Colton:
The boys and I are standing outside the building with a passed out Alexander, looking around to see if the building has any other entrance than the obvious front door, when I hear the loud bang of a gun shot.
I'm already moving, already racing my way and knocking down the front door, uncaring about the voices yelling my name from behind or trying to catch up with me.
My eyes find Lily, but she's lying on the floor with blood pouring out of her shoulder, and my heart breaks a hundred times over, but I don't let it.
I don't let it because I will not let my fear consume me. Lily is not going anywhere, she promised. I wasn't too late, I couldn't have been.
Luke is hunched over her body, his own hands shaking and bloody as he tries to do something I can't comprehend. He looks like he's trying to stop her bleeding with his frantic bare hands, but I don't care as I rush and tackle him to the floor, hard enough to hear a couple of bones cracking, and I enjoy the sound for just a second.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." He has tears falling down his face when I push his body across the room. "It was an accident, I swear."
If I take a moment to think, I might recognize how odd it is to have a kidnapper crying over his bleeding victim, but I just don't care. I don't care if he's crying; I don't care if it was an accident or not. I don't even care to look around for the gun or make sure that he has no more weapons. I don't care if he'll grab it and point it at my own chest when I crawl my way over to Lily. I don't even care if turning my back on him is stupid and dangerous.
All I care about is the only person in my life who matters.
"Lily, baby." I call her once, twice, a hundred times, as I gently push her hair away from her face. "Baby, open your eyes. Come on, Lily. You can do it."
Ripping my shirt off my body, I quickly push the fabric beneath her shoulder and wrap it around her wound, pressing the knot against the gushing blood. My hands are shaking, and I'm not breathing right, my chest too tight for air, but I don't let that stop me from trying because I have to do something, anything.
Wincing, Lily finally blinks her eyes open, and I feel my heart break again at the soft smile she gives me. "Darling. You found me."
Her voice is strained and exhausted, and it kills me to know that I could've somehow stopped her from feeling this much pain.
"You're gonna be okay, you hear me?" I tell her, caressing her cheek with a bloody palm. "You promised me, Lily. You can't leave me. I just fucking found you. This can't be the end of our forever. It can't be."
My head snaps to the side when I hear the boys rushing in, panting and looking around with wide eyes.
"No." Dave whispers when his eyes fall on Lily, and I'm ready to tell him that he has no reason to panic because she's gonna be fine, but he only groans before making his way over to a hysterical Luke, and he punches him in the face harder than I have.
Steve kneels down next to Lily beside me, checking her wound and the blood that keeps seeping through my shirt and onto the floor, before taking off his own shirt and repeating the same thing I did.
"It hurts." Lily's small voice breaks every bone in my body, and I realize that her pain is causing me an excruciating amount of agony.
"I know, baby." I hold her hand in my trembling one, kissing over her knuckles. "But you'll be fine. Help is coming. They'll fix this."
Luke's cries get louder with another punch that Dave delivers. I've never seen my best friend this angry before, and he doesn't stop his assault, not until Gabe wraps his arms around his torso and carries him off Luke completely.
"I didn't want to kill her anymore, I swear." Luke's face is bloody and swollen, wet with the tears I don't understand why he's shedding. "This wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to be me. That bullet was meant for me, dammit! Not her."
"Colton," Lily whispers my name and my eyes find her beautiful ones, a mix of blue and green that I don't have the time to read because she's blinking too much. "Don't hurt him. He needs help. Please."
I don't have time to ask questions and I frankly don't give a fuck what happens to Luke right now. All I need is to know for sure that my Lily will make it, because I can't fucking live without her. "Okay, baby. No one will hurt anyone. Just keep your beautiful eyes open for me."
"Fuck," Steve mutters, pressing harder to her wound and she lets out a loud cry. I'm about to shove him away from her too when he shakes his head. "Too much blood, Colt."
"Where the fuck are the cops?!" Dave yells, pushing Gabe away from him before running over and holding Lily's other hand. "I'm so sorry, Lily. Fuck, I'm so sorry."
Lily blinks again and gives him a small smile, laced with pain and exhaustion before moving her eyes on me. The blue shines brighter than the green in her irises, and she tightens her hold on my hand just slightly. "Don't cry, my darling."
Shaking my head, I quickly wipe my face and caress her cheeks again. "I love you. You're gonna be fine, okay? Jus a little longer, baby."
"Yes," She blinks again and this time her eyes stay shut. She barely stays conscious enough to say, "I'll just go to sleep for a little while."
"No, no, no." I pat her cheeks but she doesn't listen, she doesn't open her eyes, she doesn't smile at me. "Lily! Lily!"
*******
Lily:
Life is unpredictable.
Life can be calm and steady long enough for us to get used to the tranquility, to get sucked into its safety, only to suddenly take off that warm blanket and shove us into situations we never wanted to encounter.
Life can be a ride full of adventures and adrenaline. It can be full of experiences, each one meant to teach us a lesson, to make us better.
Life can be painful, like mine. It can be full of sorrow, sadness, despair. It can be cruel and ugly and have us always drained of energy, always too tired to blink our eyes open.
I'm too tired to blink my eyes open.
But I will.
Because no matter which scenario my life is closest to, I know for a fact that life changes. That life is truly unpredictable.
It always finds a balance.
It can never be just cruel, nor can it be always full of happiness.
And my life has been filled with more sadness than joy, which makes me nothing but hopeful for the future. Because Colton is in my life now. He is my balance. He is the gift I've been given, the door that has been opened and left ajar in my life for me to always find my happiness, even in the saddest of times.
I have so much more left to live. The ride of my life hasn't ended yet. It has only just begun to find its balance.
And that's why I know that I will come back to him. I will open my eyes and I will let Colton show me what more this life has to offer.
Soon.
******
Colton:
The only thing that is keeping me sane while I wait with the rest of the group in the hospital for someone to tell us if my Lily is okay, is the promise she has made me.
Forever, I keep repeating to myself like a mantra, forever, forever, forever.
She promised me forever. She promised me that she'll shower me with enough love to make me forget all about the pain I've lived. I was afraid to tell her that she has already succeeded. Because what if that means that she won't have anymore reason to be here, to fight just a little harder, to come back to me?
I still need Lily, maybe not to fix me, because she already has, but to keep me sane. I need her to be able to live. I will always need Lily.
And I'm terrified, because we've been here for an hour and no one has given us anything to calm my heart with.
"She'll be okay, Colt." Dave drops his weight on the chair beside mine, and I move my eyes to Ali who has been crying without pause. "She'll be fine."
She has to be, is all I can think. She has to be, because our story will not end like this. I've been living twenty two years in misery. I'm living at least twice that long with her by my damn side, because I won't settle for less.
So I give Dave a nod and I stand up, zipping the jacket one of the officers gave me when they finally busted through the front door to take Luke and Alex and my Lily.
A step after the other, I cross the painfully silent hallway and I stop where Liam is sitting on the ground with his head wrapped and resting between two palms. His back is against the wall, his legs bent and apart, his elbows against his knees and his head hung low in a weak attempt to hide the tears that keep streaming down his face.
I haven't seen him this broken or this terrified in years. It breaks my heart to see him like this, and that's why everyday we spent in that hellhole I made it my mission to make sure the hours pass as peacefully as possible for him, without any reasons to have him in this exact position.
Crouching down beside him, I keep my voice as soft as Lily taught me. "Why the fuck are you crying? She'll come back to us."
His head snaps up and all I can see is that lost little boy who suddenly found himself all alone in a place he had no business being at. His eyes are red and scared, his whole face wet and a swollen, and his chin keeps trembling.
"It feels like losing my parents all over again, Colt." His voice is trembling, muffled by sobs he's trying to keep at bay. "It's stupid, I know."
Without thinking, I let my body rest against the wall beside him, and I reach for him, pulling him against my chest, and hugging him just as tightly as the last time I did it when he was thirteen, before that bitch took her obsession with me too far.
Before Lily found me and fixed me.
Liam doesn't waste a second before wrapping his arms around my middle, breaking down in loud sobs that has everyone's eyes watering. He hides his face in my chest and tightens his hold as if he's scared I might let go, but I won't.
Because I'm not repulsed, or even uncomfortable.
I'm terrified, just as badly as he is, and I need this too.
"Lily is gonna be okay, Liam." I whisper against the top of his head, rubbing a hand against his shoulder. "I promise you that. Have I ever broken a promise?"
His body shakes, this time with a little laugh and he shakes his head against me. "Never."
"Then trust me on this." I tell him. "She'll be okay and when she wakes up I give you permission to hug her all you want. Only after I'm done though."
He laughs again, pulling back enough to look me in the eyes. "Deal."
Ali sniffles before she wipes her face. "That's really sweet and all, but I'm hugging her first. She's my best friend, and I've been stuck here all night, going out of my mind with worry and then you show up with her on a stretcher and I..."
Dave embraces her the second she breaks down again.
"Cap, can I get a hug too?" Steve asks, grinning, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I did help."
I scowl.
"They're here." Dave announces, dropping a kiss on Ali's head before rushing down the hall to meet with Gabe, his father, and Leo.
They share a few words before Dave nods. They make their way over to us and Liam and I stand up.
"They need you to answer a few more questions." Mr. Prior starts. "The three of you and then Liam and Ali."
"We've gone through this twice." I tell him.
"And you'll probably go through it a couple more times, son." He sighs. "It's how it works. But the sooner we get this over with the better."
"I have to be here. I'm not fucking leaving." I shake my head, because they're gonna have to fucking drag me out of here if they want.
"We'll be just a floor down, in the cafeteria." He says.
"We'll stay here and the second we get any news I'll come find you." Leo promises.
"I'm not going anywhere either." Gabe adds. "If there are any updates you'll be the first to know, cap."
Reluctantly, I nod my head, my eyes falling in the direction they last took my Lily and I whisper one more wish, one more prayer.
Just come back to me.
*******
I CRIED WHILE WRITING THIS!
COLT AND LIAM ARE ADORABLE!
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK? WHO'S EXCITED FOR THE NEXT UPDATE?
THE NEXT CHAPTER IS PROBABLY GONNA BE THE LAST, BUT THERE WILL BE AN EPILOGUE AND A COUPLE OF BONUS CHAPTERS AS WELL, BECAUSE JUST LIKE YOU, I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF COLT AND LILY.
STAY TUNED THOUGH, BECAUSE I PROMISE, YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THE REST OF THEIR STORY.
ALSO, MY NEWEST BOOK, THE GOOD WITHIN, IS THE ONE I'LL BE FOCUSING ON AND REGULARLY UPDATING ONCE COLTON'S MIRACLE IS OFFICIALLY COMPLETED. PLEASE SUPPORT ME AND CHECK IT OUT! I KNOW YOU'LL LOVE IT BECAUSE I DO TOO!