A modern twist on a classic tale. A love story tangled with secrets, second chances and destiny.
When we first met, I was searching for adventure, he was lost, longing to belong.
We planned on happily ever after, but forever would have to wait.
Torn apart by secrets and lies, we built new lives an ocean apart.
I spent years trying to forget, but when he shows up at my door, all I can do is remember.
Every kiss. Every promise. Every tear.
First love doesn’t always get a second chance, but every story deserves a happy ending... this could be ours.
Willow
Just a few more strokes and these fairy wings will be perfect. I roll my aching shoulders, stretching as I stand back, studying my work. Laying on the table before me is another little piece of myself, bled out on the page in a mesmerizing swirl of colors. It’s missing something… My mind can't figure out exactly what it could be, and my heart screams that it knows. Goosebumps blossom down my exposed arms, and I wrap myself in a hug to ward off the chill of memories, both good and bad.
Lost in thought, I stare at the magical willow tree taunting me from the thick linen paper. Blinking back tears, I study the fairy fluttering beneath the tree, using the wispy vines as a barrier of protection from those who would harm her. Remembering another time, another place. Stolen kisses and magical lands. Lands that are laden with secrets. My secrets.
Loud banging erupts downstairs, jolting me back to reality, and I nearly spill the cup of soaking brushes. Shit, that was close! Setting the cup aside, I breathe a sigh of relief that the day’s work wasn’t in vain as my fingertips swipe gently under my eyes. Who could it be?
Dashing down the stairs I pull the phone out of my back pocket to see how long I was lost in my work. It's only 2:35 and Drew isn't due home till 3:00. I’m confused as to who it could be. Emotionally drained from today’s session, I’m not really in the mood for visitors, not that we get many visitors.
As I pause to grab an armful of clothes from the base of the stairs, the knocking grows persistently louder. “Coming!” I yell, continuing to the door.
Jerking it open, the greeting dies on my lips as the bottom falls out of my carefully constructed world… and I find myself staring into the greenest eyes I never thought I'd see again. My heartbeat speeds up to a deafening boom, boom, boom, echoing in my ears. Clothes fall to a pile at my feet as I grasp the door frame for support, fingers of one hand digging into the wood whilst the other is drawn to the base of my throat as I struggle to find breath… as if it’s willing air into my burning lungs.
“Hello, Willow.” His voice is the same but deeper; he is, after all, a man now. Hearing my name on his lips, tainted with distain, is like a lover’s caress and a sword to the heart, all at once.
Piers
“I want you too much, Willow. I always have. And I’m afraid once I take you, there will be no going back. I’m tired of climbing towers to get to you, I want to stay in the tower, locked away with you. In some ways I’ve stayed locked in this tower, in this very room at Everlend, waiting, hoping, that maybe you would come rescue me. And you have.” My hands move to her hips, drawing her closer to me before moving up, along her rib cage, until my thumbs barely brush the underside of her breasts. Her lips part just slightly, and she moves against me. “Don’t leave me here Willow. Please, don’t leave me again. Either stay locked up with me, or take me with you.”
Willow
I stand at the window in the darkness, watching the rain falling steadily outside. Little drops shimmering down from the sky, evidence of our passionate moment outside now drip down my bare shoulders. Cool drops that relieve the heat I feel burning up inside me. My fingertips trace my swollen lips, and I close my eyes. Surely I didn't imagine it. Yet again, he pushed me away.
He kissed me so angrily and greedily in the courtyard. So very different from the stolen kisses we shared all those years ago in the trees. Each time we touch now, it’s like I could combust. The fire and need is so much more than it was back then. My mind and my body have desires that the girl I was never dreamed of. But he still treats me like a delicate flower, like we’re back in that garden, and he might crush me.
I was consumed. I thought he was too... That he was finally going to take me. Then he abruptly stopped his assault on my mouth and left me to walk back to my room alone. The warm rejection is flowing on my cheeks, mixed with the cool summer rain.
Is it silly to be upset? Maybe the kissing didn’t mean anything to him – the doubt seeps in. It’s quite apparent that Piers has no shortage of women falling all over him, including Scarlett. Am I trying too hard? Does he even want me anymore? It’s been so long, but that kiss... I felt that kiss in my soul. How could he not even feel a fraction of the fire that I did?
The air becomes charged, and I feel my skin start to tingle, opening my eyes to see his reflection in the window. His dark silhouette framed in the light of the hall, he stands still as a statue. I too am frozen in place... The hurt I feel about whatever the hell transpired downstairs is drowned out by my desire to be near him.
The pull I feel towards him is nothing short of magnetic, and that scares me. What scares me more is that he doesn't seem to feel it.
I put aside that fear and take a chance, looking over my shoulder at him, and he grips the door frame with both hands. His gaze holds mine across the darkened room; I bite my lip, trying to contain myself.
“Fuck it,” I hear him breathe out in a harsh whisper. Dropping his arms, he charges into the room towards me, and I turn completely around, pressing my back into the cold glass window. The chill can't compete with the fire I feel once he reaches me.
Check out the trailer for Piers and Willow’s sexy, angsty, second chance romance!
Happy Ever Never Playlist
Lost Boy by Ruth B
Written In the Stars by The Girl and the Dream Catcher
Forgettable by Project 46
Every Breath You Take by Chase Holfelder
Scarred by Jamestown Story
Find You by Alex G
Chasing All the Stars by Fleuri
Photograph by Ed Sheeran
Gravity by Sara Bareilles
Already Gone by Sleeping At Last
Ever After by Charlotte Lawrence
Anymore of This by Mindy Smith & Matthew Perryman
Follow You Down by Matthew Mayfield
Window Pain by Xenia
Unbroken Promise by Erick Baker
I Still Love You by Josh Jenkins
Never Enough by Loren Allred
Turning Page by Sleeping At Last
Hoppipolla by Vitamin String Quartet
Perfect by Ed Sheeran
Rewrite the Stars by Zac Efron & Zendaya
