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It was raining so much. Water fell from the sky fast and hard, loud enough to muffle every sound. Lila could barely see Diego down on the street, only a couple feet from her, fighting three other guys like his life depended on it. For what she could see, it kind of did.
Diego was strong and smart, striking punches with speed and never turning his back on any of the man, but he was fighting alone. He couldn’t block kicks and punches from all three man at the same time, and hit by hit he was starting to lose the fight.
The man was so damn stubborn. Why can’t he just ask for hers or his siblings help before putting himself on those messed up situations? She knows the answer, it’s because he is too bloody proud for his own good. “I can do this by myself” he said, like she didn’t know it before. What he fails to understand is that he doesn’t have too. So, this evening when he got out to follow a lead on a murder and denied every offer to help she and his brothers made, she followed him.
Yes, he would be pissed if he found out, and yes, maybe she would end up following him for no reason whatsoever, but on her mind it was better to be safe than sorry.
Thank God she was safe.
Diego was on the ground now, still fighting but losing his strength right before her eyes. Maybe it was time to help now. Being beaten up wasn’t new for any of then, but it was getting scary - the way his punches were getting weaker.
When one of the man punched Diego right on the face, his head hitting the ground and eyes closing shut for long moments, she had it. Whit her heart beating faster than ever before, Lila jumped of the roof going down the stairs on sseconds.She prepared herself to fight those three guys by herself, to save the man she loved.
The sound of her boots as she dropped to the ground was drowned out by the rain, so she took the man by surprise when she gave her first punch. Closer to then as she was now, she could see they were very big and strong, but had many bruises on their faces and arms, some bleeding too. Diego was very good.
After punching the first guy, she kicked him to the ground and stepped hard on his groin, he screamed out loud in pain before she threw one last punch, making him unconscious. The sound of his scream, though, caught the attention of the other two.
She recognize one of the man, that had a large, deep scar on his left cheek, he was the main suspect on the case Diego was investigating. She saw his face on one of the files he makes when he is investigating. You can take the man out of the police, but you can’t take the organizational files out of the man.
They advanced on her direction at the same time, leaving a also beaten up and unconscious Diego on the wet floor of the alley. The scarred man threw the first punch, but she used her legs to swing around and hit him. He fell on the ground with a annoyed grunt, and that kicked the other man into action.
This guy was smaller, but looked stronger. He had only four intact fingers on his left hand and his long, dark hair was glued to his face because of the pouring rain. He threw a sequence of hard punches but she dodged then all except the last one, that hit her left cheek with power.
The hit made her lost her balance and she reached the wall of the alley to keep upright, but had little time to ground herself before he tried to punch her again. Lila new he was much stronger than her, so punches and kicks would do little to hurt him. She had to be smart about this. In the corner of her eye she could see the man with the scar watching then from the ground.
She ducked and his hand missed her face by a inch, before he could try again she grabbed a peace of wood of the ground and striked his head. The man stumbled back and reached for his head, that now had a big cut on the left temple. She adjusted her grip on the peace of wood, before hitting the man again, this time on the right side of his face. She did it again and again, until his face was full of blood and he was limp on the ground.
She took a deep breath and looked around the alley for the scarred man, but he wasn’t there anymore. He must had bailed during her fight, too much of a coward for he left his friends behind.
Diego was still there, lying on his stomach, completely soaked – as was she – and still unconscious. She turned him around and winced when she saw the state of his face, filled with cuts and swollen bruises. Her heart ached at the sight, and panic began to fill her body.
“Diego!” She said as loud as she could, trying to be heard over the loud rain. When he didn’t move, she slapped his cheek lightly. “Diego!” she screamed again, and this time he winced a little. Relieved with his response, Lila shook his shoulders hard until he opened his eyes.
“Why am I drenched?” He said with a low voice, barely even heard over the sound of the rain. He looked confused and a little dazed and was still trying to properly open his eyes, but his right eye was too swollen.
“Cause it’s raining?” She said, and shook his shoulders when his eyes closed again. “I can’t carry you, so I need your help, okay?” He nodded slightly and she moved her hand to his neck to support his head as he sat up.
Diego let out a painful growl as he sat, his hands moving quickly to his abdomen, indicating where the pain was. She moved his wet black shirt up and let out a gasp. His torso was covered on cuts and bruises, mostly on the region of the ribs. She would bet there’s a least one broken rib only by the state of the skin covering then. A wave of anger came over her, but she focused on the necessity of taking Diego home.
“Now we need to get up. Do you think you can do it?” She asked and he looked her in the eyes before letting out his confirmation. She got up first and grabbed both his hands, holding then in a tight grip. “One, two, three...” she said, and then she pushed him up by his arms as he used all his strength to get vertical.
He screamed at the joint pain on his abdomen, legs and head forcing him to stand up. He leaned on Lila so he wouldn’t fall and braced himself for the pain of walking to his place. It would be a long walk.
...
Diego slept for 12 hours like a dead man. When they got to his flat it was all that they could do to take off his wet clothes before he fell flat on his bed. It took her a whole hour to fix him up. She cleaned his wounds, made bandages, and he didn’t even flinch. She dried his long locks with a towel and than with a hairdryer and he didn’t move a muscle. It was scary, really, how tired he was.
Worried about his blood lost, she forced him to wake up and drink some water. She also gave him pain killers, even though she knew there was only so much they could do. When he went back to sleep, she grabbed a blanket and threw it over him, he needed to stay warm.
After assuring herself she did everything she could to keep him comfortable, Lila took a long bath and dried her own hair. Then, she tended her own bruises. She was so tired now, already feeling the effects of the extended period of time spent under the rain on that cold night of September. A cold was only a matter of time.
It was only 10 PM, but all she could think about was sleep. Ignoring it, she made herself something to eat and ate it all even though she wasn’t hungry. By the time she was ready for bed she was fighting to keep her eyes open.
Lila lay down on the bed with little finesse, but Diego kept sleeping profoundly so she tucked herself under the warm blanket right beside him. She went to sleep so fast she couldn’t tell if the feeling of a warm arm pulling her closer was real or just her imagination.
...
The next day, she was the first one to wake up, not a surprise since that man would need any sleep he could get after the day before. The clock on her phone said 10 AM and it wasn’t a surprise either, she also needed a lot of sleep.
Diego had one arm under her head and the other over his stomach, his face peaceful and mostly purple. He had a big bruise on his left cheek, taking over the skin of his cheekbone all the way to the left side of his chin. His right eye was swollen and there were cuts under his eyebrow and on his lips.
Honestly, Lila didn’t know if she was angrier with the guys that had beaten him up or with Diego for trying to fight all of then alone. Maybe both.
She turns her body to him and gather closer, moving her hand slowly in the direction of his face – his beautiful, stupid face. Careful no to touch any of his bruises, she places her hand lightly on his right cheek. When he doesn’t move, she traces his lower lip with her thumb. At the touch, his lips turn into a small smile.
“Hi.” He says with his eyes still closed, and Lila has to fight a smile. This man is always so sweet when they are alone, just the way he said that word makes her heart skip a bit. She shakes her head, she can’t be nice right now, she’s mad, remember? She doesn’t move her hand, though, still caressing his lips.
When she doesn’t respond, he open his eyes. He closes it immediately wincing at the sunlight, but tries again shortly. When his dark eyes meet hers, it takes only seconds for the sleepiness on then turn into shock.
He tries to sit up, clearly forgetting the poor state of his body, but the pain of his broken ribs stops him on his tracks. He lays back down, bringing both his hands up to her face to put her closer to him. His eyes traces all the bruises she has on her cheeks and forehead.
“Are you okay?” He asks, and there is so much care on his tone.
She debates on how to deal with this situation, the guilt on his expression is obvious, as is the worry, but she needs to make him understand why all this happened on the first place. Why they were both hurt.
“No, I’m not.” She answers, her tone angrier than she planned. Lila grabs his hands from her face and sits with her legs crossed besides him. “Diego, are you aware of the fact that you almost died? That if I hadn’t followed your stupid ass when you went after those guys you would be dead in a alley right now?” She tries her best to keep her voice low and controlled.
She can see her words take some seconds to down on him, but when they do he looks shocked. Good, that was what she wanted. His eyes widen and his mouth opens as if he was going to say something, but she starts talking again.
“I am not okay, because of your messed up belief that you don’t need anyone to fight beside you. I am not okay, because you think that in order to keep me and your siblings safe, you can take all the punches.” Lila tries to fight the tears falling from her eyes. Her words are broken with emotion, and she takes a big breath before continuing. “I can’t be okay when you do things like that. When I know that I could have lost you yesterday just because you are too damn proud.” He frees one of his hands from her grip and moves it to her face to wipe her tears.
He looks sad, defeated. Like he knew she was right, like he was ashamed of his actions and of the fact that he made her so worried she is crying. Lila never cries, she is always so tough. To make her cry is worse than any pain he ever endured.
This time, he ignores the pain when he sits on the bed, and when she tries to push him down again he grabs her hands. Before she can protest, he talks.
“I’m sorry, Lila.” He whispers and leads both his hands to her hips, bringing her closer to him. He ignores the pain when her arms circle his waist and her head rests on his chest. “I know I should have asked for help, but I really did think I could handle it alone.” He says. “I'm sorry you got hurt. I love you.”
“I love you, too, you fucking menace. That’s why I need you to stay alive.” She squeezes him and he gasps a little in pain. Then, she pulls away from the hug to look him in the eyes. Her face is serious and he knows she means business when she says “If you don’t start looking after yourself and asking for help, I... I don’t think I can keep doing this. Us.” And she means it.
Seen him almost dead on that alley, imagining what could have happened if she hadn’t followed him, makes her want to cry and hit him on the head really hard. The thought of losing him forever is too much. He is the one person she trusts, the one person she knows really love and accept her for what she truly is. He is the only thing she has, and she is not losing him.
With wide eyes he grabs her face and tangles her hair on his hands, before bringing their faces so close she can feel his breath on her nose.
“You won’t leave me, I need you. I can’t exist without you. You are my everything, Lila.” He whispers into her lips. Diego’s face is so sad now bearing desperation, and her heart hurts at the sight of it. He was never one for declarations, always showing his love with actions more than proclaiming it to the masses. It takes her off guard and when she realizes what she’s doing her mouth is already on his.
The kiss is chaste, her lips moving over his for only a few seconds before she moves back. “I don’t ever want to leave you, Diego. It would probably kill me to do it, but I don’t want to lose you either. Watching you die would be worse than dying, would be like losing my soul.” She whispers back, moving her hands slowly over his hair.
“I promise that what happened yesterday won’t ever happen again. I promise that when I know the job will be too hard I will ask for help...” He says looking her dead in the eyes, the truth of his words clear to anyone to see. She smiles a little, relieve spreading through her body, and kisses him again, this time wholeheartedly, putting one every stroke of her tongue and every movement of her lips how relieved and happy his promises made her.
He responds in kind, trowing all of his love for her into that kiss, moving his hands over her skin with reverence and care like no man ever did.
She moves her hands from his hair to his body, but regrets it as soon as he winces his body away from her hands. “Oh, I'm sorry!” She says half joking. The familiarity of the situation doesn’t scape then, and soon they are both smiling.
“Just be careful, woman!” he says still smiling, then he lowers himself back until he is lying on the bed again. “But don’t stop kissing me.” He finishes before pulling her over his hips so she is straddling him. Their lips meet again.