Chapter thirty four (Last chapter)

There is a lot that goes into writing a story. Time being the biggest challange. With the first book to this series, time seemed to be on my side. But it turns out that writing a second book to any story is actually rather hard.

There is one person I would like to thank with everything. Summer, if you read this, know how much it means to me to have you here on Wattpad. Thank you so much for being there when I needed someone to talk to! Without you, I doubt I would be here to finish this second book and to start my third one <3

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment, read, and vote. I love every since one of you and thank you so much for making Julio's and Kelsey's story come alive! I sure in the hell will miss them! d:

Last but not least, I hope you will all stay around to read Kayla's book! It will be posted shortly after I post the epilogue for this book so check it out!

Good luck to all of you and I hope you enjoyed the book!

Much love, Nickymb<3

PS: This is technically the last chapter, but there WILL be a epilogue. So check it out! <3

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Time.

It doesn’t matter how much of it you have, somewhere along the way it will catch up to you. Sometimes it’s the little things in life that matter the most and when we realize it it’s too late things can change forever.

Some people are lucky and have the rest of their lives to realize this. Others aren’t as fortunate.

So that’s why I was currently trying to argue my way out of a ticket.

“Please, you have to let me go. It’s important,” My voice breaks on the last word and I feel Mia reach over and grab my hand. She offered a few miles back to take over the wheel but I was too stubborn to let her do such a thing.

I started this journey and it was going to be me who was going to end it. Snow beats down on the windshield and the officer in front of me shields the white flakes with a cap.

“What’s so important that you were going forty in a twenty mile lane?” He gives me a patronizing look under the rim of his cap, clearly telling me that there was no way I was getting out of this one freely.

When I meet his gaze I want to scream. I want to reach out the window, grab his stupid uniform, and tell him that I didn’t have time for these stupid questions. The guy I gave my heart too was at the hospital and I had no idea how serious his injuries actually where.

When Aiden finally showed up earlier in the night, the only thing he had to say was that he had no idea where Julio was heading and that he said for him to give me a letter if he didn’t call Aiden.

Aiden gave me the letter anyways and now it laid in my back seat, a reminder that whatever Julio got himself into was serious.

And I wasn’t about to let him down now.

Though, if he wasn’t hurt at the hospital, I swear he would be when I got done with him.

“Officer,” Mia says, leaning over the drivers seat and blocking my view. Now it was her turn to get ourselves out of this. “Our good friend is in the hospital and we think it might be serious. If you could just give us a warning, or maybe bill us a ticket, it would make our lives a lot easier. Please,” She begs, her voice dropping off sadly at the end.

Mia was just as scared as I was and the fact that she was showing her emotions so clearly was making me more worried by the minute.

I see a black car drive around us and I know it’s Aiden and Kayla passing by. Aiden decided when he got the call that Julio was in the hospital that it would be best if Mia rode with me. He knew how much it meant to have her here with me and I could never thank him enough for that.

Mia leans back and the officer gives us both suspicious looks. Something on my face must give something away about the urgency of the situation because he sighs and knocks snow off his cap sadly.

“You can go,”

“Thank you!” I shout, my hand already going for the gear shift. I get stopped by the officer continuing his sentence.

“Though if I ever see you driving like that again, you will get a ticket.”

“I know, thank you so much!” I yell again, breathless. Hell, Julio has made me into a shouting maniac. I shift into drive and slowly pull away from the curb.

But I think even the officer knew that the moment I got out of his sight I would be hightailing it faster than before.

“He’s going to be alright Kayla,” Mia soothes while she bites her pinky nail. I chance her a quick glance and speed up.

“How can you know that? When Julios mother called from the hospital she said she had no idea what was going on. Do you have any idea how bad that sounds?!”

“Of course I do! Remember when Sterling got in that accident a long time ago? His Uncle called our family and said the same thing.”

“Oh that so helps Mia! People died that night,” I make a sharp right turn and Mia braces herself against the door.

“Okay, maybe that was a bad analogy. I’ll just shut up now,” I don’t say anything back as I continue on my high speed race to the hospital. If Julio was truly hurt, who knew how much time I had to be able to say what I had to say?

If life came down to these next few moments I know things will forever change. Things will be different from here on out.

I think back to that dance. The first time I ever met Julio. Even if I didn’t know it then, the boy with the white mask would soon become my everything.

He swept me off my feet that night and when I saw him again months later, sneaking into our shared college class, I knew he was going to be trouble.

With those memories come others. The time he decided to throw paper at me in chemistry, almost getting me in trouble with Mr. Clark. How he made me feel that day I would never forget. He brought attraction back into my life and later, love.

He was there for me that time in the club, when he came to my rescue, and always at that stupid little cafe’ he worked at terrorizing my every single move. He teased me when I needed it and the day he caught my scarf he promised me one thing and stuck to it.

He said he was going to show me a life that didn’t involve other peoples rules. A life where I wouldn’t have to hide behind the fake image of myself.

He helped me become the person I am today, little by little. Our first ‘date’ when I kicked his ass at pool would always be marked as the official day Julio helped this new me come out. Looking back, I realize, even if I didn’t want to admit it, that I always went to Julio when I needed someone.

The night Kayla and Kelsey hooked me up with my first blind date, there was only one person I wanted to call. Only one person I wanted to talk too. The day with my mother, when we finally let everything go, Julio was the one boy in my life who was willing to accept the demons I was so scared to show.

And the night after my awful second date, outside the restaurant, he gave me a part of him. He told me about his wishes and his fears. Later on, when he cornered me against the universities dorms, he let his feeling go even though he was just as scared I was.

We both fell fast, hard, and when he kissed me that night, after he gave me even more of himself, I knew.

I knew he was the one person who could save me from myself. He was the guy who could see every fault of me and keep coming back because he cared, he wanted, and he loved.

Julio was a guy who did bad things for the right reasons and while sometimes that might not be enough, it was for me.

Julio, even with all his faults, all the other memories him and I shared, was mine. He was good, he was bad, he was more complicated than anyone I ever met. But that didn’t matter.

Because that is what loving someone is all about.

It wasn’t about leaving someone when things got bad. It was about getting something for yourself in the end. Love wasn’t greedy. Love wasn’t malice. Love was something I couldn’t explain, but it is the most beautiful thing in the world.

All those years of dating guys, having them fool me into caring for them, that wasn’t love. I get that now. I finally do. Because my past and the boys in it never showed me what Julio has.

Those boys never gave me their heart.

When I finally pull into the hospital's parking lot my emotions are everywhere. I want to run through the emergency doors, any door, tear through the whole place until I find him.

Mia must see the look in my eyes because she reaches out and stops me from getting out of the car with her hand.

“Kelsey..” She lets out her breath and drops her hand. She searches my face before she talks. “I just want you to be prepared for what might happen in there.”

I grab her hand and squeeze. “Just stay with me okay? I just need you there.”

She nods her head and lets go of me to open the door. I take in a breath, get my door open, and send a out a silent prayer.

Then I make my way inside.

~*~*~*~*~*~

His mom is the first person I see.

She leans against the waiting room chairs, a toddler at her feet. He plays with a thing of rubber bands and a boy who had to be only a few years younger than Julio stands against the same wall, his eyes on the kid.

Next to them, Aiden has his hand in a little girls and her eyes are red and watery.

The moment Julio’s mom see’s me, she stands up. I stop short, my breath stopping. I never met Julio’s mom before and I have no idea who she thinks I am. I have no idea what she see’s when she looks at me, but when her eyes meet mine, she opens her arms.

She must know who I am. I don’t know how, maybe Aiden or just a mother intuition, but either way I move and walk into her arms.

She smells like flowers and I just want to stay in her embrace because she is the closest thing to Julio I can get at the moment.

When she lets me go a few moments later, I see her eyes are just as red as the little girls. God, she has been crying. She reaches up and cups my cheeks, a ghost of a smile on her face. “You must be the girl making my son crazy.”

“He gives me more trouble than I give him,” I comment and when her eyes water up, I step back and look over her shoulder.

“What happened? If I may ask.” She shakes her head in grief and sits down, her head in her hands. My heart stops and I turn toward Aiden, a question in my eyes.

He looks at me sadly and I see worry written all over his face. “Kelsey, it’s not good.”

“Oh God,” I reach out for something to hold me up but all I find is air. Mia rushes up and wraps me in her arms and I try to hold everything in.

This couldn’t be real. I refused to let this be the end. I drag my hands under my eyes and wipe away my tears, sudden hurt working it’s way around my body.

“He’s been shot,” I hear Kayla say in a whisper as she rounds the corner. I look at her and she comes over and takes Mia’s place.

“They say he’s in surgery now. They have no way of knowing if he will be able to make it out or not. Kelsey, I’m so sorry. I’m so damn sorry.”

And I know her words only mean one thing.

We were going to have to wait and in the end we have no idea if the outcome will be a good or bad one. We have no idea if there will be death in the end.

I bring in a shaky breath, the beginning of tears starting to line my eyes. I wipe them away with my sleeve and nod toward Kayla.

“Then we wait.”

Ehours later, three cups of coffee, and a box full of tissues for everyone in the room, I tell Kayla I need a favor. Mia and Aiden are huddled in the corner together, Mia asleep in Aiden’s lap.

I know Aiden must be tired, I can see it on his face, but he won’t be able to pass out until he knows his friend is okay.

They told us three hours ago that Julio was out of surgery and they won’t know his condition for a few more hours. Now the wait was killing everyone in the room.

I can’t take sitting here, the silence a constant theme in the air. I need a distraction, anything to get my mind off what will happen in the future.

So this is why I ask Kayla for a favor.

“Anything,” She says, dropping her voice to match mine. I reach into my back pocket and pull out my keys, folding them in her hands gently.

“In the backseat of my car there is a letter. Could you get it for me?” She knows how much the letter means to me so when she nods her head and stands up, I slump against the hard, plastic chair.

I was never good when it came to waiting for things. I also know that if Julio wakes up, no when he wakes up, his family will be the first ones to see him. Later, Aiden, Kayla, Mia, and I. That’s how these things went.

So instead of waiting to hear what he has to say, instead of letting my mind make up things as the time goes by, I decide to read Julios last words to me.

Maybe then I could get a piece of mind.

When Kayla comes back, the envelope in her hand, my heart picks up. She hands it to me and heads to Aiden and Mia’s little corner, letting me handle this moment on my own. I flip the envelope over to the seal and slowly put my thumb under the slip.

Bringing in all my courage, I open it.

Kelsey,

I’m not a man of words. Least a man of admitting things. But tonight has made me reconsider a lot of details in my life and this letter is one of them. If tonight leads to the conclusion I hope it doesn’t, I don’t want your last memory of me to be the one of seeing my father in the kitchen. I don’t need you to remember me as that guy. The guy who has done shit in his life. Kelsey, I’m not asking you to forget it. I’m asking you to know me as me. As the man you fell in love with, even if you are too stubborn to admit it. Being or not being with you Kelsey was never a hard decision. It was incredibly easy. I knew what my choice was going to be from the moment you set out your challenge that day in the classroom. There is a fire in you that burns brighter every day and all I wanted was to feel that warmth. This feeling you give me.

Like I said, I’m not a man of words. I’m definitely not a man who knows what to say in this kind of shit. But I don’t need words when it comes to you. I never did. You knew how I felt from the first moment you felt it too and that, Kelsey, is the memory I want you to remember. The feeling you get when you love me. That’s the feeling I will be taking with me till the end. I love you angel’, even if you don’t need to hear it.

Even if this is the last thing I write.

- Much love, Julio.

“Kelsey?” I re-read the letter again, letting everything he said seep in. I thought this letter would do something, I thought it would take all the worry away and place it with something else. Instead, I’m pissed. Did Julio seriously think this letter would help me? Why didn’t he come to me ask for help?

Shaking my head, I shove the letter under my leg when I hear someone call my name again.

“Kelsey!” I look up, dazed, and see Aiden standing in front of me, a smile bright on his face. I searched his face and when I see happiness written in every corner I know what he was going to say.

A tingly sensation starts to spread through my body and I half stand, bringing a hand to my mouth. Hope replaces anger.

“Julio?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. Aiden shakes his head and his smile gets bigger. “Fine. He’s Goddamn fine Kelsey.”

I jump up the rest of the way off my seat and throw myself into his arms, my excitement drawing a laugh from deep inside. Aiden gives me a quick squeeze and steps back, that smile still in place.

“He’s asking for you. Well, more like demanding.”

I push away from him, needing to see him right at this instance. I start to head toward the room the doctor earlier claimed Julio was recovering in, when Aiden snatches my hand and pulls me back.

“Kelsey, his family just got out a little while ago. I have no idea what kind of mood he will be in, or what he looks like, but please... please don’t hurt my best friend. I don’t think he can take you rejecting him after what he has been through.”

“Aiden,” I start, jerking my hand away from his. “You don’t have to worry. Julio is safe with me.” He just looks at me and I give him a little nod and start to head toward his room.

What if Aidens warning was to prepare me for something? What if Julio lost a leg, arm, anything. What if he didn’t look the way he did when I last saw him?

I knew one thing for sure though. What was on the outside didn’t matter. I mean, sure, Julio was ... something. But nothing could make me change how I feel for him on the inside.

I finally get to room 6A and I wrap my hand around the door handle, turn, and push. The first thing I hear is a heart monitor. The next thing I’m met too is the small only hospitals have the privilege to carry around. I take a tentative step in, my heart in my throat, when I hear him.

I hear the voice I have been waiting to hear all night.

“Kelsey,” His voice is hoarse and cracks when he tries to talk. I quickly shut the door and walk around the curtain hanging, waiting to see the damage.

Though when I walk the few steps keeping me from seeing him, the moment I do, I almost laugh with how relieved I am.

Julio sits up in his bed, a half smile in place. His black hair isn’t as messy as it usually is and it hangs in his eyes, making me want to push it back. Tattoos peek out from both arms and I can easily see from the sheet that his legs were in perfect place.

Go figure my mind would over-work the whole situation.

“Hey,” I whisper, looking everywhere but at him. Aiden said he was asking for me, but I still have no idea if he really wanted me here. Or what initially happened to land him here in the hospital. Besides the getting shot thing.

“Come here Kelsey. God, please just let me hold you.”

With those words, I buckle. Julio scoots over, and I slowly make my way to his side. In the end, my head is laying on his shoulder, my body tucked into his side as if we were attached at the hip. Julio starts to run his hands through my hair and I shut my eyes, letting the feeling of him being this close to me sink in.

“What happened?” I finally ask, and when I go to move to look at him, he hisses in pain. I jerk back, to move away, but he shakes his head and holds me tighter.

“No,” He whispers, “Stay. Please.” I bite the inside of my mouth and pull down the covers. He brings a hand out to stop me but I won’t let him. I need to see what made Julio end up in this bed in the first place.

He must see that I’m not going to stop, because he sighs and threads his hand through mine. “We do it together,” He states, moving our hands to the bottom of his shirt.

He must of went against the hospital and put his clothes back on anyways. He moves his face to my neck and whispers the rest of the words in my ear,”You and me. Like it should have been from the beginning.“

He starts to remove his shirt gently, and when it hitches up higher I start to see the white bandage tapped to his abdomen. I lean forward and gradually bring my hand to the patchwork.

“Eventually,” Julio says as I carefully trace my finger along the skin around the bandage. “I will tell you every damn thing. I mean it Kelsey, but first I need to know something.”

He sntaches my hand and pulls it way from his stomach. He turns me a little toward him and searched my face.

“I want you. I want you every day, every morning, every night from here on out. I never want to go through what I did without knowing you are there right by my side. I once told you Kelsey that all I can give you in life is myself and I need to know if your answer is still the same. Will you have me?” He leans forward and his lips graze my cheek.

“All of me?”

My answer isn’t with words. It never was. I quickly move and I capture his lips with mine. He must be surprised that I would want any part of him. But this is my Julio, this is my bad boy, and I wouldn’t have him any other way.

When I pull away, I tell him the same thing he told me in the letter. “Being with you Julio, was never a hard decisions. It was clear from the moment you trapped me in that hallway that there was no way I wouldn’t fall in love with you.”

“So you do then?” He asks, a hopeful tone in his still hoarse voice. “Love me, that is.”

I reach out and lay my hand on his cheek. These past months I feel have been the longest of my life. Everything happened and yet he was the one thing that never changed.

“I love you Julio,” I declare, letting the words leave my mouth. He suddenly grabs my face and brings me to him hardly, not even caring about the fact he was hurt. He lets his emotions out with the fierceness of the kiss and I want nothing more than to stay like this forever.

“I love you Kelsey,” He whispers against my mouth, a secret promise between us. “So Goddamn much.”

And so that’s how we stay, huddled up on some cheap hospital bed, together as if nothing could keep us apart.

And even though we both know life was going to catch up with us, even though we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we both knew at the end of the day that we had each other.

And for us, that’s all that mattered.