Crazy Stupid Love

Chapter 74: Million Dollar Question

"Ellington!" I beg. "Please, stay with me."
"Marriya," he murmurs. "I love you."
"'No, don't you do this!" I plead; tears streaming down my face. "Don't act like you're dying, because you're not!"
His tired eyes begin to glass over, and blood coats his mouth as he coughs weakly.
"Why did you do this? It's my fault we're here, I deserved to die," I whisper. "You shouldn't have taken that bullet for me."
Cradling his weak body in my arms; I watch my only brother bleed out through the bullet hole in his chest. As I brush the hair from his eyes, I notice sweat covering his icy skin.
"You have your whole life in front of you. My wife and my daughter are already gone, you were the only thing I had left to live for. There was no way I was going to let you die too," he replies shakily.
"No one is dying! We need to get out of here! Someone, help!"
"They're coming, Marriya," Riker says. "We have to go."
"No! I'm not leaving him!" I scream.
"I see them," Ellington murmurs. "Rydel... Abby...."
"Ell-"
"Mom and Dad are here too," he breathes.
My sobs become hysterical; my desperate screams echo through the empty room.
"Please don't leave me alone!" I bawl.
"You have to let me go," my brother begs.
"I love you," I whimper.
And just like that, he dies. His dark eyes glass over, and his chest stops rising. My gaze remains intently on him, watching for any sign of life. Any reason to have hope.
"We have to go!" Rocky screams. "There's more coming!"
"No!"
Despite my violent thrashing and tear stained face, Riker manages to pick me up and sling my body over one of his shoulders. My desperate pleads for the last member of my family to wake up turn into screams of pain, but the three Lynch boys continue moving.
"We can't leave them!" I demand.
Finally conceding, Rocky and Ross go back for the bodies of our brothers. They emerge from the parkade with the bloody lifeless forms of two of the men closest to my heart, and I can't bare to watch. Burying my face in Riker's shirt; I lose all the fight left in me. My heart weighs heavy in my chest, and I can't shake the image of my brothers smiling face from my mind. Him being gone just doesn't feel real to me. I'm 17 years old, and I'm an orphan. My entire family is dead.
"Here!" Riker calls out.
We duck into an alley between buildings, and Rocky dials 911. Everyone is soaked in blood and sweat; tears and dirt staining all of our tired faces. Ross holds me tight to his shaking body, and I can't tell which one of us is crying harder. Riker and Rocky try to hold on to last bit of strength in their bodies, but it's no use. We've all lost a brother today.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It's been three weeks since I came home, and so much has changed. Cole and his men are in jail, Ellington and Ryland are buried with the rest of our family, and Ross has moved into my house with me.
"Hey, Marriya," Ross calls out. "Come here!"
Rising from the couch, I walk out to the backyard from where I heard his voice. As I step outside, my breath catches in my throat.
Candles light the a pathway through the night to where I see my boyfriend standing. He is dressed in a sharp black suit; a bouquet of roses held gently in his arms.
"Ross?" I question as I walk towards him.
He places the roses down beside him and takes my hands in his.
"I know we've lost a lot, and no one should have to suffer this much at our age. We've lost our parents, our siblings, and at one point we even lost each other. Somehow we found out way back together, and that's a really special thing. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want there to come a day where I've spent more of my life with you than without you. I promise to love you every day for the rest of forever. You are the true love of my life, and I know we've only been together for a year, but I know you're the one for me. We are meant to end up together. So Marriya Hannah Ratliff, will you marry me?"
For the first time in what feels like forever, the emotion consuming my chest is happiness.
"Yes!" I cry.
Happy tears well in his eyes as he rises to kiss me.
"I love you," he murmurs against my lips.
"I love you too."
As he holds me in his arms, I am sure this is the place I'm meant to be for the rest of my life.
"Come with me," he decides.
"Where are we going?" I question.
Lacing his fingers with mine; he pulls me back into the house and towards the stairs. He leads me into R5's basement studio, and grabs an acoustic guitar.
Everything about this room is exactly the same. No one has been down here since Rydel passed away. Now that Ellington is gone, the band is over for good.
"What are we doing down here?" I ask.
"You're going to help me write a song," he replies.
Grabbing his spiral notebook, he opens to a fresh page and scribbles the words "Crazy Stupid Love" across the top.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Hey loves! I know this chapter wasn't my best work, but I hope you enjoyed the end to this book! There will be an epilogue coming later this week, and then this book is over! Please don't forget to vote and comment!

I will be starting a new book pretty soon called "Haven", so don't forget to follow me to be notified when it's up! Thank you all so much!

All the love. Always.
~Hannah xxx