Chapter 14

Lucas let some more tears fall freely. "I failed her." Maya wrapped her arms around him, one of the only forms of endearment she had ever given him.

"She promised to protect you Lucas. That's what she did." The blonde sobbed, "she kept her promise, like she always does."

Farkle was pacing back and forth, "where were the other body guards?"

"There was something about him causing a riot. It was close to her dressing room so they helped control it. How long has she been back there?"

"I don't know." The blue eyed girl whispered and sat beside him, "Lucas if you didn't survive she wouldn't have been able to live."

"If she doesn't live I won't survive." The marine sobbed quietly to himself. Hating every single thing about him. How did he let Tommy get the drop on him?

"Where is he?" Zay questioned.

"In the morgue, with 3 shots in the skull and a broken wrist. And at least a fractured nose." The doctor entered the waiting area. "Where is she?"

"She's sleeping right now. Ms. Matthews was shot in the shoulder, it knicked an artery. She lost a lot of blood we had to do 2 blood transfusions and go in to stitch it up. She'll be okay." The doctor said with a smile.

"Where is she?" The marine repeated.

"She's in recovery right now. We can't allow anyone back there, not until we ensure she's stable." Lucas inhaled deeply.

"Please doctor, I have to see her. I'll literally beg." One glance into Lucas' eyes, you could tell he was a desperate man. A desperate man in love.

The doctor sighed, "come on. Only you though." The green eyed man couldn't get to her fast enough. "You may hold her hand but please don't do too much more." The door opened and he tip toed into the room. How someone can look so beautiful after taking a bullet, he'd never know. She had an oxygen nasal tube in and her arm was in a sling. Riley's dress was pulled down on her shoulder, revealing the fresh white bandage. Lucas pulled up a chair and clutched her hand. His chest tightened, trying to prevent himself from crying.

His lips touched her fingertips. "Hi beautiful. I'm so sorry, I failed you again." Lucas laid his head on the bed and touched her fingers. "You didn't fail me though, you never have."

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Riley slowly opened her eyes and blinked the haze that the pain medication caused out of her eyes. Her head rolled and glanced at her left shoulder, "Lucas?" She heard someone stand up but fell back asleep.

"No, no Riley."

"Did she wake up?" Maya questioned as the door opened.

"Yeah for like 5 seconds, maybe. She fell back asleep." The marine rubbed his eyes and took the coffee from her. "Thanks. Where's Farkle?"

"Working on cancelling her tour. I have a press conference in the morning, and good news Billy's been arrested. Got a call from the label about an hour ago. Also, she didn't conceal the Ruger. You left it on her vanity." The marine nodded and pulled a chair by her bedside and held her hand. Maya sat on the window seal and stared at her best friend then back towards him. "You know, i've always wanted to ask you. Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Why'd you date her, knowing you'd only have a few months with her before you went your seperate ways? And why didn't you stay with her? Y'all could've made it work." The blue eyed girl took a sip of her coffee.

"I spent years asking myself that same question. Why did you do that? Why did you torture yourself? Why'd you make love to her, and fall for her? The only explanation I came up with was because she's Riley Matthews." His eyes looked like glass as the tears waited to escape. "I didn't want to do that to her. The torture of her wondering if the reason I didn't call was because I wasn't alive. I went through that for what 4 hours tonight, wondering if she was going to live and I just about died."

"Well, at least you got a few good shots in with Tommy." The green eyed man didn't acknowledge her, "broken wrist, broken nose, 3 shots to the head and a few bruised ribs. Good job. Couldn't you have swiped the gun away from that guy?"

"You know, I would've went after her. I wouldn't have let them leave that building. The only reason I didn't fight with him when I was at gunpoint was because I didn't want a stray bullet to hit her, we were in a small room. Yet we're still here." Lucas cleared his throat, "Maya did Riley ever try to kill herself?"

"What?" She tried to play it off like it was a ridiculous notion. His demeanor didn't change, nor did his facial expression. After a heavy sigh she whispered, "once. After Anna died." His forehead fell on her hand. "I found her in the bathroom throwing up a whole bottle of pills." Her blue eyes moved towards her thumbs. "I took her to the ER and got her stomach pumped just to be safe."

"Thank you." The multiple deep breaths did nothing for the tears. Riley's head moved from left to right slowly, she sighed slightly. "She's fixing to be up."

"How do you know that? It could be a dream."

"She sighs like that before she wakes up. Trust me, she spent the night at my house more than at yours in high school." Maya rolled her eyes. "Riley? Can you hear me baby?"

"Lucas." Again, her eyelids fluttered to bring herself out of the daze.

"It's me sweetheart." His lips touched her forehead. "Me and Maya."

"What happened?"

Maya spoke up, "I think we don't need to worry about that right now, you need to rela-"

"Peaches, I love you. But i'm not a reporter, and you're my best friend first." She rolled her head back towards the marine, "what happened?"

His strong, shaky hands moved some hair out of her face. "We assume he had an adrenaline rush, when he fell down from the pressure he drew his gun and fired. The bullet hit you in the shoulder, nicked an artery, the doctors went in to repair it. Riley what were you thinking? Jumping in front of the bullet like that, you could've died Riley." He sniffled, "I could've lost you."

She gulped and ignored his question, "what about Tommy?"

"Lucas shot him in the face 3 times." Maya exclaimed.

"Thank you for saving me." She whispered, clearly having a hard time staying awake.

"No baby, you saved me." Lucas stood up and kissed her lips. "Go back to sleep beautiful."

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"Good Morning, ladies and gentleman. As everyone knows there was an incident last night involving Ms. Matthews and Mr. Tommy Higgins. The incident involved Ms. Matthews being shot in the shoulder and Mr. Higgins dying from his injuries on sight. She is expecting a full recovery but has pushed back her tour instead of cancelling it altogether. To the fans that have purchased tickets to last nights concert, please keep your stubs as instructed last night. Riley Matthews has decided to refund you, in full for the price of your ticket and schedule a makeup concert. Further instructions will be pending."

"Ms. Hart!" The blonde acknowledged her, "Witnesses report hearing 5 shots total. Will you please elaborate."

"I'm not at liberty to speak about that at this time, since an investigation is pending. I can however tell you that there were 5 shots, yes. Next question."

"Her producer and ex boyfriend Billy Rice was arrested late last night, can you elaborate?"

"He has been arrested involving the threatening letters and tweets, that is correct. Next question."

"Where were her bodyguards? If her safety was of the upmost importance where were they?"

The blonde bit her cheek, since that question struck a nerve. "There was a fight that broke out and her bodyguards were helping control the situation and keeping it away from Ms. Matthews. Her previous body guard did come to her aid." She chuckled lightly, "i'm going to have to call this a wrap ladies and gentleman, that question rubbed me the wrong way. Thank you." Maya stepped off the small stage where Zay was waiting for her with the car door open.

"Let it out sugar." Zay instructed after he buckled his seatbelt.

"That effing prick, how dare he?"

"Come here." The blue eyed girl leaned into his arm and felt a wave of relief. "Hey Maya, I have a question."

"Okay?" She furrowed her brows and played with his fingertips that were draped over her shoulder.

"Whatever happened between you and Josh?"

The blonde rolled her lips in, "we tried to do long distance. That lasted like 3 weeks, he was very sweet and funny, and he deserved more than what I was giving him."

"That's extremely hard to believe that you weren't enough for him." Zay stroked her hair.

"He didn't say that, in fact he said what you said. But, he's happily married with a baby on the way. I was very lucky to spend the last half of senior year with him but, we weren't 'the one' for one another. Like Riley is Lucas' one, Lucas is Riley's one." Zay smiled and kissed the top of her head. "It could be the adrenaline with everything that just ended last night but you could be my one, that's why I liked you for so long. And when nothing happened fate put you in my path again."

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Lucas stared at Riley, stroking her cheek hoping she'd wake up sometime soon. The 8 minutes here and there was pure torture, they had her on enough pain killers to knock out a horse. Maybe it was because she was tinier, it affected her more, plus she lost a lot of blood. "Hi baby." Her eyes were still closed but a small smile approached her lips.

"Hey beautiful girl. How're you feeling?"

"Other than being shot in the shoulder, pretty damn good." They both laughed lightly. "Whatever is in my IV is top notch!"

"You're goofy." His thumb continued to caress her cheek and he couldn't hold back anymore, he had to kiss her, and her eyes finally opened.

"I'm so sorry baby." Her eyebrows creased, "come on, you're in here because of me."

"No, i'm here because of Tommy. Thank God he's a bad shot." The brunette joked.

"I should've checked, double shot. You make sure their dead before-"

"Baby shut up." The marine let out a laugh with his exhale, "your feelings took over. Why would I be mad about that?"

"Because I let you down again Riley. I should've shot when I had the gun to his head."

"With me right behind him? No, I think you did the right thing trying to get me out of the way first." The singer smiled and took his hand.

"I was so focused on putting him in physical pain that I didn't go for the gun first."

She scoffed, "I would've done the same thing."

"You don't have the training that I do." He whispered, "there was no excuse for allowing what happened to happen."

"Are you quitting? Because sometimes I think you're more of a diva in this relationship than the country singer." Lucas' lips touched hers again.

"I would've gone after you Riley." The brunette grinned.

"I know, I just needed the gun off of your temple. I figured you didn't do anything to try to get the gun out of his hands because you didn't want me to watch if anything bad happened." She sleepily mumbled.

"I didn't want a stray bullet to hurt you. I could've easily, but he would've fired."

"How ironic." The singer giggled lightly.

"Why'd you do it Riley? You shouldn't have dove in front of that bullet."

She yawned, "I made a promise, besides you were in the marines for 7 years and didn't even get injured. Why come back to the United States and get killed by an estranged stalker? That's not as cool."

"I'm serious." The marine whispered.

"Because I love you and because if I did die than I would've gotten to see Anna and watch over you everyday." She sighed, and tried to lighten the mood, "now I have a super cool battle scar."

"I've missed you baby." The green eyed man grinned, "do you want anything? Food? Drink?"

"I want you to be mine." She was clearly exhausted but the light in her eyes hadn't faded, "marry me."

"Why don't we talk about that when you aren't as high as a kite." Her lip pouted.

"You don't want to marry me?" Riley smiled, "fine I didn't want to marry you anyways."

"Yes you do beautiful girl." Lucas smiled and kissed her lips remembering what happened the last time she sort of proposed. "I thought the man was supposed to propose."

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7 Years Earlier

It was the night before she was leaving for Los Angeles, Riley had been attached at his hip for the last 2 weeks and nothing had changed tonight. She found anyway and everyway to touch him, to kiss him, to make love to him. "I'm gonna miss you Riley."

"You have no idea." She whispered, trying to force back the tears. "Lucas, I don't-"

"Baby," he interrupted, "this is your dream." Lucas was trying to be strong for her, to help her follow through with the only thing she's always wanted.

"I don't want to leave." He felt a tear on his chest. "I want you, all of you. You're all I want."

"We're going to see each other again. This isn't a goodbye beautiful, it's a see you later." The brunette continue to sob quietly. "We have to quit talking about this before I change my mind." The green eyed man gulped.

"Please change it, change your mind."

"We promised baby, you forced me to enlist when I didn't want to." Her long arm draped across his stomach. "Remember I was begging you to please just let me come with you, I could go to school, or become a cop."

"I remember. But you've wanted to be a Marine like your Pappy Joe since you were a little boy." Riley raised her chin and was met with his soft lips. They gazed into eachother's eyes in silence for several minutes when she finally got the courage to speak what was on her mind. "Marry me."

Lucas' thumb caressed her cheek. "I thought the man was supposed to propose."

"We're in the 21st century. I can come live with you on base wherever you're stationed." The brunette sat up and didn't care about the fact that she was naked. "Marry me Lucas."

"Baby I have no doubt in my mind we'll be married one day." His green eyes found her arms and started kissing her hands. "But when the time is right, i'm going to propose to you." He sat up and continued to kiss up her arm. "I only enlisted for 4 years. As soon as i'm out i'll call you and fly wherever you are." Her eyes were red and she unknowingly was sticking her bottom lip out. "Don't cry baby. I've tried really hard to not cry but if you start I will too."

"Well then you might want to look away," Riley started to sob. Lucas sat up completely and did the only thing he felt was right. His hands cupped her face and kissed her, she laid down and immediately felt him inside of her. They stared into eachother's eyes, with each thrust she'd close her eyes and a few more tears would fall out. "I love you Lucas."

"I love you Riley." He slowly came to a stop and laid down on top of her, the brunette wrapped her arms around him. This was the first time he'd broken down, she felt tears run down her shoulders which only made her want to be stronger. "I love you so much beautiful, i'm so sorry I talked us into doing this. I'm so sorry that I thought this would be a good idea. No amount of time with you will ever be enough and I was stupid enough to think that it would be."

"I'm not sorry at all. I'd rather have been with you these past 6 months and it feel like i'm dying than not at all. This is just our love story."

"You're my Juliet." He whispered.

"When i'm gone just know you'll never be alone. I'll be waiting for you."

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"Alright beautiful, you ready?" Maya finished curling her hair and Riley stepped out of the bathroom. "You're so gorgeous." She smiled and pressed her lips against his, Lucas ran his hands on her body.

"Easy cowboy, wait till we get back to my place." She giggled and looped her one good arm through his. "Now I don't have to hide you."

"Y'all are so cute it's gross." The blonde mumbled and grabbed her bags. "Alright Riles, remember the tour starts in 1 week, 20 cities in 30 days. Try not to discuss the unfortunate events." The singer agreed and put on some sunglasses. "Let's go." The brunette placed her head on Lucas' arm.

Farkle, Maya, Lucas and Riley all stepped outside and were bombarded with flash photography and news cameras. The singer clutched Lucas' hand not letting him leave her side. "Good morning everyone. I have time to answer a few questions. Yes m'am."

"There were 5 shots, can you give us some insight as to what happened in your dressing room?"

"I'm still not allowed to discuss the unfortunate events but 1 shot was obviously meant for me." Everyone started to giggle, even Riley. "other than that one, I shot once and my boyfriend shot the other times. Yes sir!"

"Who is your boyfriend? Is that your old bodyguard? Did you two know each other before?"

Riley smiled at Lucas who contained a straight face, just like in high school. Whenever he was around her he was extremely sweet, loving and trusting. Around anyone else he was a rock, strong, he was a Marine. "His name is Lucas Friar, he is my current bodyguard and we were together in high school. He's the only man i've loved in my life."

"Mr. Friar!" Lucas' green eyes found the man who was screaming his name. "Can you tell us how you saved her life?"

"I can't, because she saved mine." The reporters went crazy as they were escorted to the car.

"Nice job Friar. That's probably going to make the front page." Maya chuckled and snuggled into Zay who was waiting on her.

"It's the truth." The marine smiled and started kissing her again, she let out a small smile and bit her lip.

"The house is fixed, I also moved the Staples Center concert to the very end and Taylor Swift will be there. Her manager said for you to choose another song since you probably can't dance." Farkle grinned, "I also rented another tour bus."

"Why, I have a huge one?" Riley questioned.

"I figured you and Lucas would want your own space for awhile since it's been so stressful. I didn't use your funds-"

"Farkle I don't care about that. But don't feel like you have to do that. Right Lucas?" She rolled her head to the right and raised her eyebrows, insisting on him to agree.

The marine sat up and smiled, "thanks Farkle!"

"Damn it Lucas!"

Maya grinned, "we're here. Straight to bed young lady." Lucas escorted her upstairs and didn't hesitate to crawl beside her.

"Mm, I have missed laying with you." The brunette stated and took his hand in hers.

He bit his cheek, afraid to ask this question but she must have been rubbing off on him since curiosity won out. "Hey beautiful, can I ask you something?"

She sighed heavily. "I have a strong feeling I know what this is about."

"Maya told me that you've tried to kill yourself before." The singer bit her lip, "why baby? Why would you try to do that to yourself?"

"I don't know now, but at the time I felt like I had nothing to live for. I had just lost Anna and I hadn't heard from you in months- I mean my world was collapsing."

Lucas leaned upwards on his arm, "baby I told you that once I was done with my enlistment i'd find you."

"Yeah but we also hadn't talked in months, you had no idea I was even pregnant." His emerald eyes fell to her shoulder. "I would've done it the other night." Lucas' eyes closed. "I wasn't lying, I want to see Anna, and if something had happened to you well i'd be with my family."

"What about your parents, Maya, Farkle? What about all of them?" He questioned, "you'd just leave them feeling the same way you were feeling? What if I survived, and you didn't?"

"Lucas I never said it was a good idea."

"Damn right, it's a terrible idea." They both laughed lightly, "please don't ever. Ever, ever, ever think about doing that to yourself." His thumb embraced her cheek before he kissed her. "I can't say I blame you for the thought though. If I lost you i'd want to do the same thing." The marine moved his left hand on her thigh and slowly caressed his way north.

"Baby I don't know if we should." She closed her eyes and sighed happily, feeling his hands on her.

The green eyed man carefully rolled on top of her, "who says I can't just spoil you?"

"Lucas Friar, you don't have to do that." It was too late, her dress was hiked up and he slid down her panties.

"It's the least I could do," His lips touched her inner thigh, and her toes started to curl. She bit her lip, her heart about to burst from the anticipation. "You saved my life." He moved even closer. "Right?"

"I mean if you say so."

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