Love and Freedom

Elio Hampton: When I was seventeen, I lost everything. I lost my wings to a man no better than the devil, I lost the only family who'd ever truly loved me, and I lost my best friend. After almost a decade of pain at the hands of the man I thought loved me, I realized just how hopeless it all was. Cradling daisies in my fists, I stood atop the first bridge I could find and pondered the water below. Until Crescent Miller, the man who was once my best friend, wrapped his arms around me. When he pulled me away, it was like I'd gained my wings back. If only for a moment, my body remembered how to fly. I wanted to reject Crescent—refuse to let him back into my life. Too much time had passed, and I'd hurt him all those years ago. But, somehow, we kept showing up at the same park, at the same time, by the same patch of daisies. It made me wonder if fate was cruel or if I was too hurt to see what plans it had for us.

Crescent Miller: I lost Elio when I was seventeen, and my sanity had gone with him. When I moved to a new town, got a new job, and gave myself a fresh start, I'd never imagined he'd be a part of that fresh start, too. The moment I realized it was him on the bridge, covered in blood and bruises, I knew what I had to do. Elio was right in front of me, and I couldn't let him go again. Despite the shadows lurking in the bushes and the weight of depression trying to hold me down, I had to be strong for him. I had to be enough for him. My heart demanded it, and it seemed my soul did, too. So when I started seeing him at the park on my lunch breaks, fascinated by the daisies surrounding him, I took it as a sign. Elio was more than everything to me, and I was willing to do whatever it took to make him smile again, just like when we were kids.

Contains mature themes.