i'm haunted ,

[brittany nicole hale]

something's gone terribly
wrong you're all i wanted ,

Britt was having an actual somewhat good day for once. It was quite surprising, actually, as she had very few of those. That was mostly her own doing, though. She found nothing worthwhile anymore, and she honestly didn’t give a damn about anything. That was far from the girl she used to be, but she really didn’t know how else to be. She had truly forgotten what it was like to actually enjoy herself. To forget all the shit that was going on in her life and how badly she felt about everything. It had been a year since the incident that had taken place last December, yet to the young girl if felt as if it were just yesterday. She relived that night entirely more often than she should, but she just couldn’t help it. One didn’t just get over the loss of a sibling, or a child they never got the chance to know. As unready she had been for it, that didn’t make what had happened any easier. It was the guilt she couldn’t live with, because she knew it was her own fault. Despite assurances from others that there was nothing she could have done about it, that they didn’t blame her for what had happened, the guilt ate her alive inside. It twisted in her stomach, sending her to a dark place that she did nothing to pull herself out of. She pushed the ones that loved her away, refused to let them help her despite how hard they tried. The only person who seemed stubborn enough not to go away was one Kaler Scott, not that he improved her situation much. However, she didn’t fight him anymore, knowing that the harder she fought to push him away the more he’d try to help. It honestly just wasn’t worth it anymore.

What had made this day so great, though, was Kaler Scott’s little sister, Peyton Roth, and Britt’s own friend Amy Orsino. Britt had offered several weeks ago to take a day with the young girl to get to know her better, and to make it all easier, little Amy had decided to tag along. There was never a dull moment when the adopted Trent sibling was around, her taking very much after her older brother Jared, and Britt was actually quite thankful that she was around to make it all feel easier. Saying that Peyton was awkward was, well, an understatement, but Britt could feel her patient and compassionate self coming through when she dealt with the young girl. Britt had always been very good with children, and her little brother, had he still been alive, would have been about Peyton’s age now. Though she was very well grown up, Britt sensed a childish and naïve nature about her, and she couldn’t help but reach out and feel an urge to protect her. As it turned out, Peyton really enjoyed herself. The girls spent the afternoon hanging around the marina, watching the boats and the people at work, Peyton finding it all fascinating and Amy and Britt were surprised to hear that she had never been there since coming to town. Around noon the girls started to get hungry, and so made their way to Rifter’s restaurant, which Britt thought was quite excellent and it was close. Besides, Peyton had never been there, and Britt felt the urge to expose her to new things. Together they entered the restaurant and sat down at a booth, ordering their food and then chatting amongst themselves while they waited. It wasn’t long before they got their food and all were in agreement that it was quite good.

It was at the end of the meal that all the enjoyment that Britt had felt herself feeling disappeared. Britt was finishing up on her desert, and Amy was playing with hers when she looked up and saw a horrified look cross her young friend’s face. "Oh no," were the words that slipped from her lips, and Britt turned around to see where her gaze had gone. Walking in the door was the last person on Earth that she ever wanted to see again. Kade Trent. The man that had broke her heart and left her alone when she had needed him the most. He had betrayed her, done the one thing that she had never thought he would, and it was him that she blamed. There was a hatred for him within her that consumed her, and she had often thought of what she would say or do when he finally showed up again. And now that moment had come and it took everything inside of her to control the range of emotions that coursed through her in that instance. She could tell from the silence at their table that Amy and Peyton had gone quiet, watching her to see what it was she was going to do. Britt hadn’t known that Kade Trent was back in town. No one had told her. And now here he was. It didn’t take her long to react, and she didn’t even think about what she did before she did it. Brittany Hale had a year’s worth of anger and rage and despair and a whole medley of other emotions coursing inside of her. And upon seeing Kade, all those things poured into her. She stood from her seat and walked towards him, coldness drifting into her gaze, her face set into a determined expression. Kade didn’t even see her come towards him until it was too late, and that was when the flat of her hand met the side of his face, the crack sounding throughout the restaurant. "How dare you come back here," she spat with venom in her voice, the hatred she felt for him clear on her face. She had honestly hoped he would never come back, but now here he was, and now she had to deal with it. What a great day this had turned out to be.

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tagged for ; kade marshall trent status ; complete word count ; 1,002 words lyrics ; haunted by taylor swift notes ; haha, go britt! go britt!

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[kade marshall trent]

If there was one thing to be said about the small town of Arietta, it was that it was a place that seemed stuck in time. People came, others left, but the town it self seemed resilient to change. Kade guessed that he really shouldn’t have been surprised. He had been born and raised in that quiet, coastal town and in all of his twenty-four years spent there, nothing had ever changed. A few new things had been added, maybe a couple of old things had been taken away, but Arietta would always be the same. There was some comfort in that, knowing that a man could go away for a year and see so many new things, things that he had only previously seen on the TV screen or read about in books, see things that were wild and unimaginable, things that were horrible and showed the worst of humanity, and yet there would always be this one place anchored in time that he could return to, that he could call home no matter what. The reasons for Kade’s departure from his hometown were all well known in his mind, thought about over and over again since he had gone away. The reasons for his return, however, were less clear. He wasn’t sure what it was that told him that now was the time to head home, or what it was about this place that had drawn him back when he had previously thought that there was nothing left here for him anymore, and that had been his own doing. But, he hadn’t been able to deny her call, and Kade had packed his things into his truck and headed back north to Maine, back to this town that felt all too welcoming. He just didn’t imagine that all of the town’s people would offer him that same welcome upon his homecoming.

There were some people there that were thrilled to see him arrive. His family were all surprised to see that he had come back and without so much as a warning, but they all welcomed him with open arms and his mother had immediately set about making him a wonder home cooked meal to celebrate. There were whispers, of course, things that Kade tried to close his ears to but also things that he desperately wanted to know. All had to do with that one woman that he had stupidly let go, the one that he had failed more than he had failed anyone in his life, and the one that was going to be the least welcoming to him and with tons of good reason. Kade didn’t say anything about Britt Hale, though, and instead kept his mood and attitude toward things light and easy, which was probably something that his family members weren’t expecting. He fielded questions about where he had been and what he had seen, things he had done and if he had brought back any souvenirs (that one coming from Amy and Jared, of course). Kade was glad for the distraction, and glad for the warm hearts of his family that took him back so readily even after he had left and done so much damage and destruction in doing so. It was amazing what a little fear could do to a man, and it was not something that Kade was proud of at all but these people here that were the closet to him seemed to be understanding, and if not that than at least accepting of him and the mistakes that laid in his past. He put on fake smiles for them, and returned home to the small house that he and Jared shared feeling a little more sure of himself than he had when he had rolled back into this sleepy town.

Despite how welcoming the town felt or how great it was to be back with his chaotic little family again, Kade couldn’t help but to lay low in. He worked on unpacking his things and getting the house set back up, Jared having ruled the roost there for far too long and letting it get a little out of hand. He quickly ran out of things to do, though, and occupied himself with old friends that would come to visit and tormenting the piss out of Jared just because it had been so long since he had been able to do it. Kade found himself with real smiles on his lips and genuine laughter, something he hadn’t expected to come so easily in this town that was haunted with so many memories that it should have been suffocating. However, Kade knew that it was all just him tricking himself, him making himself believe that it was just going to be that easy. Most people would have been able to pull this kind of thing off; they would have been able to go away for a little while, take some time for themselves and then come back new and refreshed and ready to fall back into their old lives. But, Kade was not most people and Kade had left all kinds of destruction behind him. That kind of thing didn’t just go away, and sooner or later he was going to have to meet up with those old demons and face them. That part was what scared him the most, knowing that she was out there, knowing that it was only a matter of time before someone slipped and let her know that he was here, or that they bumped into each other in town. Kade told himself that he was done being a coward, but even so, he couldn’t find the courage to go seek Britt out himself.

As it would turn out, Kade wouldn’t have to seek the girl out. It would happen on its own one day, just an ordinary day that Kade had decided to go down to the marina where Jared worked and take a look around the old place. Kade had worked as a boat mechanic there before he had left, and he had mainly gone down so that he could check back in with the guys at the store and see about getting that old job back. Luckily for Kade, they hadn’t hired on anyone new and they were eager to have him and his skill and training. And people said getting a job in this economy was difficult… Working again would be good. Kade had had a lot of odd jobs in the time that he had been away, but something steady and solid was always preferred. So, with that said and done, he headed toward Rifter’s, the marina’s restaurant and probably one of the better places in town to eat. A small lunch would be good before heading back to the house, and Kade never once thought to look around and scope out who all was there as he entered the establishment. He simply approached the hostess, an easy smile on his lips as he said he would take a seat at the bar. It had almost just been that easy, too, but then Kade saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head just in time to catch a cold, hard slap on his cheek. The young man’s hazel eyes were wide open as he took in the sight of a very pissed off Brittany Hale, her blue eyes that had once spoke everything to him hard and cold. “How dare you come back here.” The restaurant had gone silent around them, Kade glancing around as all eyes now seemed to be on them. “I never meant to, but something told me I should,” was his reply, but his voice was low and cautious. Kade didn’t know why he was offering up such honest answers for a room full of people, but that was the kind of thing Britt did to him even now. “Is this really where you want to do this, Britt?” Because Kade knew what was about to happen. He knew that things were going to get ugly fast, and he had hoped this would happen just between the two of them. Guess that’s what he got for not doing this himself.


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sorry it's so sucky!!! =/

[brittany nicole hale]

something's gone terribly
wrong you're all i wanted ,

The story of Kade Trent and Britt Hale was pretty well known around these parts. It was a pretty small town and not much happened that didn’t get around to everyone. Something as interesting as Britt and Kade, well, that one had spread like wildfire, and now that Kade was back, the talk was sure to start again. It would be the story of a fairytale romance between a young girl and the man she had always loved. How a small crush had turned into infatuation and then into something very big and very real. And then the story takes a dark turn, explaining how the relationship went sour, and how the girl’s love turned to hate. It was the kind of thing that could honestly happen to anyone, but Britt just so happened to be the unlucky one that got saddled with the tragedy. And it ended up being worse than just an abandonment issue and a broken heart. The girl had experienced something completely horrible, something that it took people along time to get over. She still saw that night as if it had only happened a week ago. Sometimes it felt like it had just happened. She couldn’t even totally remember a lot of it, as the whole thing had happened faster than she could think. She had gone to pick up her little brother from his late night basketball practice last December. It had been snowing on and off all day and had started to pick up that night. Parker had stared out the window with excitement, asking his older sister what the odds were that they wouldn’t have school the next day. She had told him his odds were pretty good as it was piling up, and then he had cranked the radio up.

Britt hadn’t seen or realized that the bridge road was covered with ice, and she didn’t react in time to save them as the car spun out of control and wrapped itself around a tree. How she survived was still a mystery, but her little brother and her unborn child hadn’t made it. Everything went downhill after that. Because Britt had never felt more alone in the world, though she had had Hunter Trent right there beside her, ready and willing to be whatever she needed him to be. He had been amazing since his older brother had ran out on her, leaving her to deal with the pregnancy on her own. She hadn’t heard from him since that night that she had told him, and she had been devastating when finding out that he had left her. He had just ran off, not caring that he left her and his child behind. She hadn’t been ready for any of that, and the man she had depended on the most had left her. Worse of all, he wasn’t there when she had really needed him. After the accident, had Kade come back, that could have fixed everything, or so she thought. Maybe not everything, but things could have been better. At least she would have known that he was still there for her. But he wasn’t, and that realization had broken whatever hope the girl had had that Kade Trent would come back. That had been what pulled her away from everyone else. She broken Hunter’s heart, pushing him away and telling him she wanted nothing more to do with him. Deep down she felt bad about what she had done, but in her dark state she hadn’t really cared to make it better. Because as far as Britt was concerned, Hunter was better off not being held down by her. He was a good person, and he deserved much better than what she could offer him. Whatever the reason, though, it didn’t change the fact that it had hurt him.

Now it was a year later, and here she stood in front of the one man she had been almost certain she would never see again. All the rage and hurt that she had felt since that December had been building up inside her, preparing for this moment right here when she would see Kade again. Keeping all that built up inside was never a good thing, and Kade was about to fall victim to it. Not that he didn’t deserve every last thing she dished out to him. He had abandoned her after finding out she was pregnant; had run away without a second thought about Britt and the love they had once shared. And he hadn’t come back, even after the accident and other things. No excuse he gave was good enough, and nothing he said was going to prevent this from happening. “I never meant to, but something told me I should.” Britt could tell that Kade was telling the truth, their little eye gift told her that much, but that didn’t mean she liked his answer in the least. “Oh? Really? Was this the same something that told you to run like a hell a year ago after you found out I was pregnant?” The words were sharp, every single one meant to deliver a blow that would hurt him. Because she wanted to hurt him. She wanted him to hurt just as badly as she had, though she wasn’t naïve enough to think that a half a dozen sharp words were going to do that. “Hate to tell ya, Kade, but you might want to start listening to something else.” She stared coldly at him, nothing but anger and hate there, her certainly not showing the pain she had felt at the time. He wasn’t privileged to that anymore, and she knew that if she slipped up even for a second he would see it. Because that was just how they were. “Is this really where you want to do this, Britt?” She had completely forgotten where it was that they were, but even so she wasn’t about to just move their little discussion. She didn’t care who was watching, and if he had wanted a less public place, then he should have came and found her himself. But he hadn’t, and that was all on him. “Yes, Kade, it is. Do you honestly think I care that everyone is witness to this?” She glared at him. “If you had wanted something more private, maybe you should have grown a pair and came and seen me yourself.” She shook her head in disgust. “Coward.”

Said to anyone else, that might have been seen as harsh, however, given the facts, it was very appropriate. Because that was exactly what he was. He had ran away when she had needed him, and he had taken entirely too long to come back. “You should have stayed wherever in the hell it was that you ran away to. Everyone here was better off when you were gone!” After the words left her mouth she felt someone touch her arm, and as she turned to hit them away, she found it was none other than Kaler Scott. He tried to talk to her, convince her to back away from this in the restaurant and do it at a later time somewhere else. But not even Kaler could talk Britt down and convince to her to leave in the middle of this. “No!” she exclaimed, pushing him away. She actually pushed him with some force too, surprising for a girl of Britt’s size. She glared at him. “Don’t talk to me like I’m some suicidal child getting ready to jump off the top of a building, Kaler Scott! This is his fault!” She pointed at Kade, though she was still looking at Kaler. “He brought this upon himself! I don’t care if everyone sees! And this has nothing to do with you so just stay the hell out of it!”

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tagged for ; kade marshall trent status ; complete word count ; 1,309 words lyrics ; haunted by taylor swift notes ; haha, go britt! go britt!

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[kade marshall trent]

Looking into those beautiful blue eyes of hers, all Kade felt was regret. There was a time when those eyes used to look at him with so much love, so much trust and understanding that it could almost be overwhelming. Kade had once looked into Britt's eyes and known everything that was on the girl's mind, them able to have a whole conversation with just their eyes. She had to be the only person in the world that he could do that with, and he knew that she was the only one that he would ever truly love. It was just too bad he had forfeited all of that, and that could be made no clearer than when he looked into his ex's eyes now and saw all that anger and hate that was now pointed at him without filter. There were so many things that he wished he could say, that he had imagined saying to her over and over again during the time that he had been gone, but Kade knew that none of those things would ever made a different to this blonde beauty that he had hurt so deeply. Why he had thought that he was going to be able to come back to their hometown and face her, he didn't have a clue right now. He had told her that something had just seemed to tell him that it was time to turn around and head home, but right now he wanted to kick himself in the ass for listening to whatever that something had been. Britt obviously agreed with that thought, but for somewhat different reasons. Kade had nothing to say in response to that, choosing to keep his mouth shut.

Except, he did have to try and see if maybe there was a chance that she would step outside or continue this elsewhere. Britt's temper was clearly out of hand, and the people of Arietta that had found themselves in Rifter's that afternoon were going to be in for one hell of a show if things happened here. Not only that, but after this the whole town was going to know about what happened before Kade even made it back to his house. Word travels fast, you know? Britt was beyond caring, though, and Kade knew that there was no point in trying to talk reason into her, or really trying to talk to her in general. She wasn't interested in what he had to say; Kade knew the young woman that stood before him very well. At one time, she had been so much a part of him that he didn't think that he would ever be able to exist without her. And, despite his absence and how much her attitude toward him had changed, Kade still knew her. He knew that her mind was set, emotions pouring through her to the point where there was no turning back. She would stand there and yell until she was blue in the face if that's what she wanted. He was just going to have to take it. Though, he wasn't sure which stung worse, the slap to the face or how she had called him a coward. He had deserved both, but that didn't make it any easier to take.

"You should have stayed wherever in the hell it was you ran away to. Everyone here was better off when you were gone!" To this, Kade just nodded his head slightly. "I know." He wasn't trying to just appease her, because Kade had no doubt that things were better without him. It was part of the reason he had left to begin with. Kade's hazel eyes moved from Britt only when he saw someone reach out to her, Kaler Scott being her new victim as she turned on him. Kade didn't know, or fully understand what this was between his old friend and Britt or why Kaler thought he was going to talk Britt out of anything, but the help was appreciated. He was soon pushed away, his eyes boring into their mutual friend in a way that, again, Kade didn't understand but Kaler backed off, leaving Britt and Kade to finish out their scene. "It is my fault, Britt, and I know that. And I wish things were different but they're not. I can't go back and fix what I've broken, I can't change what I've done, and I don't deserve anything less than this from you but I know better than to offer any kind of apology to you right now because you won't hear it." Kade was doing so well at keeping his head, his words slow and calm, sadness in his eyes along with all that regret and hurt. There was no easy way around this, that much he saw now.

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mini-ish thread! haha

[brittany nicole hale]

something's gone terribly
wrong you're all i wanted ,

Kade’s not fighting back wasn’t making it easier for her to hate him at that moment. She would have expected the ranting and raving, the defending of his honor, and whatnot. This resigned Kade Trent who barely said a word wasn’t a good thing. Britt didn’t like it. At all. It was always better when the subject of a verbal lashing at least put up some kind of a fight, but this? This was nothing like what she would have expected when he came back. Nothing like she would have expected out of him. She had never once known Kade Trent to just stand there and take something, even when he was in the wrong. And in this case, he was very much in the wrong. Very, very much so. And everyone knew it. You didn’t just abandon the girl you loved and not come back. That just wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. And especially so when that girl was going to be the mother of your child. No one could look on that in a positive light, not even someone as open minded as Britt. "It is my fault, Britt, and I know that. And I wish things were different but they're not. I can't go back and fix what I've broken, I can't change what I've done, and I don't deserve anything less than this from you but I know better than to offer any kind of apology to you right now because you won't hear it." And there he went again, being all calm and level headed about all of this. Why couldn’t he just fight back?

“You’re right, Kade. I don’t want to hear it, because no excuse you give will ever be good enough.” And no reason he gave would be. Because it all came down to the point that he ran away when she had needed him, and he hadn’t come back for a whole year. She had needed her best friend more than she had ever needed him before. She had counted on him, and he hadn’t been there. She didn’t know if she could ever forgive something like that. “Though while you’re willing to hand out apologies, you might want to start with your brother. You know, the one that stayed behind and cleaned up your mess.” She was, of course, talking about Hunter, Kade’s baby brother. He had to be the sweetest guy on the face of the planet, and when Kade had left her, he had stepped up and helped out. He didn’t have to, but he had, and Britt and Hunter had soon started up a relationship. Britt would be lying if she said she hadn’t had feelings for the youngest Trent brother, but after the accident, she had stopped caring about a lot of things, and she had broken Hunter Trent’s heart. She was a horrible person for doing so, but Britt still hadn’t gotten to a point where she genuinely felt bad about what she had done. “He chose to help out, to be there for me when you couldn’t be found! And he’s twice the man you can over hope to be because of it!” Hunter truly was amazing, and he didn’t deserve what Britt or Kade had done to him. No one deserved something like that.

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tagged for ; kade marshall trent status ; complete word count ; 554 words lyrics ; haunted by taylor swift notes ; mini thread!!

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[kade marshall trent]

Kade could see it in her eyes that she didn’t know how to take this. Kade Trent was not known for being the most level headed guy in town, and his temper had a pretty short fuse. He had been that way from a young age, always jumping to conclusions and fighting with his fists rather than his words even in elementary school when the fights had been over absolutely nothing at all. But, it had seemed like something back then and Kade was always quick to defend himself and what he was doing, no matter if the other person was in the right. He was naturally stubborn that way, and those that had grown up with him knew better than to stand in his way, of anything. However, he wasn’t the kind of guy to just snap; it took provoking to get Kade riled up. But, it really didn’t take a lot to provoke the young man, either, and the people of this town and witnessed the wrath of Kade Trent quite a few times over the years, whether it was him in high school taking out some jack ass because they had made an off color comment about either one of his pretty little sisters, or because they had offended him more personally, right up to the more adult bar fights that he had engaged in. That was the Kade that Britt was expecting, that probably most of the people in this establishment were expecting. This quiet, reserved Kade? This was very new. He liked to think that maybe he could use that advantage.

“You’re right, Kade. I don’t want to hear it because no excuse you give will ever be good enough.” A slight frown came to his lips then. Excuses? Kade stood there and listened to her line about apologizing to his brother, and Kade knew which one that she was talking about. Kade had called to check in every once in awhile. Not too often, but often enough that he did at least have a general idea of what was going on back in his hometown, and how Britt was doing. He had heard that Hunter had been the one to step up to the plate after Kade had left, that it had been Hunter that had taken his place with Britt. This had been a huge blow to Kade, him hardly able to stand the idea of his youngest brother with the woman that he loved, but it had been for the best. Hunter was better for Britt than Kade ever could be, but in the end, even he hadn’t been good enough. Kade also knew what Britt had done to him, and there was a part of Kade that realized it was partially his fault that his brother had gotten hurt the way that he had. “Hunter’s a good guy, and I know I owe him a lot, Britt, but I think you owe him a little more. It wasn’t just me that hurt him, and yet I don’t see you rushing to apologize.” Okay, so she had struck a little bit of a nerve. Hunter was Kade’s brother, and Kade would stick up for him and his siblings about all else. “And if you think all I have are excuses for you, you’re wrong.” Kade was trying to keep this short, trying not to antagonize her and make this more than what it had to be, but that old fight in him wasn’t going to let her assume something like that.

[brittany nicole hale]

something's gone terribly
wrong you're all i wanted ,

Britt had finally found something that might actually get a response from him. She had grown up with the Trents, and she knew how close they were. If you messed with one, you messed with all of them. Guys didn’t break the hearts of Mykayla or Amy because they knew that Kade, Jared, and Hunter wouldn’t be far behind to cause them a world of pain. And when one brother got into a fight with someone, the other two would jump in to help out. So bringing up Hunter was probably the best button that she could have pushed. It wasn’t like she had even meant to hurt him. Brit could honestly say that she loved Hunter. He had always been like a brother to her and it had meant so much to her when he had said he would be there for her. He didn’t deserve what she had done to him. But she also knew that if Kade had never left that Hunter wouldn’t have been hurt. Because if Kade had stayed, she never would have been with Hunter and after the accident she would have picked herself up again. Without Kade there she had been missing a huge part of herself, and without it she didn’t really know what to do. The pain and the hurt and the anger ate her alive inside to a point where she didn’t even recognize herself anymore. She didn’t feel good enough for anyone and she didn’t feel she deserved the things she had once loved and held dear. That was why she did the things she did. That was why she was the way she was.

“Hunter’s a good guy, and I know I owe him a lot, Britt, but I think you owe him a little more. It wasn’t just me that hurt him, and yet I don’t see you rushing to apologize.” That stung a little because she knew that on some level he was right. She owed Hunter a lot more than just an apology, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “Hunter is better off without me to hold him down. He shouldn’t have had to concern himself with me in the first place.” The first part was about as deep as he was going to get from her. The second part was an attack. Because that was all Britt really had all she could really do. “And if you think all I have are excuses for you, you’re wrong.” Britt felt herself laugh, but it was one completely void of humor. “Oh really? Then what do you have for me, Kade?” Her voice was still raised, the entire restaurant quiet. She probably should have been more concerned with the fact that this was all very public, but she could have honestly cared less. “If what you have aren’t excuses then what are they? Because they couldn’t have been reason! There was no reason in your leaving!” It had all been rash and had happened in a moment, at least in Britt’s mind. He had been scared, but so had she. She hadn’t been ready for such a thing, hadn’t known how to handle it. But she had counted on him to be there for her. “I will never forgive you for leaving.” This was said more softly than everything else, but the bitterness was still there in her voice, accenting her point.

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tagged for ; kade marshall trent status ; complete word count ; 568 words lyrics ; haunted by taylor swift notes ; mini thread!!

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[kade marshall trent]

Engaging her even in the slightest way like that had probably been a mistake. Kade had tried to stick to a plan with this, tried to keep his cool and not fuel that fire that she already had burning. That would be asking for trouble, asking for this to get uglier and out of hand real quick. But, she knew Kade Trent, and she knew which buttons to push with him to get exactly what she wanted. Britt Hale had always been able to do that to him, though. Even when they were younger the two of them had seemed to have such an amazing connection. They had known each other inside and out, and it had only became a more thorough bond when they had come together as an official couple. He had known exactly what her limits were, and she had known the same kind of information about him. She hadn't liked what she had seen in so far, hadn't known what to do with a quiet Kade Trent that didn't fight back, so she had found a tender place and pressed hard, bringing out the fight in him and making him react. Kade was an overprotective older brother by design, having been like that for as long as anyone could remember. He watched his siblings like a hawk, always there to jump in and save the day when one of them found themselves in some kind of trouble. Kade had hated what had happened to Hunter, and had called him as soon as word of that messy break-up to offer an apology, to do what he could for his youngest brother. It was the best that he could do without physically being there, and it had patched things over between the brothers. Too bad not all things could be fixed so easily.

Talking about Hunter was what got to him, knowing that his brother had been caught in the crossfire of his and Britt's problems. "Maybe he shouldn't have had to, and I've told him I was sorry for that, but he still did. You had no right to treat him that way, no matter what happened." This time his voice a little more severe, edging on that dangerous tone that no one liked to hear from this man. It was the "drop it or be prepared to lose it" tone, which he had never directed at Britt before. Next she was shouting at him for defending reason over excuse, telling him that he couldn't have possibly had reason in mind whenever he had left. "I will never forgive you for leaving." Kade's eyes were still glued to hers, him picking up on how she had said this more softly. That somehow made it more hurtful than anything that she could ever shout at him. "And I don't expect your forgiveness. I haven't done anything to earn it. You don't even have to accept the fact that I had reason rather than excuses, but you have to accept that I'm here, Britt.While I don't have any right to stand here and ask for anything from you, I do have a right to come home." He had every reason to come home, and though he had known that it would be difficult to come back here after all this time, he had still done it. He knew that he had hurt her, but she couldn't run him out of town with just a few hurtful words and glares.

[brittany nicole hale]

something's gone terribly
wrong you're all i wanted ,

"Maybe he shouldn't have had to, and I've told him I was sorry for that, but he still did. You had no right to treat him that way, no matter what happened." If it were possible, Britt’s eyes glared even more in Kade Trent’s direction. This was what she had strived to do, make him angry and engage her, but that didn’t mean she liked what he said. Probably because on some level he was right, and Britt was not in such a state to go around admitting that Kade was right about anything. She would stick with the story that he was in the wrong, that he was the scum of the earth, and that all she wanted to do was hit him. Thinking anything else would probably make her fall apart at the seams. Britt caught the tone that Kade used with her. It was one she knew well, and had heard many times, though never once had it been directed at her. She knew it was a dangerous tone, too, but Britt wasn’t one to back down. As much as he probably should have, Kade didn’t scare her, because she was fairly certain that he would never lay a hand on her. She was risking a lot with it, though. Not many people were brave enough to cross Kade. “I didn’t do anything except let him off the hook for taking care of me! He’s better off without me around to screw up his life! He deserves better! And he deserves a hell of a lot more in a brother!” Because of course, Britt couldn’t put herself down without taking a stab at Kade. Britt knew that she wasn’t good enough for a guy like Hunter. She had done nothing but bring him down and make his life hell, and he was better off without her in his life. She had broken his heart, but that was much less painful than what else she probably could have done to him. She had done the right thing by letting him go. She had to believe that.

"And I don't expect your forgiveness. I haven't done anything to earn it. You don't even have to accept the fact that I had reason rather than excuses, but you have to accept that I'm here, Britt. While I don't have any right to stand here and ask for anything from you, I do have a right to come home." She honestly didn’t know where the last part had come from, but it was something for her to jump on, so she took it. “I never said you didn’t have the right to come back, only that I would prefer it if you hadn’t.” Because she had never, ever, wanted to see him again. She had wanted him to fade off the map entirely. But she should have known that he would come back at some point. People always came home, didn’t they? Something always happened to bring people home. “You have the right to do whatever you damn well please. That’s what you always do any way.” She said the words sharply, driving them in and making her point. They were a little harsh, but then what he had done was much worse and thus warranted them. Kade had done what it was he had wanted to do when he left her. Her love hadn’t been enough for him to stay, and neither had the child they were expecting. If that couldn’t make him do something, then she doubted anything could.

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tagged for ; kade marshall trent status ; complete word count ; 590 words lyrics ; haunted by taylor swift notes ; mini thread!!

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[kade marshall trent]

This was already exhausting, and they hadn't even been standing there for five minutes yet. Kade should have turned and walked away from this in the beginning, but that would have only given Britt something else to throw back in his face, that he was running away like he had before. But, really, it would have been the smarter thing to do. He knew that he had to face Britt eventually and that this was inevitable, but there were betters ways for it to have gone, different settings and different circumstances. And as Kade stood there, looking down into her pretty face, he knew that this was solving nothing. Their issues weren't ones that were going to be fixed in one good yelling match, in which she was doing most of the yelling and he was finding the strength to stand there and take it. If they were fixable at all, it was going to take a lot of actual talking, and it was going to take time. Those were two things that Kade didn't think that Britt was going to be able to work with him on and give him for a long time yet, if ever. He had done her wrong, and he was sure that it nearly approached the level where her forgiveness would be impossible to earn. All he asked as that she accepted that he was here and he wasn't going anywhere this time.

Her reasoning for what she had done to Hunter was logical on some point, Kade was sure, and it was astounding at how close it was to his own reason for leaving. It would be easy to point that out to her right now, easy to tell her that he had left her because he had thought that she was better off without him in her life to mess things up. Kade had never thought that he was good enough for the blonde haired beauty that stood before him, never thought in his wildest dreams that he would be able to make her his, or that she would plan a life with him in it, but she had, and it never seemed right. God, she had been all that Kade had ever wanted, but he couldn't hold her back like that. However, he didn't say a word, letting it all drop before he dug himself a hole that he wasn't sure if he could get out of. It was the last bit, though, that got him. "You have the right to do whatever you damn well please. That's what you always do anyway." His jaw clenched, his mind coming up with all kinds of nasty words that could spill through his lips in that severe tone, his hands itching to connect with something though he knew that he would never lay a hand on Britt. But, somehow, he was able to hold his tongue and everything he wanted to say to her. "Then I'm going to choose to leave so that you can go back to your friends. I shouldn't ruin your whole afternoon." He was being extremely curt with his words, some probably realizing the Herculaneum effort it took for him to be able to walk away from this right now. Kade was sure that seeing him would ruin her day, but there was no point in doing all of this now. They could do this when she would talk to him. He turned and left Rifter's, shoving the door open and putting her well behind him.