{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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Madie Lenertz was a phenomenon.
Because somehow, this girl was brighter than the sun.
On a grey and chilly December afternoon, I couldn't feel a single lick of heat from that fiery ball in the sky.
But Madie?
Well, she had her own clouds, her own little storms inside. The tears this morning had proven that. But those bits of grey were no match for her. Because as I watched her twirl between pine trees with a smile stretched over her face, my whole body warmed from the inside out.
A million fucking degrees, and the sun still ain't got nothin' on Madie Lenertz.
She caught my eye and laughed as she peeked around the branches of a tree. She'd stuffed a navy blue beanie atop her head earlier, and her strawberry blonde hair, braided into two sections, fell around her shoulders. Goddamn, she was cute. Cute as fuck.
"What are you looking at?" she asked, breathless from the way she'd been weaving through the trees.
Shoving my hands into my pocket, I strode slowly toward her. "You."
She rolled her eyes. But then at the same time, her grin widened.
She could pretend all that she wanted that I annoyed her—but that betraying smile told me everything I needed to know.
And so I closed the distance between us and slid my hands up either side of her face. Her skin was chilled from the cooler weather. The wind was something fierce today, so even though the temps weren't even that low, Madie's skin was pink. Although it was possible there was a slight blush there, too.
"And why do you keep looking at me like that?" she whispered as I leaned in to kiss the tip of her cold nose. "You were doing it in the car, too."
Pulling back just enough to catch her blue gaze, I asked, "Looking at you like what?"
"I don't know." Madie bit her lip, but it grated against her teeth, sliding free as a smile cracked on her face. Her eyes flicked away from mine before dancing their way back over. "I don't know," she repeated. "Like..."
Madie trailed away, and I raised a brow. "Like I want to kiss you?" I finished for her. And then I gripped both of her arms and backed her into a cluster of trees, shielding us from the view of the other few customers who roamed the lines of firs and pines. "Like I love you? Like I wished we were alone so I could show you just how much I love you?"
"Yeah...that." Madie's voice was threadbare. It was like the words had just fallen from her lips without them even moving. But her eyes continued to dance, and I was right there with her.
"Well, to answer your question," I said, breathing the words across her mouth, "I'm looking at you like that because that's how I feel. And it's killing me to have to all of a sudden control myself."
