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“Come back to me, Joe,” I whispered, reaching out to stroke his bruised cheek. “I know you’re still in there.”
He stiffened when my hand made contact with his skin, and I watched as a full-body shudder rolled through him. A god-awful pained cry escaped his parted, swollen lips, and he moaned drowsily into the mattress as his body stiffened and flinched with every gentle stroke of my thumb on his cheek.
Fucking monsters.
The both of them.
We were so far away from each other, even though we were lying side by side, with a baby we’d made together growing in my belly. He had never felt more detached from me.
I knew he was still in there, though.
My Joey was still inside the person strung out next to me.
And I loved him enough to keep fighting for him.
Even when he’d given up on himself.
“It’s okay.” Sniffling, I didn’t bother to fight the tears that were trickling down my cheeks as my eyes took in the carnage, knowing in my heart that the damage to his face paled in comparison to the damage to his heart. “Nothing’s going to hurt you, baby.”
“Mol…” With a great deal of effort, he shifted onto his side to face me and blinked an eye open. “Loy.”
I smiled sadly. “Hey, stud.”
“I’m…sorry.” His words were slurred, his eyes bloodshot, his pupils dilated. “So…sorry.”
“I know, Joe.” Moving closer, I cupped his damaged cheek with the palm of my hand and leaned in. “I know.”
“The…baby.”
“Still cooking.” I pressed a featherlight kiss to the tip of his nose. “What have you done to yourself, huh?”
He groaned in response. “I was coming…to find you, I swear. I just got…”
“Sidetracked,” I answered for him, breaking my own heart in the process. “Yeah, I can see that, Joe.”
And this is it, I thought to myself. This is your future.
This is the boy your heart is set on.
“I need you to get back up, Joe.” Crying quietly, I pushed his hair off his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m hanging in here, baby, doing the fighting for both of us, but I need you to climb back on your feet.”
“I’m just so…tired.”
“I know you are,” I agreed, feeling my soul crack. “But I need you to keep fighting.”
“I’m no…good for…you.”
“That’s not true.”
“I don’t have feelings anymore.”
“Yes, you do, Joe,” I whispered, clinging to his trembling body with mine. “You just need to remember who you are.”
“I tried to warn you,” he slurred. “You didn’t hear me and now we’re both fucked.”
PART 8
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