I stood frozen in place as Mr. Duncan helped Max out of the van, my heart pounding against my chest.

This shouldn't be that hard. I've played soccer with men before, men that have accidentally, or purposely, hurt me. But never in my live have I felt so in fear of something.

What if he rejected me? This was Max, the guy that had treated me as if I couldn't do anything for the last ten years, the guy that had somehow managed to worm his way under my skin and into my heart.

"Max!" I called out before I could talk myself out of it. He looked up, his face twisting into an emotion I couldn't quite pinpoint as he stared across the street at me.

"Can we talk?" I asked, walking toward him.

"Quinn, I can't really-"

"Yes, you can Maxwell." Mr. Duncan cut his son off, backing up the driveway.

"Thanks a lot." He grumbled, watching after his dad until he was inside the house.

"Are you okay?" He asked, turning back to me, "I heard what happened. I'm so fucking sorry, Quinn. I didn't mean to-"

"What happened the other night, why. . . why did you keep saying you fucked up? Are you okay?" I shoved my hands into my pockets and stared down at him, waiting for some type of response.

"No, I'm not okay, Quinn." He whispered, "They found one of my organs bleeding out or some shit like that. They said it was so slow and gradual that it was hard to notice. But I was starting to get sick and had sharp pains. They. . . I'm going into surgery tomorrow." I gaped at him, my jaw hitting the ground.

"Max, why didn't you tell me?" I reached for his hand, but he pushed mine away.

"I didn't want you to worry. They said that it'll be quick, and that it's really unlikely anything will go wrong." I stared at him, trying to figure out some type of response.

"I can come." I said quickly, "I can call Coach Welts and let him know-"

"Tomorrow is the first game of the playoffs, Quinn. I'm not letting you miss it, they need you." I shook my head, kneeling down.

"Max, if you're in the hospital that's more important then some game. I-" I cut myself off, turning my head in the other direction.

"You what, Quinn?" He breathed out, his hand squeezing mine.

"I like you, all right?" I said, gulping as I waited for a response.

"What?" He said, "No, Quinn. Don't say that, do you understand me? You can't like me, I'm not good enough for you. Please, just go home. I. . . please." I felt my heart clench at his words, praying that he didn't mean them.

"Max, please stop saying that. I don't care if you're in a wheelchair, okay? I don't-"

"You don't care about all the looks you're going to get? You don't care that I'll never be able to walk you down the isle like a normal fucking man? That I'll never be able to give you kids or-"

"You can have kids." I jumped in, "I looked it up, Max. Some paraplegic guys can have kids just as well as an average male can. It depends on where your spinal cord was hurt." I could see genuine shock in his eyes.

"You looked it up?" He said, shaking his head, "Why the fuck would you do that?" I blushed, moving closer to him.

"Because I knew you were going to say something stupid like you just did. Max, I don't care that you're paralyzed. You've become a better person, you've got a great heart and-"

"I love you, Quinn." He whispered, startling me so much that I fell forward on his his legs and stared up at him in horror.

"Maxwell!" Mrs. Duncan yelled before I could get over my shock, "Ask Quinn if she wants to stay for dinner." I knew better than to say no to Mrs. Duncan's dinner offer, even if I wasn't exactly keen on sitting next to Max after his confession. My mom would go off about how rude and impolite it was of me not to stay.

"Sure." I called back out, forcing myself to smile at the woman in the doorway.

"Then you two get in here, we don't want you getting sick!"

**

I barely ate, mostly do to the fact that Max couldn't eat at all. The doctors had ordered him to not eat for twelve hours before the surgery and to only drink clear liquids. When we were done, I pushed Max down the hall and into his room without saying a word.

"Stay." He said, nodding toward his bed as he shut the door behind him.

"Your parents let you shut the door when you have girls over?" I asked, wanting to avoid the topic of his confession of love completely.

"Yeah, I mean, what are we going to do? Have sex?" He snorted, rolling himself over to where I was sitting on his bed. He set the backpack hanging off the back of his wheelchair on the ground and gestured toward the bed beside me, sighing.

"You mind helping me up here?" I wanted to tell him I wasn't sure if I could, but decided against it and helped him as best as I could. After a few failed attempts, I was able to get him on to the bed, both of us laughing.

"Another reason you deserve better, Quinn. You shouldn't have to help me into bed every night, you-" I leaned forward and kissed him, shutting him up entirely.

There was something a little different about the kiss. Maybe it was because I was sure of my feelings, or it could be because I knew that Max really was in love with me, that he had confessed.

"I bet my parents are standing outside the bedroom door." He whispered once I pulled away, "Probably waiting for you to leave. That's what Leina did, she just walked out." I frowned at the mention of his exes name and scooted further down on the bed, resting my head on his chest.

"Is. . . is it strange? Not being able to feel anything below your waist?" I questioned, finally asking the thing that had been nagging at me since the first time I'd seen him in the wheelchair a couple months ago.

"Yeah, it's really weird. Especially when I spent my whole life playing soccer and running." I tilted my head a little to look up at him, frowning.

"That's horrible." I replied. He shrugged, staring at the David Beckam poster on his wall in front of us.

"I thought it was the worst thing that could have possibly happened. Losing my legs, my career, my lifeline. But it wasn't. Because I could have died that night, Quinn. Then I wouldn't have been able to finally admit my feelings for you, you wouldn't have ever helped me. It's funny how things work themselves out, but I'm glad everything came out the way it did, as fucked up as that may sound." I laid my head back against his chest, a smile tugging at my lips.

"You know what the first question Leina asked was?" He said with a quiet chuckle.

"What?" I responded.

"She asked if it still worked." It took me a second to realize what he meant, and when I did, I looked up at him again.

"Does it?" I wondered. He rolled his eyes, pulling my hair out of it's ponytail.

"I've tried to, you know, a couple times and it seemed too. I couldn't say if it would during sex, but she apparently wanted nothing to do with me if we couldn't have sex." He laughed again but it slowly faded into a frown when he saw the look on my face.

"That's all Jayden ever wanted from me." I answered his questioning look, "He didn't ask how I was, how soccer practice went, it was always about sex. And when I refused. . . you know what happened. Everyone thought we were so perfect too. If they only knew." I said bitterly, feeling his arm tighten around me.

"I'm sorry, Quinn. If I would have known I would have gone after him." I laughed coldly at Max's comment.

"It was my fault though, Max. I let him come back again and again, even after he hurt me, after he cheated on me. It was my fault." Max pushed me off of him, his eyes dangerously dark.

"Bullshit. You were just afraid, Quinn. You were scared he'd hurt you even more. You were young, innocent. It wasn't your fault, don't think that." He said quietly, kissing the top of my head.

"Max?" I mumbled, then yawned.

"Hmm?"

"Can you tell me about that trip you took to Europe last year?" I heard him sigh at the question.

"The one you wanted to go to so bad? You really want to hear it?" I nodded, pulling at the blanket that rested at our feet.

"Yeah." I replied. And as he started to talk, I finally felt myself starting to relax. It wasn't until he was further into his story that I realized that I was enjoying myself and this was exactly where I wanted to be.

***AN***

Hope you guys enjoyed!

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24