Sparta ~Tommy Conlon

Chapter 37: You could never hurt me

Malia's POV:

Tess and I waited in Brendan's locker room for about 10 minutes before I pushed off the wall and started pacing again. "Malia, relax,"

"Tess, where are they? Did we go to the wrong locker room?"

She looked at me, "Maybe they're in Tommy's locker room." My eyes lit up and I ran for the locker room door. "Malia, wait!" Tess called out while laughing.

She caught up to me and led me through the hallway. We were looking at each locker room name tag. Koba, Mad Dog, Tommy Riordan. Tess pushed the door open and she locked eyes with Brendan. She ran to him and as I shut the door I looked to see that behind them, was my husband. I let out a silent breath, Tess and Brendan walked over to me and Tess whispered to me, "We're going to give you guys some space. Come by the hotel later, we're room 221."

I nodded and tears started falling down my cheeks, I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around him. I felt him tense up immediately and he pushed me away, his beautiful blue eyes met mine and I smiled. "Malia..?"

I smiled brighter and nodded, he stood up and wrapped his right arm around me and I wrapped both of my arms around his waist not wanting to put any pressure on his shoulder. I didn't care that Tommy was all sweaty, it was so good to be in his arms again. Being away from him for 4 months was incredibly difficult for me, I don't know how I survived without him while he was in Iraq. I was crying so hard, I felt like I was whole again. I felt his body shaking so I looked up at him. "What's wrong?"

He was crying, "I thought I lost you,"

I shook my head, "No, Tommy, no you won't ever lose me," I pulled him back into a hug and squeezed my eyes shut.

"How'd you get away from him?" Tommy mumbled.

I responded without breaking the hug, "Sebastian, he joined us and told me that Jerry was planning on waiting to sell me. He covered for me and I ran towards the exit. That's when I ran into Tess. She helped keep me safe, I even watched the fights with her." I felt Tommy nod and I kissed his shoulder lightly. "I'm really proud of you, Tommy."

He shook his head, "I've done so many horrible things, I'm so full of regret Malia."

I looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"I-I went to Pop to have him train me, and he did. But I held so much anger for him, for your brother and for Brendan. Being back in Pittsburgh surfaced so many memories for me and it was too much. The night before the fights started, I left and went for a walk. On my way back, I ran into Brendan. I said some really hurtful things, I feel bad about it. Then last night, I couldn't slow my mind enough to sleep so I went to the casino. Pop found me and I yelled at him. You know, my dad was 1,000 days sober? I ruined that, I drove him to drink. I woke up this morning to him screaming at his Walkman story. It's all my fault."

Tommy was crying so hard and I didn't know what to do or what to say. "Tommy, this isn't your fault. It would be difficult for me to face my abuser, to face someone that made me feel abandoned, I understand where you are coming from. Maybe, we should be staying in Pennsylvania, it's where both of our families are. Maybe, we can re-build the burnt bridges, I think your mother would want that."

Tommy looked down at me and sadly smiled. "Is that what you want?"

I nodded, "I mean, obviously I'm going to miss Pilar, Manny, Maria, and Danny but Pennsylvania is where we have always belonged. We can always make trips out to see them, and they can come to see us whenever they please."

Tommy smiled, "Okay baby girl, if that's what you want, then I'm alright with it."

I smirked, "Good, so we can start looking for Marine bases in Pennsylvania and that can help us determine where we live."