#sutton020

As soon as Maddox had gotten the text from Noah that Sutton had been found, the Primordial had launched himself into the truck to get to the hospital. He wasn’t there for her while she got beaten in the street… no one there to help. Besides that, the day had started off so well. Maddox had attended Thanksgiving with the Chambers, enjoying the feeling of family around him even if it wasn’t necessarily his own and even if it involved wearing a tie for the day. They were warm, incredibly so, which Maddox had already known from Sunday dinners but the air in the Chambers household made Maddox feel more of a part of the family than the Sunday dinners had. The traditions were something that he knew were so important. They were the part that changed everything and even as a semi-sober, cold and hungry Maddox dragged his ass onto the roof to put up Christmas lights with the patriarch of the Chambers family— God, he was so fucking thankful.

Thankful for the wine that they drank and the kids he entertained during the parades and the football he watched… Grateful for the nap that he and Sutton took and the simple embrace followed by a kiss before she departed to enjoy shopping. Something that Maddox said absolutely not to but now he’s driving his truck as fast as he can wishing he’d said yes. Before she’d left, things had been normal and he wasn’t questioning what he would do if she didn’t make it through this. Thoughts of killing Jack pop into Maddox’s head as if he was a stone cold killer now or would actually get that far without Jackson Thane putting a bullet in his brain. Still, the anger is there and while he knows it’s an immediate reaction to the fact that the woman he loves could die today— yelling at Jackson at the very least would be gratifying. He knew he didn’t know enough to react yet but the anxiety that Sutton will be just another woman that he loved and lost is at the top of his mind.

The woman he loves— it’s something that Maddox has thought about a million times over and over and before she left, he’d finally managed to say it to her. Now, as he peeled through the last street to the hospital, he wished he could say it a million times over again. Maybe she wouldn’t even remember his arms around her, peering down at her as she readied herself for Black Friday leaving her all but moved in boyfriend in her barn house remodeled apartment. Maybe she wouldn’t remember how nervous Maddox was to say ‘I love you’ out loud for the first time considering the last time he did, it ended in nothing but misery (with the only light being Sutton at the end of the tunnel). Even though she’d already made her proclamation a few weeks ago, Maddox wanted everything to be perfect and really, the day was perfect and the Chambers’ home was filled with so much love that it made Maddox full on more than just turkey and mashed potatoes— he was filled with the desire to tell Sutton: “Don’t get trampled. Be safe. I love you,” before she went. Honestly, he really hoped that she forgot the phrasing.

The sterile white walls, filled with memories of blood and chaos made Maddox sick to his stomach. He could only imagine the time he’d spent at the hospital with his mother or with Rowan, wishing that he could never come back to this place. It wreaked of death and sadness, neither of which Maddox could handle anymore of. Maddox had found Noah and the rest of the Chambers, waiting his time to see Sutton when she was stable and more awake. The time ticked so goddamn slowly in the waiting room, the only thing on his mind being that he just wanted to sit beside her bed and hold her fucking hand. But when his time finally came, he nearly froze. The reality of waiting to see his beaten and bruised girlfriend finally resting upon his shoulders to ground him. It was overwhelming to move from the chair and finally approach the door to Sutton. 

There were just too many fucking tubes and machines around her, something he might’ve thought he was used to with Penelope’s death still fresh in his mind, the same machines surrounding her. Maddox stood in the doorway, unable to really breathe— only able to stare. To say he hated seeing Sutton’s face bruised into a rainbow of blues and purples was an understatement and combining that feeling with the sterility of the hospital and the memories of his mom make him want to back out. Run. Drive. Hide. But hiding wasn’t an option when your home was with the woman you couldn’t face, the Hellish garage was sold away and certainly not when Maddox’s heart would’ve stayed with Sutton anyway. 

Maddox took careful steps to her bedside, right, left, right left. The one loan chair, he tugged closer to her bed, pressing his worn hand onto hers. The doctors had said she was in and out between being awake and slipping into unconsciousness so he simply waited. Waited for any indication that Sutton was still in that room with him and the machines weren’t trying to tell him the fairytale that he wanted to hear so damn desperately. Breathe, he reminded himself but also trying to will Sutton to do the same. “I need you to wake up, Sut,” he whispered carefully. Maddox paused his fingers gently moving in-between hers. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there,” he added, feeling as if he needed to keep saying it over and over. “But I’m here now and I need you to wake up, baby.”