Page 2 of Neverland

I burst through the doors and find Easton leaning up against his car. His eyes are down, looking at his phone. I don’t know if he senses me, but within seconds, his gaze is directed at me. A smile pulls at his handsome face. I run to him, throwing myself at him. He catches me easily. The man is well above six feet tall, while I am barely over five feet.

“Happy birthday, Neverland,” he whispers against my lips before his mouth claims mine in a kiss I’ll never forget.

Finally. This is going to be the best birthday ever.

2

EASTON

Sugary sweet. It’s how I knew she would taste. Her soft lips part for me, allowing my tongue to slip in to meet hers. I groan. Years I've been waiting for this moment, and I knew it would be like this with her. I want the kiss to be gentle at first, but quickly, years of need come pushing forward. I grip her ass harder.

I don’t want to hurt her, but it would be nice if my hold left a mark behind. I always have crazy fucked-up thoughts when it comes to her. It’s why I held back. I feared that what might come out would be something she couldn’t handle. She brought out a side of me I didn’t know existed. I needed her to love me. I also had to build her trust.

I try to keep it in check, but my self-control has been dangling by a thin thread for a while now. I remind myself that while Melody might be eighteen now, I slid right over twenty-one a few weeks ago myself. She’s still young and innocent, and I need to continue to take things slowly.

From the second I met Melody, I knew she was the one for me. My whole life fell into place. It’s ironic because every aspect of my life had been planned for me. I’d followed what my family and tradition expected.

At times, I wondered if there might be something else out there that I was missing. That maybe I shouldn’t just fall in line with what my parents wanted. Don’t get me wrong; I love my parents and know they want the best for me.

Then she came along.

Melody was the one thing that felt right. The one thing that mattered to me. I’d follow in my father's footsteps as long as it meant I got to have her.

I didn’t care what anyone else said. The second I spotted her in the hallway of Bradford Prep, I knew Melody would be my forever. She held a missing piece inside of me that I hadn’t known wasn’t there. Not only that, she glued all the others together. With her, it all clicked right into place.

My parents told me I’d go on to college. That I’d meet so many other people and see a whole new world. I did see another world. One that I didn’t want without Melody.

My mom says I have a hero complex. She told me that to deter me from what she thought was me trying to save Melody. She assumed I felt bad for her because she was the new girl with a broken heart I wanted to fix. But my mom was wrong. I didn’t want to repair Melody’s heart; I wanted to own it. What’s the point of a hero if he doesn’t fill his role? There was only one girl I ever wanted to save. Not that I thought she needed me to.

Even with her broken wings, I knew with a little courage, she would fly all on her own again. I could only hope that my little bird would come back to me. I knew the second my eyes met Melody she had a soul deeper than all of us. We might all see her, but she saw everyone to the core. It had nothing to do with money. The person you were is what she cared about.

That’s all she cared about. I wanted her. That scared the shit out of me because in that second, I knew I’d do terrible things to have her. Things her sweet soul would never accept.

There are so many people that think she held me back, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was her that pushed me down the path my parents had always wanted. Before her, I began to question if I wanted to even fill my father’s shoes.

Any rebellion that started to take hold, Melody shook away. She grounded me in a way that no one else ever could have. She wasn’t the only one that was broken when we first met. So in a way, she was my hero, allowing me to become who I was meant to be.

My parents didn’t see it that way because I didn’t go to the college they wanted. The same one that generations of Ledgers had attended. I didn't want to leave her. That choice was all me. I stayed somewhat local while still working toward being a husband that could take care of her.

“Neverland,” I whisper against her mouth. How many years have I dreamed of kissing her?

My mom told me to be careful from the moment I came home and told her about the girl I knew was my forever. I wasn’t shy about letting anyone know Melody was mine. It wasn’t up for discussion. I always did what my parents asked, but she is for me.

My parents were both hesitant about Melody. Her father had a bad reputation and shadows that followed him. I didn’t care. Before Melody, my Neverland girl, I was unsettled. She gave me a purpose. I wanted to heal her broken heart. She was my Neverland. A place I didn’t know was an option for me.

All my life, I played by the book with what society and my parents wanted, but with Melody it was different. I no longer felt as though I needed to please everyone, becoming filled with resentment. Her resilience in life showed me that none of those things mattered.

I resented the life that had been forced upon me. I felt like I had no other choice, but the truth was I had nothing I craved. She grounded me.

I don’t care if other people think it is young, naïve love. Melody is full of dreams. If they’re her dreams, that makes them mine too. And I plan on making every single one of them come true.

When I see the passion she has for something, it doesn’t compare to anything I’ve experienced. Her heart goes into everything she does. She’s unstoppable. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

I want to be her perfect storybook, the ones she doodles about in all her journals. She thinks they’re her thoughts. Stories she crafts so easily in her mind. One day the world will hear them.

Her mind is sprinkled with magic that others can’t see. Not even her. But I see it, I see her. Melody has a golden sweetness inside of her that one day the world will get to taste. All I can hope is to be on the sidelines cheering her on when they do. Knowing that she is still mine.

I’ll follow in my family's footsteps. A path that’s been set for me since I was born. I’ll do it, knowing it will allow my Neverland girl to have dreams at her fingertips. I can’t wait to see what she gives the world. All I care about is that my girl lies down in bed each night with me. I want to be her home.

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