Page 80 of These Jagged Edges

“Because you’re worth it Ally.”

I grab her hand and guide her back to the couch to sit with me. Everyone else has cleared out leaving just the four of us. Maddox and Lucien head into the kitchen to give us some privacy. Just before Maddox passes us, he stops and gives Allison’s a gentle squeeze and a nod. Allison moves slowly, looking up at the mountain of a man and returning his nod with a shaky one of her own.

I don’t let her hand go and we cling to each other, seeking the comfort only we can provide one another after surviving the same hell together.

“You wouldn’t let him lay a hand on me.” Her voice is soft, almost sleepy, as if this is the first rest she’s had since the whole terrible ordeal.

“No way in hell.”

We don’t sit and share how he did what to who or take turns showing one another’s battle scars. Instead, we sit and anchor one another to the here and now.

“I don’t think I could have fought back like you did.”

A confession I know that has been bothering her since she realized it.

“Well, what are you going to do about it?”

Allison rolls her eyes and begins laughing. “Damn, he really has rubbed off on you.”

Before long I join her and laugh so hardtears come to my eyes. Laughing took more out of me than I realize because one minute I’m sitting there laughing and the next I’m being gently picked up and cradled against a hard chest.

“Where’s Allison?” I murmur into his neck.

“They left a while ago. You slept through dinner, but I knew you hadn’t been sleeping well so I let you rest.”

“The boys?”

I can feel him chuckle softly. “Fed, bathed, and tucked in bed.”

He sits me gently on the side of the bed, before dropping to his knees, putting us at the same height. Maddox silently helps me out of my shirt before grabbing my hips and helping me to stand. His touch is soft and easy as he helps me out of my yoga pants. Until I’m left standing there in just my panties. Those bright green eyes look at every inch of my skin. I move to cover myself with my hands, but he gently grasps my wrists stopping me.

“Please, I just need to look at you,” he pleads with me softly.

Maddox had held strong these past couple of weeks and I’ve been waiting for the dam to break with him. For him to let it all out, but instead he takes me by surprise.

He places a soft kiss to my belly before leaning in and wrapping his arms around me. “You’re worth it, I’d do it all over a million times if I had to. I know you didn’t need me to save you. You are your own fucking hero, but just once you deserved to be saved.”

With that I begin to cry. I cry for the little girl who was never saved, left with an abusive mother, I cry for the young woman who was never saved instead led straight into the lion’s den. Maddox Wilder is right I deserved to be saved so many times because I am worth it, even if I am my own fucking hero.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

MADDOX

There isn’ta lot that makes me nervous, but something like this had me shaking. Literally shaking.

Evie got her stitches out and was finally released from the doctor last week. So, tonight I squared the boys away with Joe and decided to take Evie out. Little does she know I’ve been working on this since she finally woke up in the hospital after playing too close of a damn game of tag team with death.

We are going to dinner a town over, some new Italian joint Henry told me about. Watching Evie get ready puts me in a trance. It’s hypnotic the way she moves around her room and bathroom in just her bra and panties. I finally come back to my sense’s and take my ass home to get ready. Once I am, I grab the bouquet of flowers and head back over. I knock on the door and wait.

Charlie answers the door and looks at me like I’m crazy. “What are you knocking for?”

I clear my throat. “Because I’m here to take your mama out and a man is supposed to knock on the door not just let himself in.”

“But aren’t you supposed to date before living together?”

Well, fuck he has me there.

“Charlie quit being difficult, let Maddox in,” Evie calls from somewhere close.

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