“Nothing,” I whisper.
“I know this isn’t nothing,” he says, wiping a tear that slipped out. “Tell me.”
I swallow hard, feeling silly for getting emotional. “What if…” I start, then lick my lips. “What if there is no ‘after the fight’ because you don’t survive,” I finally croak out. “We abstain from sex and have no last time.”
“Is that what this is? You’re worried something’s going to happen to me, and we’ll have missed out?” he asks, wrapping a piece of loose hair behind my ear.
“Well of course, I’m worried!” I toss out my arms. “If you die, we wasted every last opportunity to spend together.”
“Maddie…” he says slowly, grabbing my face. “I’m not going to die.”
“You can’t know that. I looked up videos on underground fighting, and it’s really fucking ugly.”
“Dammit, why’d you do that?”
I lean back slightly. “Because I wanted to know what my boyfriend was getting into. I have a right to know just how dangerous this is and how to prepare myself for the worst.”
“You’re right. It is ugly, but that’s why I’m training so hard, baby.”
“That doesn’t guarantee the other guy won’t have just as much training or hell, more. There’s no way to know how this is going to turn out and—”
“Maddie, stop,” he demands, then cups my cheeks. “I promise you, okay? I promise I’m coming back to you in one piece. There’s nothing in this goddamn world that will keep me from you. Got that? We fought way too hard to be with each other. I’m not letting anything come between us now.”
Tears hang at the corner of my eyes and slowly fall down my cheeks. I know he can’t promise me that, but I hang onto every single word because it’s all that’ll get me through this until it’s over.
I nod, unable to speak through my emotions, and Liam hugs me to his chest.
“I love you,” he says softly.
“Always?”
His lips tilt up against my skin.
“Always.”
Now that I’m on Christmas vacation, my days are starting to run together, and when I wake up to another morning of Liam already gone, it takes me a minute to realize it’s Friday. One more day until our family Christmas party here with my sisters and their husbands. And of course, Tyler as well.
Too bad there isn’t a fourth Corrigan sister because Tyler could easily blend in with our family. The guys all love him, and he’s good with Lennon’s kids. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. Literally. There is nothing not to like about him.
“Get up, Madilocks!” He pounds loudly on my door. “Soph’s trying to call you. Answer your phone!”
Okay, except for that.
After Liam left for Vegas and Tyler was put on “Maddie duty,” he gave me a nickname after Goldilocks just to fuck with me. He thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world since it annoys me. Then Sophie chimed in and said it was perfect since I moved into the house last and took over her bed.
“You’re an asshole, Beanstalk!” I shout, whipping off my covers and marching to the door. “What?”
Tyler steps back and blinks. His eyes glance down once before snapping back to mine. “Uh, Sophie texted me to wake you up because she’s trying to call you.”
“Okay. I’ll call her. Anything else?”
Tyler focuses on the ceiling and shakes his head. “Nope.”
I furrow my brows, wondering why he’s acting so weird. Looking down, I realize I’m only in my sports bra and shorts. “Oh, now you’re shy?” I chuckle. “You walked in on me getting out of the bathtub naked, remember?”
He squeezes his eyes shut. “That was an accident.”
“Mm-hmm,” I tease. “Relax, I’ll get dressed.”
“Good, because Liam is getting really strong, and I don’t want him kicking my ass for seeing you like this.”
“What? Did he say something?” I jab my finger in his ribs so he’ll look at me.
“Jesus.” He yelps, stepping back. “I’m leaving now. Get dressed and call your sister.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Tell your possessive best friend that I’ll walk around naked if I want.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that.” He peels open one eye and squints. “The last time I made a joke about you, he had me by the throat against the wall. Remember?”
Guilt creeps up at the memory of how worked up Liam got while waiting for Victoria to file divorce papers.
“Is he getting that bad?” I ask. By the time I see him every day, he’s already spent hours at the gym, then after he cleans up, he’ll go track a fugitive until the evening. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was purposely avoiding me, but I understand he’s trying to juggle a lot at the moment.
Tyler nods. “He’s getting anxious not knowing who he’s fighting yet, and JJ keeps texting him reminders about how important this fight is.”
I groan. God, I hate that ugly ass piece of shit.
“Okay, fine,” I surrender. “Getting dressed now.”
Tyler walks away, and I check my phone, seeing eight text messages from Sophie. She has a full day of rehearsals before she’s off for the holiday and asked me to run to the grocery store for some last-minute items she needs for tomorrow’s feast.
Maddie: I’ll grab everything, stop worrying.
Sophie: Thank you! Love you!
Maddie: Next time, don’t send Beanstalk to wake me up, though!
Sophie: I had no choice, sleepyhead!
I snicker and set my phone down so I can get ready for the day. Once I’m dressed and presentable, I head to my car and crank it, but it doesn’t turn over.
What the fuck?
I try it again and nothing. Well, great.
Grabbing my stuff, I walk back into the house and look for Tyler.
“Hey,” I say when I see him in the kitchen. “My car won’t start for some reason. Any chance I can take your truck to the store to get groceries for Soph?”
He looks at me, concerned. “It won’t start at all?”
I shake my head. “Just makes a weird noise, then dies. I have no idea.” Shrugging, I pout. “I can take an Uber if it’s an issue.”
“No, of course not. But I’m a little worried after what happened to the G-Wagon. You should let me look at it.”
I smirk and cross my arms. “You know how to work on cars?”
“Don’t look so surprised.” He chuckles, then grabs his keys. “C’mon, I’ll take you so I can buy some tools and oil. When’s the last time it’s had an oil change?”
I follow him to the front door. “Uhh…”
“Oh, Madilocks. I’m about to teach you some life skills today.”
Groaning, I walk out to his truck. “That sounds like zero fun actually.”
An hour later, we’re back at the house with everything on Sophie’s list and everything from the auto aisle. Tyler talks to me about car shit and what could be wrong with it, and honestly, he’d be better off talking to me in a foreign language because I don’t have a clue what any of it means.