“It doesn’t change the fact that your friends worry about you,” Karen tells her.
“So what happened?” Emilia asks. “Tell us all of the details.”
“Well,” Adalee starts, and then she blushes.
“You slept together, huh?” Karen asks, winking.
“Hey!” Adalee blushes even harder.
“It’s okay,” Karen reaches for her hand. “You don’t have to tell us any of the details. It’s okay to have secrets, remember? It’s just important to tell your besties the most important stuff so we can look after you.”
“Yeah,” Emilia adds. “We have your back.”
Emilia’s boyfriend, Gavin, comes up and wraps his arms around her.
“And I’ll beat up anyone who tries to hurt any of you,” he adds. Then he looks at me and winks. “Not including you.”
“I’m not about to hurt Adalee,” I say.
I don’t add it because it’s personal, and it’s not really time to admit it, but I want to marry that girl. Seriously. As soon as we graduate, I plan on proposing. Fuck the plan. Fuck waiting. I don’t need to be out of college and I don’t need to be financially stable. I don’t care about any of that. The only thing I care about is taking care of Adalee.
The only thing I care about is protecting her.
Loving her.
Treating her like a princess.
The first day back at school after winter break, Adalee and I went and spoke with the principal of Crescent Academy about our financial situations. As expected, my dad pulled the funding for both of us. Fortunately, my mom had already spoken with the principal years ago, and he was well aware of the fact that my dad might do something crazy. The good news is that Adalee and I can both finish high school here, and after we graduate, we’ll each have a little bit of money left over that we can use to help us get started in our new lives.
I don’t know what the future is going to hold. I don’t know what kind of jobs we’re going to get or whether we’ll end up living in the same town or venturing far away, but I do know one thing: with Adalee by my side, nothing else matters. I’m the luckiest bastard alive because I have the love of an angel to keep me going.
I have Adalee, and I plan to spend the rest of my life worshipping her.
THE END
Deleted Scenes
Authors note: Do you want more of our main characters? Writing a book takes a lot of time, effort, and difficult choices. One of the tough decisions placed on writers is which scenes to curate once a book is complete. If you want just a little bit more of what life is like for these incredible characters, you can keep reading for a sneak peek into the lives of our heroes. These scenes take place randomly throughout the story but have been placed here for your enjoyment. Thank you for reading! -Sophie
Harrison
IT’S NOT THAT I HATE her.
The problem is the complete opposite, actually.
The problem is that I’m so fucking in love with her that it makes my heart ache. She’s beautiful and sweet and lovely, but she’s also so damn untouchable that it hurts.
I will never do anything to hurt Adalee, and unfortunately, that means I need to stay far, far away.
Adalee
“STOP PICKING AT YOUR food,” Karen says. “What’s your deal with food, anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t think you’re fat. You aren’t anorexic. You just...don’t like food. Is that it?”
I can’t tell her the truth.