{18+ COMPLETE} For the past three years, Bren Hadaway has been preparing to die.
When he was sixteen, he watched his dad murder his mom. And ever since, he's been counting down the days until it was his turn to be at the end of a gun. And Bren has...
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December 21st
Bren,
Merry Christmas.
I'll see you again soon.
Dad.
—
When we got upstairs, I used the bathroom first before collapsing onto the mattress to wait for Madie to finish getting ready for bed. I had almost dozed off by the time that she slipped into the room. But then I immediately jerked awake at the sight of her.
She was wearing that skimpy robe—the same one she'd worn around the beach house whenever she wanted to get my attention. Okay, maybe that wasn't why she wore it. But that was always what happened.
Madie walked across the room slowly, glowing in the white silk that was like a mixture of snow and moonlight. Her strawberry hair draped over her shoulder in long waves, and she'd put on the necklace I gave her.
Shit, I was pretty positive that was the only thing she had on, besides the robe.
Madie kneeled on the mattress at the end of the bed. I rolled onto my back and raised a brow, wondering what was happening in that pretty head of hers.
"I love the necklace," she said softly. "Thank you."
"It looks great on you. Matches your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Yeah, the blue is similar."
She frowned, and I wondered if I had said something wrong. But then she muttered, "I didn't know you paid attention to that kind of thing."
I laughed at the irony. She had no fucking clue just how much I paid attention to everything."I've never told you that I'm obsessed with your goddamn eyes?"
She shook her head.
"Well, I am. People always say that eyes are the windows to the soul and shit like that. And I always thought that was crap. Until I met you."
A soft grin replaced the frown on her face. And there was a little bit of pride in her voice when she said, "That's just because you love me."
Hearing her say that made me smile. But I had to disagree. "You think that I can see your soul because I fell in love with you?" She gave a little shrug, and I threw a hand back behind my head, resting it there. "Nah, Madie. It's the other way around."
I could see the gears working in her head as she thought through what I was saying. And then she blinked slowly, closing her eyes for a moment before looking back at me. Her gaze was glimmering. "You're going to make me cry again."
"That wasn't my intention. I'm just feeling sentimental tonight, I guess." My throat tightened, emphasizing the point painfully. But I managed to swallow and added softly, "I've never felt happiness like this."
