Renna Rose Lancaster is the girl people stare at like she belongs in a glass case, carved with angel-soft beauty, a life airbrushed into unattainable perfection. But Renna knows perfection is nothing but a golden prison, coated in pretty lies that k...
"If you are heaven, I would love to die; If you are tears, I would love to cry; If you are pain, I would love to get hurt;
You think i’m gonna leave you. But darling your name is my favourite word.
If you are the ocean, I’ll be the wave; If you are the moon, I’ll be the closest star;
I’ll always love you, no matter where you are...."
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The first thing I clocked was how still she was.
Renna was pressed back against the glossy side of her car, chin tipped up, throat in the curve of my hand like she'd been carved for the exact purpose of being held there. Her skin warmed my palm, a tiny pulse tapping under my thumb. She didn't flinch. She never flinched with me. That was half the problem and half the reason I couldn't stop touching her.
Her earrings brushed her jaw whenever she breathed, long over-the-top things that caught the lights and made her look like she'd walked straight out of some royal banquet. Her lips were shiny with whatever overpriced balm she'd decided was life or death today. And she stared straight at me like I was meant to feel embarrassed for handling her like this in front of an audience.
She knows exactly what she's doing. She likes that I can't look away for more than a second. She likes that I'm losing the plot over eyelashes.
Her fingers clutched the hem of my tux jacket like she thought she could haul me closer if she tried hard enough. She was shorter than me by a stupid amount, so when she tugged, she didn't move me. Not even slightly. But she tried anyway, just to annoy me.
I raised the mascara wand, and she froze even harder, lashes lowering as if she was preparing for execution.
"Don't blink," I muttered.
"You're heavy-handed," she fired back, voice soft and dramatic. "If you poke my eye I'll actually scream."
"You scream at everything."
"I do not."
"You shouted at your heels, Renna."
"It deserved it."
I didn't bother replying. Her lashes trembled as I brushed the wand along them in slow, steady strokes. The stupid girl wasn't even breathing properly. Her mouth parted a little, glossy and warm-looking, like she didn't realise what she was doing or maybe she realised too much.
