“Thank you, doctor.” Vincent grinned as the doctor walked out of the room, and I felt him envelop me and Jared. “He’s going to be okay. I’m going to kill him for scaring us like that.”
“Not if I kill him first,” I laughed shakily. All of a sudden, my world seemed like it was going to be okay again. I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders and I felt lightheaded.
“Trust me, guys, I will get him first.” Jared joined in our laughter and I squeezed his hand.
“I’m going to go to his room. I want to be there when he wakes up.” I walked to the door. “Do you guys want to come?” I watched them exchange a look, and Jared shook his head.
“You go. We’ll be here. Come and get us when he’s up.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at them both lovingly and went to go and find Logan’s room. I walked into the room slowly and walked to Logan’s bed with my heart in my mouth. I stared down at his handsome face, and I leaned down to kiss his cheek and run my hands through his hair. I couldn’t stop myself from touching him, and I was tracing his lips with my fingers when he opened his eyes slowly.
“Maddie,” he whispered up at me with a smile, and I grinned back at him.
“Hey, you.” I gazed into his loving green eyes, and felt my stomach flip-flop with butterflies.
“What happened?” He tried to sit up, but winced in pain and stopped.
“You were shot.” I held onto his hand. “My dad shot you.”
“Jared kidnapped you.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ve been nothing but trouble to you and your life.”
“Logan Martelli, are you joking?” I cried out. “It’s me, it’s me and my family. All this time, you’ve been so worried that you haven’t been good enough for me, but it is me who hasn’t been good enough for you. All I’ve done is bring drama and trouble to your life. My mom told me everything. She knew, you know. What my dad had done. The poison he put into your lives. I feel like I’ve made your life even worse. I have been the deadliest poison ever.”
“No,” he shook his head. “Never say that.”
“Logan, you’re in a hospital bed because of me.” I looked away from him. “What if you had died? I never would have forgiven myself.”
“Maddie, I didn’t die.” He smiled. “Unless I’m in heaven right now.” He laughed. “Then thank you to God, because as long as I have you by my side, I don’t care where I am.”
“Logan,” I groaned, though I was delighted at his words. “You were right about my dad and about everything.”
“I’m sorry, Maddie.” He sighed. “I know it must hurt to know your father is this person.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.” I shook my head. “I just want to talk about us.”
“Oh, yes?” He sat up slightly. “Do you want to tell me how much you love me?”
“Yes.” I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. “I love you with all my heart, Logan Martelli.”
“I love you, too, Maddie.” His eyes sparkled at me and he reached over and ran his fingers down my cheek. I held his fingers in mine and kissed him again, and he groaned.
“Oh, no, did I hurt you?” I pulled away from him in concern.
“Not at all.” He winked. “I was just wondering if you were trying to seduce me in this hospital bed.”
“Logan Martelli.” I giggled at him. “You’re too much.”
“That’s why you love me.”
“I love you for many reasons, silly.”
“You can tell me all of them.”
“Well, I love you because you’re you. You’re the man of my dreams, the man of my heart, the light in my life, and I’ve known this all from the start.”
“Are you trying to dazzle me with your purple eyes, my darling?”
“What?” I looked at him in confusion.
“When I look at you, Maddie, I feel as if I’m being transported to another world. A world of good, a world of wonder, a world that makes me believe in good and right. A world that makes me believe in love.”
“When I look at you, Logan, I feel as if I am finally home. Never leave me, Logan. I never want to be apart from you.”
“I will never leave you if I can help it.” He yawned, and my heart melted.
“You’re tired.” I broke away from him. “I don’t want to tire you, let me go and get Jared and Vincent. They are waiting for you.”
“About Jared—” His eyes looked pained and I held up a hand.
“It was my idea, Logan. I told Jared to pretend he had kidnapped me. It was all my idea. I did it because I found out my dad was trying to set you guys up. I’m sorry. I—”
“Shhh.” He shook his head. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Never.”
“I love you, Logan Martelli.”
“I love you, too, my very own bad girl.” He laughed and we stared at each other for a few moments, allowing the love to flow between us, before I went to go and get his brothers.
Epilogue
Logan
I like to clear my head at night, so I usually go for a long walk down by the pier. There’s something about being in a mass of people that makes you feel like you’re a part of something, even if you’re not noticed. Even the most solitary person needs to be reminded that there are other people in the world. That’s just the way life goes. That’s what it means to be a human being. I stared out at the water with a tinge of sadness. I would miss coming to this pier, listening to the people talk about their mundane lives, and watching them go back and forth, never seeing but always seeing. I watched the waves as they crossed into the rocks, and it seemed to me that waves were like life, they seemed to be so calm, and then out of nowhere, they would come crashing down, bringing destruction in their wake.
“I don’t want to go to Applebee’s,” I heard Bella whining to Roger as they walked past me, and I smiled. I could remember the last time that I had seen them. It was the night that changed my life. The night I met Maddie. I turned away from them and turned back to the waves in sadness. That seemed like such a long time ago now; so many things had changed, and I was scared. I was scared that I didn’t know who I was anymore, or where I was going. I was still Logan Martelli, but I wasn’t the Logan Martelli. And while that was great, it felt as if a part of my identity had been stolen away from me. People still looked at me in awe and whispered about me, but it was different now. It was different because they weren’t whispering about me being a bad boy, they were whispering about my entire life.