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I scoffed at hi distance he reached out and put one of his hands on my shoulder and used the knuckles of the other to tilt aze up at hi you because you are the only person that can helpyou because I know you mean it when you say you care about e of ot how to breathe

"That’s not fair, Church" I didn’t like that it felt like he was using my inherent desire to see the people I cared about happy and whole against uy that plays fair, pretty girl"

Pretty girl

It was like a knife inheart

"I don’t know if this is so I can do" I wanted to because I wanted hi, but I also wanted to be able to look at myself in theback at uy ed to land, but I never wanted to be desperate or pathetic in order to get it Love was supposed to make you better, not make you hate the person you becaruff voice rumbled from somewhere over my head since I couldn’t force myself to look up at him as my mind whirled and my heart thudded heavy and painful inanyways because I don’t have a choice" That was probably true He was a s on his own terms and in his oay He was a creative proble in front of ardless of the hell he had seen and the terror he had witnessed firsthand

"You should’ve been honest with your fao Neither one of us would be in this spot if you had been" I didn’t mean to snap at himy head fuzzy and my resolve weak

"That ship sailed a long tier was directed inwards, into that void of darkness that lived in the center of him

"I don’t want you to be a liar, Church" That wasn’t the kind of man that had made me fall so far and so fast

"I promise on my mother that I won’t ever lie to you, Dixie" He sounded so sincere, so earnest that my heart finally overthrew my brain’s tyranny over my common sense He needed me, and I think we both knew from the outset that there was no way I could deny him help when he asked for it It wasn’t in my nature to deny someone I cared about my help and there was no way I could tell the person that I was stupidly sprung on "no"

I blew out a breath that made the floppy hair in front of my face dance I lifted my hands so I could wrap theet ers to touch as I tried to close the circles around theertips

"I need to et soet all that squared away then I’ll come with you" I was convinced any kind of happy-ever-after forto wonder if his was a different kind of happy-ever-after that had nothing to do with realizing I was the one for hi rifts and knitting breaches that stretched far and wide He needed me in an entirely different way than I needed hi but I still couldn’t deny that I wanted to be the one that he turned to for help I also wanted to be the one to help hi for a long, drawn-out o of my face and stepped back

"I already cleared your ti when I told him I had to leave He called Avett in to cover for you the next week or so I told hi you on a plane back home"

I scowled a little bit and started to follow hiree to this nonsense?" That was annoying

He looked at ain like he was trying to sh for your friends, and even though I never gave you reason to, you’ve considered o clean up that mess in your kitchen Maybe you want to put so"

I looked down atback with a huff At the sound he turned around and looked at me over his shoulder with a lifted brow "I think it’s pretty cute you’re all grumbly and scohen you first wake up You’re like a furious kitten looking for so or soing open and staring at the space he was no longer in No one thought I was cute in the roaned and droppedgood ever happened before noon

Church

I should have been elated that she’d agreed to go withto explain why I lied torelief that the good-looking redheaded man that had answered the door was fa the evening in her bed