Jessica Sorensen

I shrug and shuffle my toe across the carpet in front of me, feeling silly. "So? It's a compliment being like you." All the humor evaporates from his face and his honey-brown eyes. Within seconds he has me in his arms and he hugs me like I'm the most important thing in the world to him. "Don't ever change, Callie Lawrence," he whispers in my hair. "Promise me you won't.

Life is full of luck, like getting dealt a good hand, or simply by being in the right place at the right time. Some people get luck handed to them, a second chance, a save. It can happen heroically, or by a simple coincidence , but there are those who don__ get luck on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don__ get saved.

Because I mean it. I don__ care about anything else. I could lose anyone else and make it through. But not you, Ella May. I can__ do this without you.

No one has ever needed me before because I__e never let anyone that far in.

I take my time because I love how it feels to carry her, the way she needs me, the way I need to protect her.

One of the stall doors swings open and a fortyish-year-old woman walks out tucking her shirt into her jeans. Her heavy lined eyes land on Seth. "This is the women's restroom." She points a finger to the door. "Can't you read?""Can't you see that everyone in this club is about twenty years younger than you?" Seth retorts, turning to the mirror. With his pinkie, he messes with bangs. "Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to have some fun.

You__e fucking special and if I want to act all possessive over you when some stupid art guy hits on you right in front of me, I__ going to. Either that or I__ going to have Ethan chase him down right now so I can punch him in the face.

Carry me away. To where I can breathe. To where my soul can thrive again. To where I can be free. To where I can live again. Give me life. The ability to span my wings. And fly. Not fall. I never want to fall again. So help me survive. Allow me to flourish. And then let me forgive. (tattoo inscription)

Gemma, I__ not going to hurt you._ His voice is as smooth as silk as he winds around the bed, his radiant, green eyes fixed on me. __ promise I won__ hurt you. Everything__ okay.__ laugh sharply as I put weight on my weak legs. __hat__ the biggest lie I__e ever heard come out of your mouth, which says a lot since you__e the biggest liar I__e ever met.

Death. It's around more than people realize. Because no one wants to talk about it or hear about it. It's too sad. Too painful. Too hard. The list of reasons is endless.

He stops rocking the cage. "Oh, come on, Callie. It won't be fun if we don't rock it. In fact, the more we rock it, the better it'll feel." His voice drops to a deep whisper. "We can rock it nice and slow or really, really fast."..."Do I have your permission to rock away and give you the ride of your life?" Why does it feel like he's secretly talking dirty to me? "Yeah, go ahead, rock it nice and hard," I say without thinking, then bite down on my lip as the dirty section of my brain catches up with me. Honestly, I didn't even know that side existed.

It was an earthshattering kiss, one that stole breaths, stopped hearts, and scared the shit out of me because it surfaced feelings I__ never felt before, ones that rendered me helpless.

You've always had a good grasp on what's right and wrong. You just have a hard time admitting that sometimes you choose the wrong.

I realize that even through the hard times I__ sure we__l face, I__l never be able to walk away from her. -Micha

So I let my shame own me, kill me, wilt me away into a thousand dead flakes, knowing if I kept it all in, she would never have to learn the dirtiness that was forever inside me--the bad, the ugly, the twisted. She could go on living her life happy, just like she deserved.

Just you and me against the world.Always and forever.

You really need stitches," she tells me."Or you're going to have a scar." I try not to laugh. Stitches aren't going to help. They fix skin, cuts, wounds, heal stuff on the outside. Everything broken with me is on the inside. "I can handle scars, especially one's on the outside.

I won't let that night ruin you forever." But it did, it broke me into a million pieces and blew them away in the wind, like crumbled leaves.