Love & Ruins (#2)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six: Evan

"Don't bring me back to my father. Please."

I gaped, not knowing what to do with that information as Maggie fully collapsed in my arms, unconscious.

What the hell?

I blinked in shock, trying to process the predicament that was conferred to me, examining Maggie's state. Her hair was matted to her forehead because of sweat, her makeup was smudged, and as I pulled her close to my chest, her breathing was labored, and once I got a waft of it through my nostrils, it was clear she had too much to drink.

The people around the dance floor watched the scene in perplexity, and not wanting to let them see Maggie in this condition any further, I rose to my feet while I still held her.

Looping my arm around the back of her knees while the other held onto her shoulders, I hoisted her up in a swift motion and cradled her. Her head was nestled on my shoulder, and her face came too close for contact with the crook of my neck.

I felt my chest flutter due to the proximity, thinking how it's been years since I've last had the chance to be in a close vicinity around her let alone touch her like how I used to.

Now I'm here, carrying her limp form in my arms, and feeling every bare skin of her body touch mine, electricity clapping through my veins at how strangely intimate this feels.

What's weirder, is that despite how abrupt all of this, is that it feels normal. She doesn't feel like a stranger being bolstered in my arms, the sense of withdrawal I've felt from her these past few days instantly vanished as I held her so close that I almost wanted to keep it this way for as long as it's still appropriate.

It should feel strange, but it doesn't. The entire situation is surprising, surely, but the physical intimacy of it is familiar to my senses as if nothing's changed between us. As if she was always meant to be here.

As if having her in my arms fills in the gaps.

Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature. Each of us, then, is a matching half of a human whole... and each of us is always seeking the half that matches him.

I shook my head, thinking I've read too much fucking Plato to be thinking this way in the middle of a nightclub with approximately forty people waddling around me.

With that, I crossed the sea of damp bodies and made sure she was secured in my hold, shielding the back of her head to prevent it from bumping into items, edges, or strangers as I navigated through the crowd, determined to bring her to safety.

Flashes of the night prior before she passed out came back to mind, glimpses of her face appearing overwrought while some fucking asshole took advantage of her rewinding in my memory.

I gritted my teeth, a flame of protectiveness scorching through my bones wondering if I hadn't stepped in or never noticed her at all, is that she would've ended up in a much harmful situation than the one I had found her in, my heart pounding frantically at the thought as I steered her out of the scene, but not before I stopped at the booth the group was situated in to tell them I'll be leaving.

When they looked up, they were dumbfounded to see Maggie in my arms, asking what had happened and I cut right to the chase, saying that it's nothing and that she was just intoxicated.

I told them to enjoy the rest of the night while I took Maggie home, which they were more than understanding about, and told me to be careful with her.

I couldn't help but laugh under my breath, thinking I don't have to be told how to handle someone whose safety always comes first to me.