The Expiring Series Bonus Chapters (Expiration Date, Expired, Exported, Exposed)

Bently and Iris (Not Canon)

This bonus chapter is set in a version of Expiration Date where Iris and Jonas were never in love. Just really good friends. It's set shortly after Exported.

Bently~~

I've done my best to avoid Iris since we returned to the Estate after our time in France. I told her that we had nothing to talk about—the kiss, my confession were all a necessary lie to get us out of the catacombs to ensure she made it out alive.

I sink onto the edge of the fountain, the hedge surrounding me.

Perhaps this wasn't the best spot if I wanted to avoid thinking about her. The labyrinth was the first place our paths crossed when I helped Colton knock her out.

I drop my face into my hands. How could I let myself fall in love with her—a woman who surely will never feel anything more for me than friendship—not when it was me who tried to kill her?

And she knows that.

At least that's one secret that's not weighing down on me.

Water trickles behind me into the pool. Iris is off somewhere with my cousins, most of whom she's enchanted by this point.

Perhaps she'll marry one of them. Not Jonas who will have to marry an Amoris or Colton who now has Vienna back.

And it won't be me.

She probably only sees Odette when she looks at me.

Soft footsteps make me drop my hands just as Iris steps into the courtyard.

My hands rest palms up on my knees. I'm sure I look like a sorry state. "What are you doing here?"

"You were missing."

"Forgive me if I don't feel like spending every waking second with my cousins."

She tilts her head, giving me an odd look. Her hair's been curled and hangs to her bare shoulders. I catch a glimpse of her Expiration Date that's pressed against the deep green layers of her dress. Of course she looks even more beautiful than usual tonight. "What's wrong?" she asks.

"Nothing."

She walks toward me and dips her chin to the spot beside me. "May I?"

I shrug.

She sinks down onto the fountain's edge. Her dress brushes against my pants. Her knee doesn't touch mine, but I feel it; I sense it.

"I've had nightmares every night, you know."

I look at her, and in the amber light of the lampposts, I can see the dark circles crescenting under her eyes. I stop myself before I reach out and brush my thumb along them.

"I'm here," she says. "If you need to talk about it."

"I don't want to think about it."

"But that doesn't mean you stop . . . thinking about it, I mean." She places her hand on my thigh and warmth spreads from where her hands touch. My entire attention focuses on where her fingers touch me.

"Thank you." The words try to stick in my throat. Iris must can hear them catch because her fingers give my thigh a light squeeze.

My stomach clenches.

"Whatever you need, Bently." She frowns. "I'm here. Remember that."

I cover her hand, and she lifts her eyes to meet mine.