Judge, Jury, & Executioner

Chapter 33

Maddox ran down the street wearing the coat He'd given her. She hadn't run so fast in her life. Something finally clicked. She'd denied it long enough. Maybe it wasn't as black and white as Reaves' book made it seem. It was true.

She did care about him. More than she cared to admit.

When Whelan was talking to Reaves about him avoiding the date, Maddox had been watching from the observation room. She ignored it, but after reading the dedication, it was true. She just had to know how true.

The last time she felt this way, it didn't end well. But what her father said just kept echoing in her mind. Repeating over and over.

You only get one shot. Don't miss.

It was practically his motto. He'd tell her that whenever he wanted her to be better. And she remembered that motto with everything. But this was the first time she'd thought of it in years.

Don't miss.

He told her that right before he disappeared. The last day she spoke to him. He told her that. He reminded her that she had a life to live. And she only had one shot. So don't miss.

But right now was the only time she felt that it mattered. This was the only choice she knew she had to make.

She dodged a taxi and she crossed the street. His house was at the end of the street. She smacked into a guy running the other direction and they both fell to the ground. Her bruises all seemed to get hit and she moaned.

"Are you okay?" He asked helping her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She said before looking at him. "Reaves?!"

"Maddox?!"

They both let out a slight chuckle before letting an awkward silence. Do you think he knows I was running to his house? He looked at her and had a weird smile. He knows.

"I-" They both started.

"You go-" they both said before laughing.

"Go ahead," Reaves said to her.

She smiled before clearing her throat. The pit seemed to have grown since the precinct. He looked slightly embarrassed and was uneasy.

"I Uh, I read the dedication," She said.

His expression changed to pure panic.

"I'm sorry. In that argument earlier I was just trying to get the last word and this is not how I imagined you reading that. I imagined you sitting on a beach years from now reading it and then shaking my hand at a book signing or something-"

"Reaves!" Maddox yelled interrupting him. "Is that how you feel?"

He seemed to be unable to breath or move other than his head to turn funny. He tried to form words and was utterly failing.

Then he started shaking his head yes really quickly.

"I know you probably hate me. And don't feel the same. I was in a rough place when I wrote the dedication and I may have felt that. Um, but I understand if you never felt anything because this-this is really awkward- and I-I don't know what to say-to say," Reaves said scratching the back of his head.

Reaves looked panicked and then he began pacing. She hadn't seen him this squirmy.

"Your amazing. I mean, amazing. And I have nothing to say, other than I may-maybe I had feelings for you. That may still-possibly- be there. But that's not saying you have to have those feelings."

Maddox gripped her hands together and stared at him. Almost completely motionless.

"Please say something?" Reaves said to her.

In his panic and freaked out state, she wasn't sure what to say. Was this really freaking him out this much? Was this a sign? Maddox wasn't sure even why she came now.

He wasn't acting like the childish guy he normally was. Instead, he was being insecure. Something she'd never seen him like. He scratched the back of his head again and then fiddled with his hands.

"Reaves, I-"

She heard something behind her and she turned to see a man walking up to them. He was wearing a black hoodie and had blonde hair. He stopped about two feet from Maddox.

"Detective Ryan Maddox?" He asked.

"Uh, Yeah. Why?" She replied.

"Give your father my regards."

It all happened so fast she wasn't sure what had happened. The bullets pierced through her and fell backwards. Intense pain flooded her system.

"Ryan!" Reaves yelled falling to her side.

She felt where the pain started and looked at her hand. Covered in blood. She coughed and then saw Reaves squeezing her hand. Someone came running up to them and Maddox felt the pain getting worse as it was also becoming numb.

"I like you. Like, like like you," He said as he squeezed her hand. "So don't die, before I know how you feel."

I'm getting blood on your coat.

Maddox's vision slowly blurred and the sounds all mixed together. She closed her eyes to what sounded like screaming. It seemed to go on for an eternity. Darkness and screams.

An unending nightmare?

The End.