The Risk of Falling

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Fall Hard, Fight Forever

A/N: Hi everyone! The Risk of Falling was the first book I ever started here in Wattpad. It had taken a backseat behind other projects and I never knew if it would ever fully get written. So it makes my head spin a little bit that it has.

I'm happy with this story for its simplicity and for the things that ring true to you and me. I hope that you enjoyed the many chapters of Max and Luke starting as friends, warily attempting not to be more, fighting and figuring their way out to the inevitable and finally, finding what we can only hope to have in our lives someday-a sweet yet brave love that could see the rainbow and enjoy the rain.

Thank you for staying chapter after chapter all the way until the end. Enjoy!

***

"Yes, we'll be fine, I promise. I'll keep you posted, okay?" I said patiently on the phone as I sifted a ladle through a pile of beef strips and vegetables in the wok. "Love you, too, Gramps."

I sighed as I put the phone back down in its cradle on the counter. It hadn't been an easy conversation with my grandfather considering how protective he was of me. Unfortunately, I had a feeling this was yet to be the last effort at collateral damage that Luke and I would have to make.

"Is he mad?"

I turned around and found Luke standing by the doorway of the apartment, his face drawn tight with exhaustion, his jaw clenched. He looked about ten times worse than he did this morning which was understandable considering he'd been in several meetings with lawyers and his PR team all day. In fact, this was the first time we'd seen each other since our conversation at his office this morning.

I smiled. "He's very... concerned. Don't worry, I explained everything to him. He knows we can handle this."

A faint smile curved up a corner of Luke's mouth as he shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it on the couch. "Are you just telling me this to make me feel better?"

I turned off the burner and took off my apron before making my way to him. I circled my arms around his neck, standing on my tiptoes and kissing his cheek. "Maybe. I don't want to add to your stress. Gramps's concerns are valid but he'll have to trust us more than Lola and the papers when it comes to the truth."

"I'm glad the talk with Elise worked," he said, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear and grazing his thumb across my cheek. "She's very persuasive when she wants to be. When I was trying to stay away from you and kidding myself that it was for the best, she kept trying to talk me out of it. I figured she'd help talk you out of leaving me."

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly, it hadn't been necessary because I wasn't going anywhere. But still, I appreciated having that conversation with Elise because she and I talked about things that you should've probably talked to me about."

Luke grimaced slightly. "She told you all about the accident, didn't she? I didn't tell you at first because Elise doesn't like to talk about it. It required revealing her injury and the last thing she wants is to have people act weirdly around her. After she recovered from the physical and emotional trauma, she decided to live as normally as possible. Considering my contribution to that disaster, the least I could do was respect her wishes and let her be."

The guilt was plain on Luke's face. Even after all these years, even after the peace he and Elise had made about it, a big part of him still felt responsible. And maybe that would take time to truly fade but right now, it helped me see us in hindsight and understand the pull that countered every step Luke took toward me.

Guilt is a bag over your head that blocks almost everything out and forces you to trust nothing in the dark. The monsters that emerge from the shadows look different to each one of us because when we can't see anything, it's easy to imagine the very things that terrify us the most.