Valor

Chapter 61

*The older brothers r kinda winning lately...

164k words. guys i literally thought i'd be done by now but we r def looking at 200k ..at least 15 more chapters. sorry not sorry

Maverick

I'm running down the hallway.

As soon as the door is within reach, I kick it open, not even bothering on trying the handle. The room is pitchblack, but I don't sense anyone in here.

There's no noise.

I don't even hear the steady inhale of breath. That's what scares me the most.

She's not fucking here.

I find a pair of boxers and a shredded white t shirt that are caked in dried blood. Her blood.

I grip the t shirt in my hands and rise from the floor. She's gone.

My body moves slowly towards the bed. As I get closer, the dark crimson stains become noticeable.

I can make out thick twine tied to the headboard before it disappears below the mountain of sheets.

I rip everything off of the bed until I see what deep down I know is underneath.

Lilah lays there, her body unmoving, covered in blood and grime. Her entire form is covered in deep wounds; so deep I can see her muscles lying deft underneath. Her body is cold to the touch and her skin is so white she looks like a ghost.

"Lilah, baby?" I ask, my voice hoarse with emotion. She doesn't respond. Her dead body unmoving just as a feared.

She's dead.

She's dead.

I coulnd't save her.

...

I shoot awake, covered in a thin layer of sweat as I struggle to catch my breath. I feel like my heart is beating outside of my chest.

It felt so real. Lilah was dead. Lilah was laying there in the bed, dead.

I got there too late. She trusted me to make it to her in time and I couldn't.

I glance down at the woman next to me, taking in every inch of her to somehow convince myself that she's ok.

She's here. She's safe.

Parts of her skin are still red and bruised, while her cuts are scabbed over. I don't dare look away. I force myself to take in every pain that was inflicted on her–all because of me.

Her lips are parted as her chest rises and falls in a steady motion, but her eyebrows are furrowed, almost as if, just like me, she's being tortured by her subconscious.

Just as I thought, she begins to whimper in her sleep, curling her body into the fetal position and wrapping her hands around her head to protect it.

"Lilah, baby, wake up." I whisper as I rub her shoulders.

Her eyes shoot open and in the next moment my arms are pinned to the bed with Lilah straddling me. My eyes are wide on hers as she tries to make sense of what just happened.

"Mav?" She asks, blinking the remnants of sleep from her eyes as she loosens her grip on my wrists. She doesn't move from my lap so I move my hands to her hips, staring up at her ruffled brown hair and her glassy blue eyes.