- 6 hours ago
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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
00:1130 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
00:39purple. 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
01:10were turning blue. I was hoping a narcliffe would show up. Then I heard the sirens. They
01:16got louder. Then they were right outside my window. I heard boots running up the stairs.
01:22One kick and my front door was open. Fire rescue. Anyone home? Three guys in full turno gear
01:28flooded down my hallway. I tried to scream stop. Nothing came out. They burst into my
01:34bedroom. The captain pushed to the front. I stopped breathing. It was Liam, my ex-boyfriend.
01:41The man I broke up with three years ago. He was standing in my bedroom, staring at me.
01:48And I was just laying there. Dress up. Hands up. Everything. Knees apart because that was the
01:54only way the cuffs didn't pull. The rookie behind him made a strangled sound. He spun toward the wall
02:03so fast his helmet almost flew off. Oh god. Oh god. Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't, uh... Sir, these are
02:10novelty
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 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. Nobody argued.
02:38Tyler practically ran. The other two followed with their eyes glued to the floor. The bedroom door
02:43clicked shut. And then it was just us. My heartbeat was so loud I could feel it in my teeth.
02:48Liam pulled the bolt cutters off his belt. He set them down on my nightstand. He didn't move toward
02:53my wrists. He put one knee on the mattress instead. The bed sank. I literally slid toward him. My strap
02:59fell off my shoulder. I tried to shrug it back up. Couldn't. The cusses held my arms in place. His
03:06eyes
03:07tracked the strap. Then my collarbone. Then lower. He 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 wrapped around my
03:23ankle. 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. What are you doing? He didn't answer. He leaned over me. His mouth went to my ear. His chest
04:07brushed
04:08mine through the lace. My back arched off the mattress without my permission. Then his hands started
04:14sliding up my calf. Up the inside of my knee. He stopped right above my knee and just left his
04:20hand
04:20there. Burning a hole through me. So where is he? His voice scraped
04:27against my eardrum. Your hookup? Tinder match? Whatever. He chained you up and bounced?
04:38Real stand-up dude. I'd love to meet him. Every word hurt. I wasn't scared of him. I was guilty.
04:45So guilty I couldn't speak. He thought there was another man.
04:49And 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 my
05:00wrist. I sucked in a breath. His hands were rock steady. This guy pulls people out of car crashes
05:08for a living. He talked a jumper down off the 17th floor last spring. His hands don't shake.
05:12He was clenching his jaw so hard it looked like it hurt. I asked you a question, Chloe.
05:17His voice was dead quiet. Did you use protection? My brain stalled. Protection? Like a safety release
05:24on the cuffs? Did 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. He threw the bolt cutters on the
05:55floor with a thud. My wrists were finally free. I scrambled back against the headboard and yanked
06:02the duvet up to my chin. Okay. Thank you for the rescue. You can leave now. My voice was somewhere
06:08between a squeak and a sob. I really appreciate the response time. Tell the department I said thanks.
06:13Bye. Liam 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? The heavy coat dropped off his shoulders. He had on a black
06:28compression shirt soaked through with sweat. You could see every muscle in his back. I just stopped.
06:32Like, brain stopped. He grabbed the chair from my vanity. Walked it across the room. Wedged it
06:37under the doorknob. He sat down. Knees wide. Elbows on his thighs. Bloody hand dripping onto my floor.
06:43He didn't even look at it. I have to file an incident report. His tone was pure venom.
06:48So walk me through it, ma'am. Start to finish. When did he get here? How long was he here?
06:55What position were you in when he left? Take your time. Be specific. My nails dug into my palms.
07:01This was revenge. He'd been holding this in a long time and now I was going to pay for all
07:05of it.
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?
07:13I 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.
07:21This is my house, Liam. You don't get to do this.
07:25He didn't flinch. His mouth pulled into a slow smile with no warmth in it.
07:30No guy. So you cuffed yourself. To your own bed. Dressed like that.
07:37And then he stood up and started searching my room.
07:42I opened my mouth. I closed it. What was I supposed to say? That I bought sex toys to feel
07:48something.
07:48That this was my Saturday night, Liam. This is who I am now.
07:51He ripped my closet open. Hangers screeched across the bar. Scanning for anything male. Nothing.
07:57He kicked the storage bins out from under my bed. Flipped one open. Just my shoes.
08:02He yanked back my balcony curtain so hard the rod rattled. Empty.
08:06His eyebrows pulled together harder with every drawer. There was nothing in this apartment except
08:10me. There never had been. Then his eyes landed on my vanity. My heart stopped. Don't go over
08:17there. Please 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".
08:35In a slip. Trying to block a 6-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 up
08:50like I weighed nothing. He set me down against the wall and held me there with one hand on
08:54my 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 tape
09:07so many times the cardboard had gone soft. He sliced the tape with his thumbnail. The box flopped
09:12open. A photograph fluttered out and landed face up on the floor. Us. Summer. Three years ago.
09:20Outside Station 12. He was in his Navy duty uniform. I was up on my toes holding a Gatorade above
09:26his head,
09:26laughing because he was reaching for it. We looked stupid happy. Next to the photo was a leather
09:32journal. Forest green. The spine was cracked from being open so many times. Liam crouched down.
09:37He picked up the photo first. His thumb dragged across my face on the paper. Real slow. Then he
09:43picked 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. His arm
10:05caught my waist before I hit the floor. He never lowered the journal. He sat me down on the edge
10:10of
10:10the bed. Like a kid in timeout. He backed up two steps. Out of my reach. He opened the cover.
10:20First 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 read
10:32it out loud. His voice was already breaking before he got the first word out. Day 1023. They changed the
10:39sign tone at the firehouse down the block. Took me three days to get used to the new one.
10:46The old one was the siren Liam used to roll out on. I used to count seconds until the trucks
10:51came
10:51back. He kept reading. Walked past a guy at the mall today. Smoking Marlboro Reds. Liam used to smoke
10:57Marlboro Reds. I stopped in the middle of the food tort. I couldn't move. People were staring at me. I
11:03told
11:03myself I was just waiting for someone. I was actually waiting for my eyes to stop watering so I could
11:08keep
11:08walking. And then the last line. The one I wrote last night. Drunk on cheap wine. His voice cracked all
11:15the way through. Why does the smell of cigarettes still make me want to cry? The journal dropped
11:20from his hand and hung at his side. His knuckles were bone white around the spine. And then his whole
11:26face changed. His eyes were bloodshot. Like he hadn't slept in a week. The bedroom was completely
11:34silent. He looked down at the pink fluffy cusses on the floor. The anger drained out of him. The cruel
11:38smile was gone. What was left that some never seen on his face before. Grief. He'd figured it out.
11:45There was no guy. There was no hiccup who ran. There was just me. Three years of just me. Sleeping
11:53with his
11:53photo in a drawer. Writing his name in a book I never let anyone read. Even the sex toys were
11:59mine.
12:00There's been nobody else. I slid off the bed onto the floor and put my face in my knees.
12:05My shoulders were shaking. This 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. Happy now, Captain? Mystery solved. Chloe Park, 26, certified loser.
12:21Can't get over her ex three years later. Buy sex toys to cope. You can put that in your incident
12:27report. Have a great night. I pointed at the door. Get out. Just leave me a little bit of dignity.
12:33Please. 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 the rug.
12:48Soft. Then footstess. Coming closer. Close enough that I could smell him. Smoke. Sweat. Iron from his
12:58blood. His hand came up under my chin and lifted my face. His palm was rough and warm. His fingertips
13:04were trembling against my jaw. I had to look at him. His eyes were wet. Red rimmed. He looked like
13:11he
13:11was barely holding it together. He dropped to one knee in front of me. This is the guy who rips
13:16car
13:17doors open with his bare hands. He carried two kids out of a 15th floor fire last year.
13:23And I'm the idiot who walked away from him. If you missed me this bad. His voice was barely
13:30working. His thumb wiped the tears off my cheek. He reached for the duty belt at his hip. The buckle
13:36came undone with a metallic clink that I felt in my stomach. He leaned in and pressed his forehead
13:42against mine. Nose to nose. Why are you using plastic toys, baby? Use me.
13:48I couldn't speak. He kissed me. Hard. Like everything he'd swallowed for years coming out
13:54at once. The back of my head bumped against the side of the bed. His palm shot up to cradle
13:59it before I felt it. His other hand grabbed my waist and hauled me onto the mattress. He climbed
14:05on 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
14:33show up and kiss me. What am I to you, Liam? He braced himself over me on his elbows. His
14:40chest
14:40was heaving. He licked the blood off his bottom lip and looked down at me. I disappeared?
14:46His voice dropped to a whisper. Chloe, you have some nerve. His right hand caught my wrist.
14:53He laced his fingers between mine and squeezed until my knuckles popped.
14:57Three years ago, you're the one who left me.
15:01And just like that, I was sobbing. Because he was right. Three years of running. Now we're left to
15:06run. Because... My voice cracked. Because I was terrified you were going to die in a fire.
15:13Liam went completely still on top of me. His breathing stopped. Then it came back fast and
15:19unseavened. Hot against my collarbone. I looked at him through tears. His face had gone white under
15:24the soot. It was pure terror. What did you just say? His voice was barely a thread.
15:32I lifted my hands. The cuffs had left thick red welds around both my wrists. I cupped his face
15:38anyway. My turn. Every time I hear a siren downtown, I start counting seconds. I never stop. Every fire on
15:44the news. I scroll the comments. I look for your name. Two years ago, a firefighter died
15:49at a building collapse over on 6th Avenue. I locked myself in my office bathroom and threw up for an
15:54hour. When I found out it wasn't you, I sat on the bathroom floor and laughed until I cried.
16:00Like a literal crazy person.
16:02My thumb brushed the old scar under his cheekbone. The one from the collapse he survived two summers
16:07ago.
16:08Liam, 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
16:15than 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.
16:24Liam's eyes spilled over. He couldn't get a word out. He buried his face in the cook of my neck.
16:29I could feel his heart slamming through his shirt. He held onto me like if he let go, I'd evaporate.
16:35I pushed my fingers into his sweaty hair. I cried so hard I couldn't get a full breath.
16:41And then his breathing started to change.
16:45It got hotter. Heavier.
16:48His mouth moved up the side of my neck. Under my jaw. To the corner of my mouth.
16:54My fingers fisted in his hair. My back arched up off the mattress. Then a radio shrieked.
17:00We both froze. The radio on the chest of his coat. The red transmit light was blinking.
17:05All units. All units. Multiple explosions reported at Sinclair Chemical on the east side.
17:10Active fire. Structural failure. Engine 12. Respond code 3.
17:13Liam's eyes changed instantly. Heat gone. Hesitation gone. Pure work mode. He pushed off me so fast my
17:20fingers ripped out of his hair. He swiped his coat off the floor. Shrugged into it. Snapped every buckle in
17:25under 15 seconds. Belt back on. Rodeo on his shoulder. Helmet under his arm. He stopped at
17:30my bedroom door with his hand on the knob. He looked back at me. His face was calm. Almost flat.
17:36Lock the door behind me. If I make it back. The corner of his mouth lifted into that same
17:41crooked half smile. We're not done. The door closed. His boots pounded down my hallway. The fire
17:48engine roared to life on the street below. The siren screamed past my window and faded into the
17:52distance. And I was alone again. Counting seconds. Just like three years ago.
17:59I sat on the bed in the dark. The only thing in the room was the broken pink cuffs on
18:04the rug.
18:05I pulled my knees up to my chest and started shaking. Chemical fire. Multiple explosions.
18:11Active structural failure. Every nightmare I'd ever had was happening tonight. I scrambled for my phone
18:16and opened the news app. The top story was already live aerial footage. The eastern sky over the city
18:22was orange. Black smoke pumping into the air. The fire glow lighting up half the skyline. The anchor
18:27was talking fast. 27 units on scene. Heavy rescue is now pushing into the interior of the second
18:33structure. Liam, come back. Please come back. And just like that, I was right back where I'd been
18:38three years ago. Back then I lived two blocks from his firehouse. The second the siren faded,
18:44the waiting would start. The longest he was ever gone was almost two hours. When he finally walked
18:49back in, his left eyebrow was singed off. He poured himself a glass of water in my kitchen and drank
18:57it
18:57without saying a word. That night I cried into my pillow until three in the morning. The next day I
19:02told
19:02him it was over. And now here I was. Same fire glow. Same silence. Same fear.
19:11I watched the news for two hours. The fire was getting bigger. The first explosion had set off
19:17a chain reaction. The storage tanks were going one after another. The comments under the live stream
19:23went from praying for the crews to any casualties yet in real time. The aerial footage went from full
19:28dark to gray dawn to actual sunrise. The fire was still burning. By hour 10, I'd stopped crying.
19:34My eyes were swollen shut. Hour 11, a push notification dropped onto my lock screen.
19:38Breaking. Secondary collapse at Eastside Chemical Fire. Two firefighters reported critical. Identities
19:44pending family notification. My phone hit the floor and the screen shattered. There was a high ringing
19:49sound in my ears. I don't remember putting on shoes. I don't remember leaving my apartment. Uber
19:55wouldn't load. I started running down the sidewalk in my pajamas. One of my converse came off around
20:00the third block. I kept running with one bare foot. A cab pulled over for me eventually.
20:06The driver took one look at me and fluttered it across town. The ER doors were propped open. Wall of
20:12noise. People crying. Doctors yelling. Radios crackling. The hallway was packed. Hospital gowns.
20:18Soachford turnout coats. Family members with red eyes. I pushed through. I checked every face. I must
20:24have looked at 20 firefighters. None of them was Liam. At the end of the corridor, I spotted Tyler.
20:31The rookie. Curled up in a plastic chair like he wanted to disappear into it. His turnout coat had
20:37melted holes in it. The right side of his face was wrapped in gauze. He was sobbing into his fire
20:42gloves. I crossed the hallway in three steps and grabbed his collar. Tyler, where is he? Where is Liam?
20:49Tyler looked up. He saw me and his face crumpled. Oh ma'am. Oh god, ma'am. The captain, he
20:57pushed us
20:57out first. He stayed at the front so we could get clear. And then the wall came down right on
21:02top.
21:02I didn't hear the rest. My knees folded and I dropped onto the linemolium. I couldn't breathe.
21:08Like physically couldn't breathe. I crawled across the floor to the trauma room doors. The red light
21:13above them was on. In procedure. I bought handcuffs. I played with them alone in my bedroom. He came in
21:19to save me. Now he was on a table behind those doors and he wasn't coming out. The light over
21:24the doors clicked off. The doors swung open. A white sheet was pulled all the way up over the body.
21:30The corner hung off, swaying as the orderly pushed it. I lost it. I crawled to the gurney. My knees
21:37hit the
21:37metal frame and I didn't feel it. I grabbed a fistful of the sheet. I was crying so hard I
21:44didn't even
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 watching.
22:04I did not care. The only thing in the world was the white sheet. And then, from behind me, a
22:09voice.
22:10Tired. 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.
22:27If I turned around and he wasn't there, I was gonna die right on this floor.
22:31Chloe. He said my name again. Closer now. Weak. Smiling. I turned around so slowly.
22:37Liam was heening against the wall at the end of the hallway. His termout coat was bunched around
22:42his waist. There was a thick wad of gauze taped to his left shoulder. His left arm was in a
22:46temporary
22:46cast in a sling. His face was streaked with soat and blood. His bottom lip was split. His left eyebrow
22:51was scorched off again. He was upright. He was breathing. He was smiling crooked at me.
22:59The doctor walked up and pushed his glasses up his nose. Ma'am, there's been a misunderstanding.
23:03The patient under 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 off the
23:16floor.
23:17My legs were jelly. One bare foot. One sock. I walked across the hallway in slow motion.
23:22And then I ran the last two steps and threw myself at his chest. He grunt hard. His back
23:27slammed into the wall. His cast banged against the doorbrain and he sucked in a sharp breath.
23:30He didn't push me away. His good arm wrapped tight around my waist. I shoved my face into his
23:36shirt and started screaming. He patted my back. Real awkward.
23:40Hey. Hey. What's all this?
23:43His voice was scratchy and warm.
23:46You know what they say. Bad guys never die. And I still owe you a real night, baby.
23:51I'm not gonna 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 the
24:27food 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
25:02his 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. I lunged at him. He held the
25:35cuffs up
25:35over his head, way out of my reach. I climbed onto the bed and tried to push up on my
25:40knees.
25:41I could not get close.
25:43Liam, 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. His 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.
26:30I 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, a nice guy with a 9-to-5, who came home every night at
27:406.
27:40That 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.
27:58I'm done being noble.
28:00I'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.
29:03He 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.
29:44He 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.
29:55His touch was almost too soft.
29:57Another one.
29:57I 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.
30:06He 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, 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.
31:12One 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.
31:38Sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or
31:38no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens
31:38or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no
31:38sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or
31:38no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens
31:38or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no
31:38sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or
31:38no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens or no sirens
31:38or no sirens or no s
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