Knock Down, Drag Out / Book One

Chapter Twenty Four

Darcy allowed Maddox to guide her back into the waiting room after checking on her sister and Elijah, the hospital staff the same nurses and doctors that she used to work with so they understood that she needed to see for herself that her family was doing okay. They knew that she wasn't trying to step on the toes of the doctor assigned to both of their cases, she just needed the reminded that they were really safe.

"Come on, baby. Let's go home for a little bit. We need to talk," Maddox encouraged, running his hand down Darcy's back and holding her hip possessively in his hand. He had made a quick call to Elijah's contact in Demon Ink once they arrived at the hospital to let them know that they could stop the manhunt on their side, and they told him they had cleaned up his apartment so it was ready for them as soon as they wanted to go back home.

Darcy allowed herself to sag against his chest, borrowing his strength. She knew that this was wrong, knew that she needed to stand on her own two feet and find strength in herself to face the world without Maddox; but she was so damned tired. She just wanted to wrap herself up in the way he made her feel and demand he love her back, because she didn't have the courage or energy to deal with him leaving.

He ushered her out to the parking lot and helped her get into the passenger seat of the minivan, even buckling her up because she just sat there and stared blankly ahead. She closed her eyes and laid her head against the door once Maddox shut it, slipping one of her hands under her shirt to rest it against her stomach.

Ruby had insisted that she take another pregnancy test and get an ultrasound just to make sure that the baby was fine, which it was. The test came back with a positive sign and despite not being far enough along for the baby to have a heartbeat, the ultrasound did show that the tiny little blob growing inside of her was safe and sound.

Maddox got into the van and started the engine, pulling smoothly out of the parking lot and actually going the correct speed limit. He didn't feel the desire to drive like a bat out of Hell now that he had two irreplaceable passengers. He looked over at Darcy and took his right hand off the steering wheel, tangling his fingers with Darcy's and squeezing.

"Please don't," Darcy choked, trying to yank her hand away from Maddox's. "Don't act like everything is fine between us when it's not. You're leaving! You don't get to act like we're this big, happy family that has a future when in less than twenty four hours we go our separate ways! Just fucking stop. Let me have some peace in this so you don't completely shatter me."

Maddox clenched the steering wheel so tightly that the knuckles on his left hand turned white, the tears in her voice breaking his heart. He untangled their fingers and jerked the steering wheel to the left, going into an empty parking lot in front of an store front with a 'For Lease' sign in the door. He slammed the van into park and got out, stalking to the passenger side and yanking the door open. Darcy stared up at him when he braced his forearms against the roof and leaned in close to her.

"Despite the bullshit that has been continuously coming out of your mouth and filling your head," he hissed, moving in closer so he could look Darcy directly in her eyes, "I have yet to say a single fucking thing about this because I wanted to do it right. But you keep going on like you know exactly what's going through my head, and you've decided that I'm going to break your heart. Fuck that."

He glared at her and shook his head when she opened up her mouth to interrupt him. She had her time to go off on him back at the cabin and in the car, but right now she would listen to him; damn it. He wasn't about to let her throw away their life together before he even got to say what he wanted.

"I told Landon that I was in love with you a day before Lylah announced to the entire fucking world that you were pregnant. I asked my mom if you could just keep her ring so I could ask you for real if you'd marry me the night we all found out because I am so God-damned in love with you, and our fucking baby, that it terrifies me to think about my life without you in it. And if you think for some bizarre fucking reason I'm only doing this because I'm a good guy, I assure you that I'm not one. I killed a man tonight and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'll be able to sleep just fine. I beat the ever loving shit out of other grown men as a profession, and I like it. Accept the fact that I love you and I want this, us and our baby, to be my version of forever."

Darcy sniffled and wiped away the tears that had rolled down her cheeks, trying to process what Maddox had just said to her. She had been so caught up in her own self-pity and determination to keep some part of her whole that she blocked out the small part of her that had hoped he would stay. Trying to save yourself from heartbreak could make you act and think like a crazy person.

She brushed her thumb against the band of Ruby's engagement ring, one that already had thirty one years of love embedded in it's history and hoped that it would get so many more. She unbuckled and turned in her seat, slipping her arms around Maddox's waist and shoving her face against his chest. They would have a lot to learn about each other, a lot to work through and around, but they would do this. There wasn't any Darcy without Maddox or Maddox without Darcy.

"Take me home, Maddox. Just take me home and love me. And please, for the love of God, don't break me."