Lie Close to Me

by Cynthia Eden

  They are coming right at me. Because Adam was controlling them. He’d set the bomb so he could get his fire and the upper hand.

  “Nowhere to run!” Adam’s voice boomed. “I’ve got you now.”

  The sonofabitch was sending the flames right at Maddox. Adam was controlling the fire. The whole scene had been a trap. Maddox leapt to his feet even as the fire surged toward him.

  “She’s dead!” Adam cried, and he was smiling. Smiling. “She was dead from the first flicker of pain! I didn’t have to trigger anything else, you dumb bastard. Her pain will just keep getting worse and worse until the heart attack kills her. That’s the only time it will stop! When her heart does. And it should have stopped by now! She’s dead, dead—”

  The fire had wrapped around Maddox, forming a circle. He had the gun in his hand. Luna, I love you. He leapt forward, surging through the flames, feeling the burn all along his arms and body. But he didn’t care.

  When he came through the fire, he still had his gun. He aimed it at Adam. At the man who’d been his friend. At the guy who was his worst enemy.

  He fired.

  One shot. Straight to the head.

  Adam’s eyes flared wide.

  And he fell.

  Maddox kept rushing forward, and the flames stayed behind him. He stood over Adam’s body, and he fired again, needing to be sure. Absolutely sure. You won’t hurt her ever again. You won’t hurt anyone.

  But Adam wasn’t moving. He couldn’t move. The guy was gone, and there was no smile on his face any longer. He was dead. There would be no rising for him.

  “Hey, buddy! I’m Adam. Great to meet another kid around here, you know? Hate being the new guy. Always feel so lost in a new place.” The voice slid through Maddox’s mind. Vanished into darkness.

  “Fucking hell!” Maddox bellowed.

  Then he whirled. He raced back toward the small building only to see Flynn running toward him. Flynn held a rifle in his hands.

  “Didn’t have a shot,” Flynn gasped out. “When the fire started, it was blocking everything, and shit, man, you’ve got burns all over your body!”

  He didn’t feel them. Didn’t care. “Check Sawyer.” That was all he said as he flew past Flynn. He was desperate to get back to that little building. So desperate to get to Luna.

  Be alive. Be alive.

  She had to still be alive.

  “Luna!” He screamed her name in his mind.

  But there was no answer. There was nothing.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maddox kicked in the door to that building. Smelled the blood. Saw it.

  Luna was on the exam table. Her eyes were closed. Jeremiah was right beside her. His blood-covered hands were—

  Oh, sweet Christ. His hands are in her chest!

  “I got it out!” Jeremiah yelled. Sweat covered his forehead. “I need her to heal. You said she’d heal! You said she was something special, Elizabeth! Why the hell isn’t she healing?”

  Elizabeth was staring down at Luna, shaking her head even as tears rimmed her eyes.

  Jeremiah kept pushing inside Luna’s chest.

  “What in the hell are you doing to her?” Maddox reached for the guy—

  “No!” Elizabeth shoved Maddox’s hands away. “Jeremiah is pumping her heart. Her heart hasn’t stopped, not the whole time. Do you understand? He got the device out—he made her heart keep pumping. It hasn’t stopped. She hasn’t died. She just has to heal. She has to come back.” Her frantic stare landed on him. “Make her come back, Maddox. Make her come back right the hell now.”

  He dropped the gun. Reached for Luna’s hand.

  She was so pale. Absolutely chalk-white. And there was so much blood. Her poor chest…

  “There was no time for anesthesia…” The hoarse whisper came from the doctor in the corner. The anesthesiologist? He’d pressed his back to the wall, and he stared at them in horror. “He…he just cut into her chest while she was awake. It was horrible. Oh, God, the pain that poor woman must have felt!”

  Jeremiah didn’t stop his work. Maddox glanced at him and saw the torment on his face. “I got it out,” Jeremiah whispered.

  Maddox bent, moving even closer to Luna. “Baby, I need you to fight for me.”

  Nothing.

  “I need you to use that beautiful power inside—the power that is you—your strength, your determination, you, baby—and wake up.”

  Nothing.

  “Luna, you aren’t gone. I can feel you. You’re still right here. And I’m here. And this is always where I’ll be. With you. When you open your eyes, you’re gonna see me.”

  “She’s dead!” The other doctor called out. That anesthesiologist was pissing Maddox the hell off. “There’s no way she can be alive! You didn’t see what he did, you didn’t see—”

  “Jeremiah did what had to be done!” Elizabeth blasted. “Now shut the hell up!’

  Maddox ignored them. Only Luna mattered.

  “You’ll open your eyes,” Maddox told her, tenderly stroking her cheek. “And you’ll be okay. You’ll see me. You’ll remember me. And I’ll tell you that I love you, and you’ll say that you love me. We’re safe now. No one will ever track you again. No one will hurt you. Because I’m going to be at your side. Fucking always, do you understand? Fucking always.” Carefully, tenderly, he brought her hand to his lips. He kissed her fingers and then…

  Then he put Luna’s hand on her chest.

  “What in the hell are you doing?” Jeremiah barked, not stopping his work. Not hesitating.

  “Her fingers are warm,” Maddox rasped. He had to blink because things had just gotten a little blurry for him.

  “What?” Jeremiah kept working. “What does that—” But he broke off, jerking his hands out of Luna’s chest. Her poor, savaged chest. “Oh, my God.”

  “Keep fighting, Luna.” Maddox pushed the thought at her, and he could feel Luna’s response. No words, but a surge of warmth that came back to him.

  Warmth like he’d felt in her fingertips.

  “Heal yourself, baby. Do it, please fucking do it. Because I need you back. I need you.”

  The warmth strengthened. The magic that was pure Luna. Not dead. Just weak.

  But growing more powerful every single second.

  “I love you.”

  A wild smile curved his lips because her heart…her heart was beating on its own once more.

  ***

  She opened her eyes. Found a white ceiling above her. Heard the beep of nearby machines. She twisted her head and realized she was in a bed.

  A hospital bed.

  “No,” she gasped out the one word.

  She lifted her hand—

  “Easy, sweetheart. Your body has been working overtime on healing itself. Jeremiah stitched you back up, and then your healing power took over. I could see you getting stronger every single minute that passed.” He smiled at her, a broad grin making his green eyes shine. “I knew you were going to be okay. I just had to wait for you to open your eyes.” But he held his breath. She could tell…she could…could see the fear on his face.

  “How…long?” she managed.

  “Days, but I would have waited forever, if that’s what it took.” Then he swallowed. He leaned close. “I love you.”

  He was waiting. Staring at her as if she were his whole world. That look…

  Her hand lifted. She touched his cheek.

  His gaze searched hers. So much hope there. So much fear.

  She didn’t want him to be afraid. “I love you.”

  His eyes went wide. She heard the quick rush of his breath.

  “We’re safe now,” she said, speaking the words that had seemed to play endlessly in her head. “No one will track us. No one will hurt us. Because we’re going to be together, always.”

  “You…you remember me?”

  Her chest ached. “I remember everything.” Some of the horror she almost wished she could forget. The frantic apologies from the surgeon as he’d grabbe
d the scalpel, the first cut into her…

  Luna swallowed. “I remember.”

  “You didn’t die. You didn’t…you didn’t lose yourself, baby. You fought. Fought harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. You didn’t die, and you kept your memories!”

  “I was fighting for us.” Because she hadn’t wanted to lose herself again, but…she also hadn’t wanted to lose him.

  Her lover.

  Her partner.

  Her best friend.

  “I love you, Maddox.”

  “Luna, baby, you fucking own me, body, heart, and soul.” Carefully he eased into the bed and pulled her against him. His mouth brushed over hers. “Always have, always will.”

  Her hand slid to his cheek. Then up, up to the line of his temple. She touched him, and, voice husky and low, she said, “I watched you on the beach.”

  A furrow appeared between his brows. “Luna?”

  “You weren’t paying attention to anyone around you, not at first. You were walking and your head was down, and I thought…that has to be the cutest boy I’ve ever seen.”

  His eyes widened.

  “My hands were shaking when we met. You could always do that. Make me nervous. Make me feel. But I didn’t think you liked me the same way, and there was no chance I could tell you how I felt. No chance.”

  “Baby…”

  “I was content to be your friend. I hoped for more. Didn’t think it would happen. Then you went away, you joined the army, and I felt like you’d taken my heart with you.”

  Shock was plain to see on his face.

  And the memories—the memories poured through her. “Adam was there. Every single day. Promising that he’d never leave me. Telling me stories about girls that you’d met. And the next thing I knew, he asked me out. And I thought…maybe I should try to be happy. If I can’t be with Maddox, then I should be happy with someone else…” Her voice trailed away. “But I couldn’t love Adam the right way. I couldn’t love him fully, and we both always knew why.”

  “You didn’t say. You never said…”

  “Neither did you. It’s funny, isn’t it? I wasn’t afraid when I was pulling Gs at the Air Force Academy. I wasn’t afraid when I went on my first mission. But I was terrified that I’d lose you.”

  His eyes gleamed. “You will never lose me.”

  “I got tired of being afraid. I got tired of trying to make a life for myself, a life I didn’t really want. I broke up with Adam. I gave the ring back to him. And before that motel…” Her breath sighed out. “Before the gunfire and the pain, I wanted to tell you. I planned to tell you…” Don’t be afraid. Not ever again. “Maddox, I don’t want to just be your friend.”

  His gaze burned her.

  “I want to be so much more. I want to be your lover. I want to be your partner. I want to be the person you wake up with in the morning. I want to be the person in bed with you at night. When you laugh, I want to be there. And when you hurt, I want to be there. I want you.”

  He kissed her. Not frantically. Not with wild need. A tender kiss. Passionate. And her hands lifted to sink into his dark hair. She held him even as tears stung her eyes.

  “You remember,” he whispered against her lips.

  She did. Not everything, but the pieces that mattered most.

  Maddox. He’d been the biggest piece of her life since she was fourteen years old.

  He’d been at her side when she buried her mother and father, after they’d been taken in a terrible car crash right before her eighteenth birthday. He’d held her tight while she cried. He’d promised her that he’d always be there for her. Always.

  He’d been the one sitting proudly in the front row at her high school graduation. He’d gotten leave from the army, and he’d been in the audience, sitting beside her grandmother. When she’d been announced as the valedictorian, he’d let out a whistle that had been so high, it cut right through the applause. She’d laughed as she’d gone to the microphone to deliver her speech.

  He’d been there…silent, his face hard and controlled…when she told him that she was engaged to Adam. He’d stared down at her and only asked one question. “Is he what you want?”

  She’d lied then. Lied because she thought she’d never have what she wanted.

  “I want you,” Luna said softly. “I love you.”

  “You have me,” he promised her. “Always. Fucking forever.”

  And she believed him. He kissed her again, and Luna let go of her fear. The fear that had held her back for so long. The fear that had stopped her from loving, from living. Maddox wasn’t going away. Neither was she. They were going to stay together. They’d fight for their life together. They’d live. They’d win.

  “He’s gone,” Maddox told her. He’d eased back just a little. Just enough to stare into her eyes. “Adam is dead.” A pause. “I killed him. He won’t be coming back.”

  “Will anyone else come after us?”

  He hesitated.

  Oh, no. “Maddox?”

  “Adam was working for his old boss. Selling government secrets. Sawyer and Jay are looking for him. Until he’s brought down, there will be a risk to all of the super soldiers. Our secret is out, and that’s something we all have to face. Maybe it’s time to stop being in the shadows. Maybe the whole world needs to know what’s happening.”

  So it wasn’t completely over, not yet. Maybe it was just beginning.

  “The tracker is out of you, baby. No one will be able to use it to hurt you again. You’re free. You can go anywhere you want.”

  She didn’t want to run. Not yet. “I want to help the others.” To do what she could for them.

  “Figured you’d say that.”

  “And then…” She smiled at him. Smiled even though her chest still ached. “Then I want to be with you. I want a life. A home. A child.” Everything. The whole package. With him.

  “I’ll give you anything you want.” His gaze seemed to see into her very soul. “I swear it. All you ever have to do is ask.”

  In that case… “Maddox, will you marry me?”

  “Hell, yes.” He kissed her. “Hell, yes.”

  ***

  “You remember?” Elizabeth’s brows rose. “You have your memories back?” Even as she asked the question, she shined a bright light into Luna’s eyes.

  Luna tried not to blink. Maddox was beside her, holding her hand tightly. “Yes.”

  Elizabeth dropped the light. “The damage to you was extensive.” She tilted her head. “I wasn’t sure you’d be able to recover. It took days…and sometimes, when I’d come in here, you’d be as still as death. I wasn’t even sure that you were breathing.”

  “She was,” Maddox growled.

  Elizabeth’s gaze swung to him. “You were here with her every second.”

  “There’s no other place I’d want to be.”

  Elizabeth smiled, but the curve of her lips only lasted for a moment. “The damage was extensive,” she murmured, as if puzzling over something in her mind. “So the healing was extensive, too. You were as close to death as anyone I’ve ever seen, Luna. Your healing power kicked in because you had to use it on yourself to survive. And I wonder…because you were so very close to dying…is that what led you to be able to retrieve your memories again? Because the healing process in your body was so intense and prolonged? Once you started healing, once you let yourself go…maybe there was no holding back any longer.”

  “You thought I was…holding back on getting my own memories?” Why on earth would she do something like that?

  “Sometimes our past can hurt us.” Elizabeth gnawed on her lower lip. “Sometimes, we don’t want to face it. Sometimes, we’re afraid,” Elizabeth added. “And we try to protect ourselves without even realizing it.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Luna said. I’m not afraid of Adam. I’m not afraid to tell Maddox how I feel. I’m not afraid of living or loving.

  There wasn’t room for fear. Not anymore.

  Maddox’s hold tightened on h
er.

  “I’m going to help the others,” Luna promised. She wouldn’t leave with Maddox before she did her part. None of the Lazarus subjects deserved to lose their pasts. Their lives.

  “I’d like to perform brain scans before and after you attempt any memory restoration on the others.” Elizabeth’s gaze had turned distant. “Maybe I can see what areas of the brain light up after your treatment. The more we understand about what has happened to those in Lazarus, the better it is for us all.”

  Yes. “Count on me for anything you need.”

  Elizabeth came closer to the bed. “Thank you, Luna.” Her lashes covered her eyes as she glanced down. Her shoulders slumped a bit. “I’m…I’m so sorry for everything that happened to you. I created Lazarus. I swear, what’s happened was never my intent, but that doesn’t make it right. I tried to play God because I didn’t want to lose anyone else in my life. I thought I could stop death. I didn’t realize how many people would be hurt. Destroyed.” Her lashes lifted. “Again, I am so sorry.”

  “We can’t change the past.” Luna cleared her throat. “But we can go forward. We can make things better. I figure with you and I working together, there’s not much that we can’t do.”

  Elizabeth licked her lower lip. “Thank you, Luna. Thank you.” Then she backed away from the bed. A moment later, the door shut softly behind her.

  Luna was left alone with Maddox. Her head turned. She met his watchful stare. “What?”

  “I love you.”

  She’d never get tired of hearing those words.

  “I loved you yesterday, I love you today, and I’ll love you for all the tomorrows that we have coming.”

  Very, very nice. She offered her hand to him. When his fingers curled around hers, Luna pulled him closer.

  “Baby, your chest…I know it’s still tender…I don’t want to hurt—”

  “You’ve never hurt me, and you never will.” Something she knew with absolute certainty. “Now kiss me and then tell me what we’re going to do…after.”

  One brow lifted. “After?”

  “After everyone has their memories back. After you and I start a life together. After we have a house…”