Prequel Bonus Scene from The Captive Mind
Exclusively for Members
It was supposed to be the best night of her teenage life.
The gym was glittering in paper stars and cheap plastic dreams, but Olivia Barton stood alone on the cracked pavement outside, her silver heels in one hand, mascara smudged beneath her eyes.
Her prom date had ditched her. For someone shinier, louder. Someone who didn’t use big words or hide her nerves behind sarcasm.
A familiar truck pulled up, headlights slicing through the drizzle. Beau Gray. Of course.
The passenger door creaked open.
“Liv,” he said, voice low and careful. “Get in.”
She hesitated. He was Ava’s brother. Her brother’s best friend. Untouchable. Too golden and good-looking to ever be more than a safe fixture in the background of her life.
But she climbed in anyway.
Inside, the cab smelled like leather and cedar. And him.
“You didn’t have to come,” she murmured, staring out the window as the rain chased itself across the glass.
“Your brother would’ve killed me if I didn’t. And Ava’s a whole different level of scary when she’s mad.”
A pause.
“But that’s not why I came.”
Her heart skipped. She turned to look at him. His jaw was tight, knuckles white on the steering wheel.
“You looked beautiful tonight,” he said quietly. “Even behind the tears.”
She opened her mouth to make a joke—something dry, dismissive—but the words wouldn’t come. Because Beau wasn’t laughing.
He looked at her like he saw past the frizzy hair and the too-thoughtful silences. Like he saw her.
“I’ve always seen you, Olivia.”
And then he leaned across the seat.
His hand cupped her jaw, thumb brushing away the remnants of her disappointment. She could smell rain on his skin. And when his lips met hers, the whole world tilted.
It was a kiss years in the making. Sweet, sure… and utterly forbidden.
But nothing about it felt wrong.
It felt inevitable.
