Page 127 of Ravaged For You

“I love Axel Stoll,” I reply. I feel the confidence return to my chest. I stand up tall and I stop walking. I’m facing her down, over the phone. “And, Mom, I know for a damn fact that Axel Stoll loves me. That’s my evidence.”

And then without waiting for an answer from her – because I don’t need one – I hang up and walk back to my real boyfriend with the biggest smile on my face.

If I risk it all

Would you be there?

If I put my heart on the line

Would you take it?

Some say we’re too different

Some may doubt our love

But I don’t think they’re right, no

To me, we are enough

How can I live

when you’re in this world?

My blood burns

Burns so hot

Because, for you, I will risk it all

EPILOGUE

THREE MONTHS LATER

AXEL

I pull up outside my place on my motorbike and allow myself a moment to sit on the back of my beast and think.

My mind wanders back over the last few months. The best three months of my life.

Maddie Leaver.

God, that girl. She’s completely snared my heart. She’s everything to me. My world. My love. I had felt like such an idiot that I didn’t tell her sooner my true feelings for her, but I’m glad I did. I’m glad I drove to her place and confronted her. Practically begged her to forgive me.

I’ve told her a million times since then that that one moment is the only time she’ll ever witness this rockstar boy beg. I’m not the pleading type.

But, hey, I got my woman. That was worth anything, even getting on my knees for.

She told me how she called her mom. How she told her that she loves me. How she finally got some much-overdue closure. I told her that I’m proud of her. I told her that I’ll always be right behind her as her biggest fan, just as she is mine.

What a few months it’s been. I bought a new place in LA the week after the album’s release. This pad is massive. A pool. Stunning views over the city. So many rooms. Enough space for a family. In fact, I immediately asked Maddie – the moment she came over to inspect the place – if she would move in with me. She was surprised but said yes straight away. She had no need to be surprised. I bought the place for us.

And we’ve both made it our home.

“It’s still pretty far from the suburbs and a normal life,” Maddie told me.

I had to agree.

This is certainly not the life I feared when I thought of a relationship. I want to kick myself for being so wrong all those years. Like Mom said, it took a woman like Maddie Leaver to come flying into my life with all her strength and intelligence to change me.