This Is Love, Baby (War & Peace #2)(52)

I stare at him for what feels like eternity as I search for the boy I once knew. My heart pleads for one sliver of the kind soul who I loved. I wish his green eyes would light up with the familiar happy spark I remember. But instead, I’m met with an empty, soulless glare. With fury and hate.

That boy is gone.

He’s been long gone for a while now.

Not only did I lose both parents, but I lost him.

I lost Brandon too. Lost him to the darkness. Lost him to the evil. Lost the boy who grew up being my only real friend, my first love. His physical form may remain, but the Brandon I once knew is gone.

I inhale a deep breath and prepare myself to finish this. I’m not battling with Brandon, I’m fighting this thing he’s become. It should make what I have to do a little less painful, but it doesn’t. My heart is ripping in half with each passing second but my mind is already making its lethal move.

“But he wouldn’t ever truly hurt me. Not like you were going to do,” I argue and send Gabe a terrified look. One that says Brandon is scarier than he is. “Gabe loves me. He always brings me pleasure after the pain. You will only bring me pain!”

Gabe growls and his chest heaves. He’s always been jealous of Brandon. Now, it works to my advantage.

“I did everything for you!” Brandon roars. His face reddening. His forehead creasing. His neck bursting with thick pulsing veins. “I gave up my life, school, baseball, my f*cking parents for you!” He launches at me, his giant frame tackling me to the mattress.

I attempt to shove him away but he’s too strong. “I didn’t ask you to and I certainly didn’t ask for you to kill my dad!”

Brandon’s hand wraps around my throat and he squeezes. “This is how I killed him,” he spits out, his hand crushing my windpipe. “Just like this.” His gorgeous features have contorted into something vengeful and wrong. He doesn’t want us to be together. He wants me as his prize. His possession. His reward for having given up so much for me. I’m nothing more than a trophy to add to his shelf back home. And now he wants me dead.

“Take your goddamned hands off her,” Gabe hisses from behind him, “or I’ll paint the headboard with your blood.”

Tears stream down my face and I reach for Gabe, as if he is my savior. The devil has been my savior on more than one occasion. And I’m counting on him now.

“Baylee,” Brandon says, his voice a desperate plea, ignoring Gabe’s threat. He smashes his lips to mine, causing me to cry out when his teeth split open my bottom lip. His grip is gone and he cradles my throat reverently. “Jesus, I’m so sorry. I love you.”

And in that moment, I believe him. His bright green eyes shimmer with emotion revealing the tenderhearted boy I once knew. I hate that it all came to this. Absolutely hate it.

Pop!

Time freezes as Brandon’s wide eyes regard me before something blinds me. My eyes close and I try to drive away what I just saw. The horror is overwhelming and I feel myself losing hold on the present as I hurtle to the past. A past where green eyes used to make me shiver with delight and my heart would patter right out of my chest when a certain smiling, spikey-haired boy would walk me to my locker.

“Why is the marching band playing in the hallway?” Audrey questions, a dark eyebrow arched. “It’s so noisy!”

I laugh as I hurry and yank my history book from my locker. Shoving it into my backpack, I stand on my tiptoes to try and see around the crowd in the hallway. Something’s going on. It’s not a pep rally day, so I’m confused about the chaos. Even though Audrey seems agitated, she’s sporting a goofy grin that matches my own.

Kids all around us are giggling and so are we until I recognize the song. As soon as the tune of ‘Keep on Loving You’ by REO Speedwagon becomes recognizable, I can feel the familiar burn on my cheeks. This same song was playing at the skating rink where he first told me he loved me. My smile grows larger when my boyfriend rounds the corner and beams at me. He’s carrying a single red rose but it may as well be a thousand. The boy makes me feel like I’m the only girl on the planet.

When his gorgeous gaze meets mine, I hear the collective gasps of all the girls in my grade. Brandon is the good-looking boy who doesn’t even realize how beautiful he is. He’s sweet and caring. A tenderhearted guy who loves his girl hard.

God, I’m so freaking lucky.

“Hey, babe,” he says with a wink as he approaches and the band grows silent. When he falls on his knee, several girls squeal, including Audrey. “Will you go to the homecoming dance with me, Baylee Marie Winston?”

My knees buckle and my jaw hurts from the smile that stretches across my face revealing my teeth which are now finally free of braces. With a shaky hand, I accept his rose and nod.

“Yes, of course I will go with you!”

He launches from the floor at me and tackle hugs me against the locker, his strong arms enveloping me in a heated embrace. Warm lips meet mine and he kisses me as if I’m the only girl he could ever want.

“Thank you,” he murmurs against my lips.

I lean my head back against the locker to better look into his expressive jade-colored orbs. “For what?”

“For letting me love you,” he says, his brows furrowing together in a serious manner. “I’ll never stop. No matter what. Always know that, babe.”