Chapter 25
Hayden
“You and Me- Lifehouse”
The ride out of Daggerspoint feels different tonight, lighter somehow. Like for one stolen weekend the city forgot how to sink its claws into us.
Ophelia’s arms stay wrapped tightly around my waist while the sunset burns gold across the horizon behind us. Every now and then I hear her giggling when I take corners too fast on purpose.
My girl loves speed almost as much as she loves Chaos. Makes sense considering she loves me.
I finally pull off onto an abandoned stretch of road just outside city limits. Nothing around except trees, cracked pavement, and open sky.
“What are we doing?” Firefly laughs while climbing off the bike. I kill the engine before nodding toward the shoulder of the road. Her breathing catches instantly.
A matte black Yamaha sits waiting beneath the fading sunset. Her bike.
I spent weeks rebuilding the damn thing after finding it half destroyed in some asshole’s garage outside Daggerspoint.
She stares at it in disbelief. “Hayden…”
“You once said your dream bike was a blacked out R1.” I shrug casually even though my heart’s pounding. “Figured my girl deserves nice things.”
Her blue eyes shine immediately. ”Are you serious?”
“Yep!” I smile, and she laughs before throwing herself at me hard enough I almost lose my balance. I catch her while she kisses me stupid all over my face.
“I hate you,” she whispers.
“Liar.”
When she finally pulls away, she runs her fingers lovingly over the bike before glancing back toward me with that dangerous little smile I know too well.
“You trying to race me, Marks?” she asks.
I smirk slowly while pulling my gloves tighter. “Thought I’d let you embarrass yourself a little.”
She gasps dramatically. “Oh, you poor delusional man.”
“I’m serious.” I swing onto my bike, watching her closely. “Might actually hurt your feelings tonight.”
“Please.” She scoffs, climbing onto hers. “You’ve gone soft. Domestic life ruined you.”
I bark out a laugh. “Domestic life?”
“Yeah.” She shrugs innocently beneath the sunset. “You made me a sandwich for lunch. That’s basically marriage.”
Christ.
My chest does that dangerous tight thing again so naturally I cover it with sarcasm. “You inhaled two sandwiches, a bag of chips, and almost a gallon of sweet tea. I was feeding a wild animal.”
She flips me off immediately. Beautifully.
Then her eyes narrow behind the helmet visor. “Wanna make this interesting?”
Oh, this oughta be good.
“What kind of interesting?” I ask carefully.
A slow smile spreads across her lips. Trouble. Pure fucking trouble.
“If I win…” She points to herself proudly. “You stop being an overprotective psychopath for one whole week.”
I laugh immediately. “Impossible challenge. Next.”
“I’m serious!” she argues. “No threatening to murder men for looking at me.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hayden.”
“Firefly.”
She groans dramatically before trying again. “Fine. Then if I win, you have to admit I’m the better rider.”
Now that? That’s offensive.
I place a hand against my chest. “You wound me.”
“You’re stalling because you’re scared.”
I grin slowly. “And if I win?”
Her confidence flickers slightly. Cute.
“You won’t,” she says anyway.
“Hypothetically.”
She bites her lip for a second before sighing. “Fine, if you win…” Her cheeks pink slightly beneath the fading light. “I’ll do whatever you want tonight.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
My entire body immediately reacts.
“Dangerous thing to say to me, baby.”
She revs her engine hard enough to drown out her own nervous laugh. “Still gotta catch me first.”
Cocky little thing.
Ten minutes later, we’re lined up side by side beneath the bleeding sunset with engines roaring around us. She glances over through her helmet.
“Try not to cry when I smoke you.”
I bark out a laugh. “Baby, you cried the first time I kissed you.”
“That’s because you were emotionally overwhelming.” She giggles.
Fair.
She revs her engine aggressively again. “Still gonna lose though.”
God, I love her. I count us down with my fingers.
Three.
Her engine screams louder.
Two.
She leans over the bike ready to fly.
One.
Then we launch forward like Hell itself is chasing us.
The road disappears beneath us while wind screams around our bodies. Ophelia rides beautifully. Aggressive but smooth. Fearless.
God, I love watching her like this.
Wild and free.
For a few perfect minutes, she’s not somebody’s daughter or future wife or a trapped little rich girl from Hillcreek Bay.
She’s just mine.
My Firefly.
I let her edge ahead near the finish line on purpose. Barely. And the second she realizes it afterward, she storms toward me outraged.
“You let me win!” she accuses, and I lean casually against my bike grinning.
“You’re cute when you’re angry.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“But you still won.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Rematch next weekend.”
Next weekend. The words hit me harder than they should because she said it so naturally.
Like there will be a next weekend. Like we actually have a future worth planning for.
Dangerous hope settles low inside my chest.
“C’mon,” I murmur softly. “Got one more place to show you.”
The land sits farther out past Daggerspoint, where the city lights barely touch the hills anymore. Quiet, open, and peaceful.
Everything our past life isn’t.
She follows behind me through the grass before suddenly stopping completely.
Candles flicker beneath the darkening sky. Blankets spread across the ground beside pillows and a little picnic setup Bianca helped me throw together after threatening to “vomit from emotional sincerity.”
Firefly stares speechless.
“Hayden…I…”
I suddenly feel weirdly nervous. Which is stupid considering I’ve literally killed people without blinking. But this? This matters.
“I know it’s not fancy,” I mutter awkwardly. “Bianca helped because apparently I’m emotionally constipated.”
She laughs softly through tears already gathering in her eyes, and fuck… that expression alone makes every second worth it.
She walks slowly into the middle of the setup like she’s scared touching it might make the whole thing disappear.
“This place…” she whispers.
“I wanna buy it someday,” I say as her eyes lift to mine.
“What?”
I shove my hands into my pockets. “Build a house out here eventually.” The words feel too big suddenly. Too real. But I force them out anyway. “Grow old here.” I swallow hard. “Maybe have babies running around one day.”
Silence crashes between us. Heavy and terrifying. Because nobody has ever let us dream before. Not really.
Her eyes completely fill now. “You think about that?” she asks, and I nod.
“All the time.” The honesty in my voice seems to crack something open inside her.
She walks towards me slowly before pressing herself against my chest. I hold her immediately. Breathing her in like oxygen.
“They stole so much from us,” she whispers as rage curls low beneath my ribs. Three years. Three fucking years ripped away from us because her father decided I wasn’t good enough to love his daughter.
“I’m not letting you go again,” I growl into her hair.
“You hear me?” And she nods. “You’re it for me, Firefly,” I say, then cup her face gently—forcing her to look at me.
“Same as when we were fifteen.” Her lips tremble.
“Before Prison. Before all this shit…” My forehead presses against hers. “It’s always been you.”
A tear slides down her cheek. “We need to figure out my father,” she whispers.
The softness vanishes from me instantly because she’s right. Judge Fitzgerald is the rot poisoning everything we touch.
“He needs to die,” I deadpan, and she doesn’t even flinch.
“I know.”
That should probably disturb me more than it does, but instead, I hold her tighter. Then she tells me about Brimstone House. The threat. The punishment. The women broken inside those walls. By the end of it… I’m seeing red.
“I saw the video,” I admit quietly. “Of your fight.”
She groans softly. “Hayden..”
“You need to stop fighting people,” I tell her, and her eyes widen.
“Excuse me?”
“You almost got sent to Brimstone House because some girl mouthed off.”
“Wait, how the fuck do you know about that?” she asks, and I smirk.
“Doesn’t matter. Stop deflecting.”
“I’m not, but Jesus, what more do you know?”
“None of your business. Stop beating little girls up for running their mouths.”
“You’re insufferable, Hayden. She said she slept with you.”
“She was lying,” I say, and she throws her hands in the air.
“Well, I didn’t know that!”
I try not to smile but I fail miserably.
“This isn’t funny,” she spits.
“No.” I pull her closer against me. “What’s funny is you thinking I’d let another man touch you.”
She rolls her eyes. “You can’t kill every guy that looks at me.”
I scoff. “Watch me.”
“Hayden,” she warns. “I’m serious.”
Unfortunately… I absolutely am. Then her expression softens sadly.
“I made a deal with my father,” she says, and ice settles in my chest.
“What kind of deal?” I growl, and she looks away. Fuck! I know I am not going to like what she says next.
“To stay out of Brimstone House…”
No.
“No!”
Her voice cracks. “I have to set a wedding date with Brayden after graduation.”
Rage detonates instantly and my entire body goes still in that dangerous way right before violence.
“You’re not marrying anybody,” I say coldly.
“Hayden…” she warns again.
“I mean it,” I grit as my jaw clenches painfully. “Brayden Augustine better learn how to disappear quietly, because if he keeps touching what’s mine…”
She grabs my face suddenly. “Look at me!” she shouts, and my eyes snap to hers.
Her blue eyes fill with tears again. “I don’t want him,” she says as pain slices through me anyway.
Because another man gets to walk beside her publicly while I exist in stolen moments and shadows. “I only ever want you.”
Those words wreck me and I kiss her before I can stop myself. Hard. Emotional. Desperate enough to hurt.
When we finally break apart, she rests against my chest beneath the stars breathing shakily.
“Why do you call me Firefly?” she asks, and I smile into her hair.
“Because even in the dark…” I murmur. “You glow,” I say, and she gasps. “You were the only good thing I had growing up, baby,” I say as my fingers brush gently through her curls. “The only light.”
Tears slide silently down her cheeks.
“And fireflies…” I swallow thickly. “They’re beautiful little things people spend their whole lives trying to catch before they disappear,” I whisper, and she whips around in my lap and kisses me.
Slow this time. Aching. Like she’s trying to memorize this exact moment before the world ruins it tomorrow. And maybe it will.
Maybe all these promises are just fragile dreams waiting to break apart. But tonight…
Under these stars with my Firefly in my arms… I let myself believe in forever anyway.