
17:28Helmet under his arm.
17:29He stopped at my bedroom door with his hand on the knob.
17:32He looked back at me.
17:33His face was calm.
17:35Almost flat.
17:36Lock the door behind me.
17:38If I make it back.
17:39The corner of his mouth lifted into that same crooked half smile.
17:43We're not done.
17:44The door closed.
17:45His boots pounded down my hallway.
17:47The fire engine roared to life on the street below.
17:50The siren screamed past my window and faded into the distance.
17:53And I was alone again.
17:55Counting seconds.
17:56Just like three years ago.
17:59I sat on the bed in the dark.
18:01The only thing in the room was the broken pink cuffs on the rug.
18:05I pulled my knees up to my chest and started shaking.
18:08Chemical fire.
18:09Multiple explosions.
18:11Active structural failure.
18:12Every nightmare I'd ever had was happening tonight.
18:15I scrambled for my phone and opened the news app.
18:18The top story was already live aerial footage.
18:21The eastern sky over the city was orange.
18:23Black smoke pumping into the air.
18:25The fire glow lighting up half the skyline.
18:27The anchor was talking fast.
18:2827 units on scene.
18:30Heavy rescue is now pushing into the interior of the second structure.
18:34Liam, come back.
18:35Please come back.
18:36And just like that, I was right back where I'd been three years ago.
18:39Back then, I lived two blocks from his firehouse.
18:42The second the siren faded, the waiting would start.
18:45The longest he was ever gone was almost two hours.
18:48When he finally walked back in, his left eyebrow was singed off.
18:53He poured himself a glass of water in my kitchen and drank it without saying a word.
18:58That night, I cried into my pillow until three in the morning.
19:01The next day, I told him it was over.
19:04And now here I was.
19:05Same fire glow.
19:07Same silence.
19:08Same fear.
19:11I watched the news for two hours.
19:14The fire was getting bigger.
19:15The first explosion had set off a chain reaction.
19:18The storage tanks were going one after another.
19:21The comments under the live stream went from praying for the crews to any casualties yet in real time.
19:26The aerial footage went from full dark to gray dawn to actual sunrise.
19:31The fire was still burning.
19:32By hour 10, I'd stopped crying.
19:34My eyes were swollen shut.
19:35Hour 11, a push notification dropped onto my lock screen.
19:38Breaking.
19:39Secondary collapse at Eastside Chemical Fire.
19:42Two firefighters reported critical.
19:43Identities pending family notification.
19:45My phone hit the floor and the screen shattered.
19:48There was a high ringing sound in my ears.
19:50I don't remember putting on shoes.
19:52I don't remember leaving my apartment.
19:54Uber wouldn't load.
19:56I started running down the sidewalk in my pajamas.
19:58One of my Converse came off around the third block.
20:01I kept running with one bare foot.
20:03A cab pulled over for me eventually.
20:06The driver took one look at me and fluttered it across town.
20:10The ER doors were propped open.
20:12Wall of noise.
20:13People crying.
20:14Doctors yelling.
20:15Radios crackling.
20:15The hallway was packed.
20:17Hospital gowns.
20:18Sochford turnout coats.
20:19Family members with red eyes.
20:20I pushed through.
20:21I checked every face.
20:23I must have looked at 20 firefighters.
20:25None 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.
20:36His turnout coat had melted holes in it.
20:38The right side of his face was wrapped in gauze.
20:40He was sobbing into his fire gloves.
20:43I crossed the hallway in three steps and grabbed his collar.
20:47Tyler, where is he?
20:49Where is Liam?
20:49Tyler looked up.
20:51He saw me and his face crumpled.
20:53Oh, ma'am.
20:54Oh, god, ma'am.
20:56The captain, he pushed us out first.
20:58He stayed at the front so we could get clear.
21:00And then the wall came down right on top.
21:02I didn't hear the rest.
21:03My knees folded and I dropped onto the line emolium.
21:06I couldn't breathe.
21:08Like physically couldn't breathe.
21:09I crawled across the floor to the trauma room doors.
21:12The red light above them was on.
21:14In procedure.
21:15I bought handcuffs.
21:16I played with them alone in my bedroom.
21:18He came in to save me.
21:20Now he was on a table behind those doors and he wasn't coming out.
21:24The light over the doors clicked off.
21:25The doors swung open.
21:27A white sheet was pulled all the way up over the body.
21:30The corner hung off, swaying as the orderly pushed it.
21:33I lost it.
21:34I crawled to the gurney.
21:36My knees hit the metal frame and I didn't feel it.
21:39I grabbed a fistful of the sheet.
21:42I was crying so hard I didn't even sound like myself.
21:46Liam.
21:48Liam!
21:49You son of a bitch!
21:51You do not get to die on me!
21:53I swear to God if you die I'm going on Tinder tonight.
21:56I'm going on Hinnage.
21:57I'm gonna date a hundred guys.
21:58Do you hear me?
21:59The orderly froze with his hands on the gurney rails.
22:01The nurse just stared.
22:03The whole ER was watching.
22:04I did not care.
22:05The only thing in the world was the white sheet.
22:07And then, from behind me a voice.
22:10Tired.
22:11Horsey.
22:12A little amused.
22:13Hi.
22:14Looking for me?
22:16My spine locked up.
22:20I'm not dead yet, sweetheart.
22:22I didn't dare move.
22:24I was still gripping the sheet.
22:27If I turned around and he wasn't there, I was gonna die right on this floor.
22:31Chloe.
22:32He said my name again.
22:33Closer now.
22:34Weak.
22:35Smiling.
22:35I turned around so slowly.
22:37Liam was heening against the wall at the end of the hallway.
22:40His termout coat was bunched around his waist.
22:42There was a thick wad of gauze taped to his left shoulder.
22:45His left arm was in a temporary cast in a sling.
22:47His face was streaked with soap and blood.
22:49His bottom lip was split.
22:51His left eyebrow was scorched off again.
22:53He was upright.
22:54He was breathing.
22:55He 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.
23:03The patient under the sheet is one of the chemical plant employees.
23:06He didn't make it.
23:06Captain 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.
23:17My legs were jelly.
23:18One bare foot.
23:19One sock.
23:20I walked across the hallway in slow motion.
23:22And then I ran the last two steps and threw myself at his chest.
23:25He grunt hard.
23:26His back slammed into the wall.
23:28His cast banged against the doorbrain and he sucked in a sharp breath.
23:31He didn't push me away.
23:32His good arm wrapped tight around my waist.
23:34I shoved my face into his shirt and started screaming.
23:38He patted my back.
23:39Real awkward.
23:40Hey.
23:41Hey.
23:42What's all this?
23:44His voice was scratchy and warm.
23:46You know what they say.
23:48Bad guys never die.
23:49And I still owe you a real night, baby.
23:52I'm not gonna miss that for a fire.
23:54His mouth dropped to my ear.
23:55To a whisper only I could hear.
23:57I cried harder and hit his chest with my fist.
24:00The nurses started laughing.
24:02Tyler was wiping his eyes and laughing too.
24:04A few bandaged up firefighters poked their heads out of the next room.
24:08One of them whistled.
24:09Get it, Captain!
24:12Liam flipped them off over my head.
24:14The tips of his ears went red.
24:21Three days later, Liam signed himself out AMA.
24:25He said the hospital bed was too hard and the food was an insult.
24:29He moved into my apartment with a paper bag full of prescriptions and zero discussion about it.
24:35He 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?
24:53The skin is still on half of it.
24:56I took a deep breath.
24:57I owed him three years.
24:59I could take this.
25:00He took a bite and talked with his mouth full.
25:03There's chicken soup in the fridge.
25:05Heat it up.
25:05I'm dying over here.
25:07I started walking toward the kitchen.
25:09Hey!
25:10Hey, hold up!
25:12I turned around.
25:14His good hand came out of his pocket holding the broken pink cuffs.
25:18You kept those?
25:19When did you even pick those up?
25:21You 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, way out of my reach.
25:38I climbed onto the bed and tried to push up on my knees.
25:41I could not get close.
25:44Liam, 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.
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.
26:26He 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, I 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 23 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.
28:11He 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.
29:30He 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.
29:45He 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.
29:57Other one.
29:58I held out my left wrist.
29:59The bruise was darker.
30:00His jaw clenched.
30:01He rubbed in more neopinon 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 is 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.
31:03I heard a muttered, God 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, crying the good kind.
31:131,023 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, sirens or no sirens, I'll be right here waiting.
31:361,0252, 5-0302, 5-0302.
31:375-0302, 5-0302, 5-0302, 6-0302.
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