Forever

Chapter 1. Maimed By Love

Taylor's POV:

I was grateful...

I was happy...

But I was also afraid.

You know the feeling when you love a certain thing so much that you become afraid of losing it? The more you love it, the more fear you have of losing it?

That's exactly how I felt about Joe. I had never been this cautious in a relationship my whole life. Also I have never loved someone with this much intensity either. It felt like I needed to hide him and protect him from the world I put him in myself. He was my treasure and it felt like everyone wanted to steal it from me.

I tried to convince myself that the world wasn't after us all the time but the feeling quickly changed for the worse.

I stayed extra close to him whenever we went out with friends, I made sure no girl was eyeing him up or talking to him. If someone did then I'd quickly go up to them and start to talk myself so they'd know what they were dealing with. He was too polite to say anything to people but I wasn't...

In simple words, I was afraid. I was happy but I was also afraid. And after Joe almost died for me, that feeling reached the ceiling. So much so that I'd wake up in the middle of the night just to make sure he was breathing because I had terrible nightmares about him dying every other day. I hadn't really talked about this with him because the wounds were still to raw. I wasn't ready to talk about what happened without breaking down. I was maimed by the incidents. And I wanted to give us some time so we could go back to normal. If that is even possible...

"Baby dinner's ready!" I heard Joe calling from downstairs. He had insisted on cooking for us today because usually I'm the one who cooks the meals.

"Coming!" I called back putting the hair brush down. It was January and the snow outside had started to stick to the ground. My family had gone back to Nashville after everything was settled and my mom had promised to come back in a few weeks.

I secured the J necklace around my neck before descending the stairs. Joe was standing by the kitchen aisle taking out wine from the wine cellar.

The aroma of the food had filled the entire living room. "Wow..." I said going over to the dining table. "This looks devouring..." My mouth literally watered as I stared at the steak and white rice.

Joe beamed as he joined me on the dining table and we sat down to eat. "I played it safe with the dish because I know you fancy a medium rare steak anytime." He said at he grabbed a plate and started to fill it with all the goodies on the table. He placed it in front of me before filling up his own plate.

"That I do." I said taking a bite into the food, "Oh-ma-God-e-so-guudd..." I said looking up at the ceiling with my mouth full.

Joe gave a small laugh at my expression as he dug into his own food. We ate in silence enjoying each other's company without having to say anything else.

It was a miracle that we both ended up together after everything that had happened. I was highly aware of that. And that is why every second seemed like something out of a movie. Joe was here cooking me food and I was enjoying it...

After dinner, I helped him with the dishes then we both sat down to watch some mindless T.V after filing up the cats bowl with food for the night.

"You want to watch something specific?" Joe asked as he flipped through the channels. I stared at the T.V with my head on his shoulder.

"No, I'm too lazy to focus on anything right now..." I honestly said.

I felt Joe puff out his breath at my reply, "Same..." He stopped at a random Chinese cooking channel and placed his arm around my waist. I felt his lips on top of my head as he rested his face on it.