Page 123 of Falcon

He is going to fight himself into an early grave and there is nothing any of us can do to stop him.

Falcon

The ride to the airport is a long one; with my mind whirling with everything the doctor told me before we left the hospital.

“I’m not your personal doctor but, Mr. Masen, I can tell you with certainty that your body cannot last under this type of repeated stress. Every brain and body handles trauma differently. Yours has been put under an immense amount of it since a very young age. Since before your brain was even fully developed. You’ve had an illustrious career. It is my professional opinion that you should walk away.”

I’ve heard it all before, but having Faith in the room to hear it all made it ring a little more true. More serious.

She hasn’t said anything since she came back into the room to hear what the doctor had to say before we left.

Even now, as we sit in the back seat of the SUV, with Vincent and Joe in the front, she is curled into the window with her body angled away from me.

“Baby...talk to me,” I say in a soft voice.

She sniffles a bit, but doesn’t look at me before she speaks. “What do you want me to say?”

“Anything. Tell me what you’re thinking about. Tell me what you had for breakfast. Tell me I’m a fucking idiot. Anything. Just talk to me. I don’t like you’re so shut off right now.”

She finally angles her body toward me. “I don’t want to have a conversation like this in front of them.” She nods her head toward the front.

“They aren’t listening to us, Faith.” I reach across the car and take her hand, and thankfully, she lets me.

“Why are you doing this to yourself? Why can’t you just stop?”

“Because I’m not ready yet. It’s not time. What am I going to do when I stop? I don’t have any skills. I didn’t go to college. Am I going to just work some bullshit job that anyone with a high school diploma could do?”

“If it keeps you alive, sure. You can go back to school. You can do more with the children you help. Open your own gym. You can do anything. You don’t have to risk your life every day to prove a point.”

“You sound like my sister. It makes all the things I want to do to you right now a little weird.” I smirk.

“She must be a smart cookie then. Maybe listen to us. You might learn a thing or two.” She smiles just a bit, but she tries to hide it.

“Faith...” I reach over and press the button to unbuckle her seat belt.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to hold you.”

I tug her across the bench and settle her over my lap, wrapping my arms around her, burying my face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent.

She rests one hand on my chest and wraps the other arm around my neck, clinging to me like I’m her life source.

“I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t want anything to go wrong while you were with me,” I mumble against her skin.

“Stop. Don’t apologize for that. Just take care of yourself, Marco. That’s all I want. That’s all I need. I just need to know that you’ll be okay, because I’m not sure I can handle the thought of something even worse happening to you.”

I hold her just as we are until we roll to a stop at the airport.

Back to California we go.

One step closer to home.

One step closer to her leaving me to go back to her home.

One step closer to having to admit to her, even after all of this...

I’m still finishing what has been started with Braxton White.

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