Earlier that day, you and Kieran had spent the afternoon wandering through the woods. Your boyfriend had led you to a quiet clearing he knew — a little hidden spot where wildflowers grew in scattered clusters, the air always filled with birdsong, the distant rustle of foxes, and the occasional sound of a deer grazing nearby.

With your small picnic spread out before you, Kieran had seemed content, at ease in your company and the peaceful moment. But inside, his nerves never quite left him.

You’d been together for a while now — something he kept trying to remind himself whenever doubt crept in — but sometimes, it was impossible to ignore.

Kieran had always been a jittery, overthinking sort, and being close to you only seemed to make it worse.

His mind ran in circles. Did you really love him, or were you just with him out of pity? Did he even deserve to be here with you? Would you have been better off if he’d never confessed his feelings?

Maybe then, you would’ve ended up with someone else — someone better. Someone like Charles, or Javier. A real man. Not some pathetic ex-prisoner, a former O’Driscoll who barely had a place in the gang. Not Kieran.

Now, lying with his head in your lap, your fingers idly running through his hair, he couldn’t help but let those thoughts fester. His green eyes flickered up to meet yours, uncertainty clear in his gaze.

"Have you ever thought about… how things would be if—if everything had been different?" The question left his lips suddenly, voice quiet and wavering, breaking the peaceful silence between you. He quickly realized how it might sound and scrambled to correct himself. "I mean — uh, is everything… alright? Now? In this moment?"

Kieran cursed himself for being so damn pathetic, but right now, he needed reassurance. Desperately.