Tuesday, Four Days Before the Wedding.
Madeline's POV
"Diego! stop!" I giggled as he continued to kiss on my neck. "why? you're like ten minutes early...and Summer isn't even here yet.." he pulls away and smirks. "still, I have to pick up my dress today, and you and Steven need to go pick up your suits." I rolled my eyes at him with a smile on my face. "fine..." he sighs. "are you going to be okay waiting out here by yourself? how's your leg feeling? did you take your medicine? are you sure you don't want me to wait with you?" he sounded so worried.
"baby, I'm fine. Summer and I will meet you and Steven at the restaurant, okay?" I assured him. He nods and leans in for a kiss. "I'll see you soon okay? I love you." I smile before getting out of the car. I positioned my crutches under my arms and made my way into the bridal shop.
As I walked in, the lady behind the desk greeted me with a smile, "how can I help you?" she asks. "I'm here to pick up my wedding dress." I approached the counter. "alright...can I get the last name?" As I tell her my last name, she types it into her computer. A few seconds later she gets up to get my dress from the back room.
"Hey, girl!" I hear Summer walk in. "hey!" I turn around and give her a hug. "how are you feeling? Steven told me about what happened..." she purses her lips.
"I'm fine!" I laugh anxiously. Honestly, I didn't know if I was fine, what if something goes wrong as I'm walking down the aisle in a few days...
"Okay good. So..." she smirks.
"so?" I raise an eyebrow.
"here's your dress! and you already paid it off." the lady walks back out with a dress zipped up in a protective cover.
"thank you." I grab the dress, but as I grab the hanger, one of my crutches fall out from underneath my arm.
"here, let me carry it for you." Summer grabs my crutch from off the ground an hands it to me before grabbing the dress out of my hand. "thanks." I purse my lips.
"so..back to what I was saying." Summer smirks as we head towards the door. she opens the front door and holds it for me as I make my way outside to the parking lot.
"what is it?" she sets my dress carefully in the backseat of her car as I get in the passenger side.
"we need to have a bachelorette party." she turns to me and smirks. "no." I shake my head and laugh.
"too late." she turns to me and says with a grin on her face.
Diego's POV
"where the hell are they? they're literally an hour late." I sigh while looking down at my phone, reading the time 6:35 pm.
"Summer just texted me, bro," Steven shows me his phone.
Summer: girls night out, sorry bb, rain check? have fun, you two!
"great..." I laugh to myself.
"hey bro, let's go out and do something. the girls are, why can't we?" Steven shrugs his shoulders.
"Alright...lets hit the Handle Bar, heard they give the first round free." I sigh as I get up from the table. "leave a ten dollar bill for the drinks," I say to Steven as we go to head out the door.
Madelines POV
"Girls! this is the Wife-to be! Madeline meet a few of my friends!" Summer introduces me to a group of three girls, Alyssa, Rosa, and Deandra. "hi." I smile as we sit down on the sofas in the back of the bar. "where are we?" I nudged Summer. "Crossroads Bar." she smiles while handing me a shot glass full of what I was guessing was Vodka. I take it and the girls in the group giggle as they all grab a shot from the trey.
"To the few last nights of freedom!" Alyssa smirks at me before stumbling as she stands up. These girls must've had a few drinks already before we got here.
"wheres the hat with the questions?" Summer whispers to Rosa. "questions?" I raise an eyebrow. "its a game. all the girls wrote down one question for the Bride and the Bride has to answer them. TRUTHFULLY." she sticks her tongue out and smirks while retrieving a bowl from the other sofa.
I didn't really want to be here. I wanted to go out to dinner with my Fiance and spend these last few days before the wedding, being relaxed.
"first question!" summer squeals as she pulls a piece of paper out of the hat. "Oohh...this is a personal one" she smirks.
I roll my eyes and grab the paper out of her hand.
"hows Diego in the bed, under the sheets?"
is what the note read.
I look up at the girls who are surrounded by me as if I was telling a campfire story.
"exotic...hes gentle...at times...others, he likes it rough." I tease them. there's a good chance that every girl at this bachelorette party wants to sleep with him anyway; why not make them jealous?
"damn girl!" Deandra laughs.
"next!" Summer smiles and hands me the next piece of paper.
"have yall two ever been walked in on?"
"Oh, plenty of times. especially around the first time we started talking and dating. it was fucking crazy." I laughed.
"do you plan on having kids?"
this question brought up memories I didn't really care for...the miscarriage, what me breaking up with Diego did to him afterward.... but I cant show them that it was a sensitive question.
Summer looks at me worried, she knew about it all. she was the one who bought me the pregnancy test anyway.
"definitely." I smile.
"those kids are going to be so fucking cute!" Alyssa's words slurred.
after a few more questions, we all order another round of drinks. A few hours past and I could feel it getting late. "hey summer, can you drive me home?" I asked as Alyssa started to strip on the pool table. she was having a little too much fun.
"I'm drunk girl. want me to call someone for you?" she laughs as she almost trips over her own feet. "that's fine. ill call Diego. get home safely please." I smile while giving her a hug. I grab my crutches and purse, then head out the door.
I pull out my phone as I get outside and dial Diego's number. after a few rings, he didn't answer. it was late and I should've known he would've been asleep by now.
"Hey, lil lady...you look kinda lonely." a man was leaning against the side of the building with a flask in his hand.
Diego's POV
"aye bro, I'm about ready to dash, you wanna drive me home?" I yell to Steven over the loud music playing.
"sure." he puts his drink down along with a hundred dollar bill to cover our drinks.
as we get out in the car, I checked my phone and saw I had two missed phone calls from Madeline.
"have you heard from Summer?" I asked Steven as I dialed Madelines number.
"Nope. but ill probably have to go get her if they went out partying." he shrugs.
"Well, Madeline tried calling me but now she isn't answering her phone," I say as my call goes straight to Madelines voicebox.
"check her last location known on snapchat, we'll go pick her up," Steven suggests as we pull out of the parking lot.
"she was at the CrossRoads Bar,"I tell him.
Madelines POV
"no..im waiting for my Fiancé" I felt uncomfortable so I shifted a few feet away on my crutches.
"Oh, so you're an engaged little lady?" he walks towards me. I could smell the stench of alcohol and cheap weed completing his body odor.
"guess you were having a Bachelorette parting then huh? I saw you and your friends inside...you were having a lot of fun...i can only imagine the fun you'd have with me if we went back to my house.." he tries to wrap his arm around me.
"get off of me, you fucking creep! " I pull away from him and give him a slight push. with his intoxication levels, it didn't take much to make him fall on the ground.
"fucking bitch!" he pulls my crutch out from underneath my arm as he falls down. as I reach down to grab it, he grabs my wrist, pulling me down on the ground. he grunts as he rolls over onto his knees.
a sharp pain was sent up through my leg as I hit the ground. "get off me!" I scream while trying my best to kick him off.
"shut up!" he spits.
that's when I heard a car hit its breaks and screeches as it comes to an abrupt stop.
"get off her!" a boy yells. I recognized the voice but I was too concentrated on getting the drunk man who obviously had no idea what he was doing, off of me.
then in seconds, the old man was kicked in the head, making him fall over. he grunts in pain as he holds his head in his hands while leaning against the wall.
"are you okay?" I heard the same voice ask. I flickered my eyes open and met face to face with Danny.
"Dan...Dan-"I was a little buzzed and I was starting to grow very confused about everything that was going on. I tried to lean up but Danny stopped me.
"shh..take it slow. dont lean up so fast. you'll hurt yourself. " he whispers while grabbing my hand and sliding his hand behind my back.
"Danny my leg." I hiss. he looks down at my leg, the leg he shot.
"hold on...ill be right back. lay your head down on this." he takes his hoodie off and slides it under my head for support. I do as he says.
he gets up and disappears.
"Go before I put a fucking bullet through your head! you hear me! ill fucking kill you!" he yells at who I was guessing was the man who attacked me.
After a few seconds he walks back towards me and helps me slowly lean up. "can you move to the wall?" he asks.
"I feel light-headed Danny." I slur as I clench my head. my head was throbbing. I probably had too much to drink.
"here. ill help you.." he whispers calmly.. he picks me up bridal style then leans me against the cold brick wall.
he leans down in front of me and rubs his hand across my forehead, wiping the dirt from off my skin.
"how-where..." I had so many questions. like for one, where the hell did he come from..
did he just save my life?
Diego's POV
"Is that..." I whisper as we pull into the parking lot of the bar.
"ooh hell no!" I yell while getting out of Steven's car.
"get the fuck away from her Danny!" I yell. he was crouched down in front of Madeline. I grab him by the collar of his shirt and sling him down on the ground.
"Diego stop!" Madeline screams as I draw my fist back to punch him in the face.
"why?? he just hurt you!" I yell. Steven gets out of his car and runs towards Madeline.
"No! you dont understand! he just saved me!" she cries. me and steven both look at her confused. I look down at Danny who had fear written all over his face.
" what do you mean?" I asked.
"a guy...attacked me and-"
"and what? Danny saved you? Bullshit!" I bring my attention down to Danny who looks terrified. not of me, but of the truth. I notice he had a new scar that was above his eye that he must've gotten while he was in jail.
"Diego! why would I lie! Danny...saved! me!" she yells again.
"this true?" I ask Danny. he nods quickly and looks at my fist that is still drawn back, ready to crash against his face.
I relax and stand up on my feet. I put my hand out, letting Danny grab it to help himself up.
"thanks, man.. I would've been here sooner but I didn't have my phone on me..."I shake his hand while awkwardly scratching the back of my neck.
"no problem.. I thought it was Madeline when I passed by the first time but honestly I thought the guy was you but by the time I took a second glance, he already had her on the ground..so I pulled into the parking lot and helped as fast as I could," he says.
"for real..man I owe you one," I say.
"no you dont." he smiles while patting me on the shoulder.
"Danny." I heard Madeline say. Danny and I both look at her. She had managed to get up on her crutches again. she looks at me then back at Danny.
"come on Diego... let's go out to the car and clean out the back seat so yall can have somewhere to sit," Steven tells me.
I look at Danny who pursed his lips and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"hurry Madeline, please," I say before walking out to Stevens car.
Madelines POV
"thank you..." I whisper while looking up at Danny who stood a few inches taller than me.
"dont thank me. thank pizza hut. that's where I was going. I just left my friend's house and I was going to go pick up our pizza." he grins. i couldnt help but smile.
"hey..thanks for dropping the charges...you really didn't have to do that, you know?" he looks down at me.
I didn't know what to say so I just nodded my head.
"well...you better get going... I hope you feel better soon...and-"I cut him off with a hug.
"and have a wonderful wedding." he laughs as he wraps his arms around me.
"go get your pizza." I laugh.
I pull away and start heading towards the car. Diego was sitting in the backseat, waiting for me.
"baby, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm so thankful he was there." Diego lets me lay my head on his shoulder in the backseat as steven starts heading towards the house.
"I am too." I grab his hand and lace my fingers with his.
"not to ruin the moment, but..does anyone else find it strange that Danny was literally released like an hour ago and he's already managed to find a way to get involved in Madelines life again?" Steven asks.
"what are you talking about, just released?" I asked.
"babe, do you know something I dont?" Diego whispers.
"he told me he just left his friends house and that he was going to pizza hut," I say loud enough for Steven and Diego to both hear.
"no, the website said he was just released. he had to have literally. just left the center." Steven looks at me through the rearview mirror.
"so he lied to me?" I asked.
"who cares about the pizza lie! how did he know where to find you..? and how did he know when to show up to save you..?" Diego asks. it sounded more like a question he was asking himself than asking me.
Danny's POV
I pulled off on the side of the bridge that overviewed the lake. I made sure that no cars were coming when I got out of the car with my gun and bag of pictures.
"fuck..." I exhaled while feeling stressed and confused.
I took the gun and sat it on the ledge, along with a bunch of Polaroid pictures me and Madeline took one night we were drunk while Diego was on tour.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to Madeline more than to myself.
I dumped the bag of pictures into the water.
I took the gun and unloaded all of the bullets. throwing the shells into the water first, then chucking the gun into the lake.
"I want peace." I exhale as the stress I was feeling was also thrown into the lake along with every attachment to Madeline that I had.
"may we meet again in a time you love me, as much as I loved you,"I whisper before getting back in my car and heading towards the California border, on my way to Arizona.
please excuse any grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.