Rae Hachton's Blog, page 5

Happy Valentine's Day: A Sneak Peek at Evermore, Just For You!!

Hey Guys!

I know. I haven't updated in a while, and that's because I've been super busy editing Evermore, and also writing two other exciting books that I cannot wait to share with you guys.

Valentine's Day is coming up! In 2 days! Here are a few of the things I Heart.

Book BoyfriendsSweatersMoonflowersThe color PinkChocolateThis Song  (Because It's Marcus's & Ellie's Wedding Scene Song)And YOU!

SCROLL DOWN TO READ AN EXCERPT SCENE FROM EVERMORE. :)

And please note this snippet is unedited and is subject to change before appearing in the final book.

 

 ELEANOR'S POV


No
sooner than I'd pulled into my driveway and shut off the ignition,
Darcy bounced over to where I was before I could even step out of my
car. She seemed exuberantly happy like a kid who'd had too much sugar
or an energetic puppy who'd been given a brand new toy. It almost
terrified me.





“How
did your exams go?”





“I
passed. Now can you move out of the way so I can get out of this car
and go inside? I gotta pee.”





“Oh,
you do? Perfect.”




“You're
so weird.”




“And
so are you
'lil sis.”




I
stepped out of my car and shut the door. Swinging my bag over my
shoulder, I headed toward the house. “Since when are you so
concerned with my test results anyway? Don't you have your own
tests
to be taking?”




“Yes.
In fact, I have one that I'd like you to take.” She jerked
my hand and pulled me into the house.





“What
in the hell is wrong with you, Darcy?”





She
dragged me along to the bathroom.




“Give
us five minutes mom!” She called out as she pushed me inside and
shut the door behind us.




“What's
all this about? I've been taking tests all day and I'm tired.”




“Ohhh
nooo sista. You're gonna fail this one.” She reached into
her purse and pulled out a pregnancy test.





“WHAT?”






“Take
the test.” She shoved it to my chest.





I
laughed, sardonically. “Oh, how convenient it is for you to have
one of these lying around. I wonder why? I think you
need
to take the test. Not me.”




“Take
the damn test!”




“No!
I'm not pregnant, Darcy. Stop.” I emptied my purse over into the
bathroom sink. “See? I have tampons in my purse.
Apparently I can't say the same for you. Now get out of here so I can
use the frickin' bathroom.” I shoved her.





“Humor
me.”




“No,
because it's impossible. Marcus and I haven't had sex.”




She
crammed it back in her purse. “How in the hell is that
even possible? Have you seen him? He exudes sex when he walks.
You better be glad I didn't lay eyes on him first or you and I would
tango.”





I
glared at her. “If I catch you looking at him like that, oh we will
tango.”




“Speaking
of tangoing, you and Marcus haven't had sex, huh?”




“Are
you deaf or something? That's what I just said.”




“What
about you and that Walter guy?”




“Oh
my God, Darcy! Move!” When she didn't step out of my way I yelled,
“Mom! Darcy's holding me hostage in the bathroom.”





She
narrowed her eyes at me. “Tattle-tale. If you say one word about
what's in my purse, I will strangle you.” She jabbed me with
her index finger.





“And
if you sexually objectify my boyfriend again, I will do the same to
you.”




“Fine.
I think we have ourselves a deal.”





Mom
jerked the door open. “What's going on in here with you two?”





“Oh
nothing,” Darcy said. “Just
doing what you asked.”





“What?!”
Now I was completely mortified. “Mom? You thought I was pregnant?!”




Darcy
whipped back around, giving me a death-glare. Oh shit. That's
obviously not what she'd meant. I thought Mom wanted Darcy to find
out if I was having sex or not. Uh-oh.





“What
in the world are you talking about, Eleanor?”





Darcy
shoved past Mom and stomped up the stairs.





“Do
I need to have a talk with your sister?” Mom asked me.





“I
dunno,” I shrugged, refusing to say anything else. I'd screwed up.
Big time. “Why did you ask Darcy to trap me in the bathroom?”




“I
didn't ask her to trap you anywhere. I needed her to stall you for a
few minutes. Something's waiting for you in the backyard. Something
which I think will cheer you up.”




“Oh.
Really?”




“Yes.
Go take a look for yourself.” She stepped aside.





“What
about Darcy?”




“She'll
be fine. Now go.”





I
walked past the living room and headed through the kitchen to the
double-sliding glass doors that led out back.





“You
are
graduating,
right?” Mom called.




“Yes,
mom. I passed all of my exams.”




“Excellent!
I guess I can start filling out these graduation invitations after
all and make it official. I didn't want to count my chickens before
they hatched.”




“Gee,
mom. Thanks for believing in me. I appreciate the support.”




“You're
welcome honey.”





I
slid the glass doors open and stepped out on to the deck, making my
way into my backyard. I wasn't even five feet there yet, when my
heartbeat faltered and I paused. Marcus Marble stood there, with his
back to me. I forced myself to inhale again as I glanced over my
shoulder. My mother saw my shocked expression and ushered me forward.
She was smiling.





My
heart kick started again. He'd asked them. He'd finally asked
my parents for permission to marry me. The sunlight bounced off of
his perfect shiny black hair. And like he knew I was there, he swept
a hand through his long locks and turned around to face me. Our eyes
met and his were smiling. I didn't think I would make it across the
lawn, but I willed my feet to move anyway.





There's
only one other walk that will give me this exact same feeling, I
thought. Our
actual wedding.





Don't
fall. Don't fall. Don't fall. Now was a good time as any other to
practice.





I'd
taken approximately ten more steps before I realized I couldn't
contain myself anymore. My feet flew up off the ground as I ran
across the lawn to where he stood, crashing into him. I threw my arms
around his neck. He picked me up and spun me around, then sat me to
my feet again.





With
an exhale of air, I said, “You asked
them!
You really asked them.”




“And
they said yes.” But
his voice somehow lacked excitement. I'd expected a much different
reaction.





“That's
supposed to be a good thing...isn't it?” Please be a good
thing. I didn't need
any bad news.





“Of
course it is. However, there's one more permission I need, and that's
yours.” He dropped down onto one knee. “Marry me, Eleanor
Elizabeth Benson.”





His
gorgeous green eyes were now glistening. He popped open the ring box
and I almost died. The second ring was even more beautiful than the
first.





“You
already know it's yes. It's always been yes.”





He
took my hand gently in his and slipped the new ring onto my finger,
but he didn't remove the first one he'd given me.





“What
do I do with this other ring?”




“Don't
take it off. You keep it and wear it, too.”




“Three
rings? Really?” When we married each other, I'd have a total of
three rings.





“Yes.
One for then, one for now, and then one for forever.” He brought my
hand to his lips and kissed it.





Forever.


Now,
out of curiosity, 1) How are you spending Valentine's Day and 2) What
are you looking forward to the most in Evermore? What scene(s)
are you anticipating?! Drop me a comment, Facebook me, or inbox me
your answers! I wanna know!





Here
are my answers. 1) I'm gonna be spending the day with my
Grandmother. She has under gone 3 heart surgeries in the last 2 years
and we are all very blessed she made it through all 3 of them. Not
many of you know this, because I don't talk a lot about stuff, but
she is the reason I became a writer. She encouraged me and believed I
could do it. 2) I'm anticipating The Wedding and The Honeymoon
scenes. Some of you e-mailed to ask me about Marcus's and Eleanor's
special night ahem, and if I was going to pull the whole
FADE-TO-BLACK thing on you. Definitely not :)





Can't
wait to hear your answers!!





I'm
heading back into my writing cave so I can slap a release date on
this book!

Happy
Valentine's Day!!!

When Will Evermore Release?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Marcus and Eleanor can't wait to return with their story. 

Sorry guys! 

I totally should've answered this before now. For those who emailed me or messaged me asking about the release date, thank you. 

I've been notified that on some Kindles (or other devices) it says Evermore is releasing Dec 26 or 30. This is because this was the original date which I set last year.  

I apologize about that. Evermore will not be releasing until sometime next year. I do not yet have an official release date, but as soon as I do, I will let everyone know.  

I'm not even done writing the first draft yet. This book has been a long journey. 2 years now, to be exact. 

Thank You for sticking with me and the series this long. I truly appreciate it. I know it's been a long wait, and may still be an even longer wait, considering I will spend several months of 2015 giving Evermore the proper editing and packaging it deserves. But I intend to make it well worth your wait. (There are surprises I'm including that you don't know about yet!!) 

Have a Safe, Wonderful, Amazing Holiday, and I will see You all Next Year. (With LOTS of NEW books, but most  importantly, Evermore.) 

New Covers

So....The Pretty in Black Series just got new cover updates. But this time F O R E V E R. These covers are here to stay. I've got all the e-book cover updates uploaded and I'm working on getting the paperbacks reformatted as well. 

Yeah...so you kinda can't see the Evermore cover image down there can you? hahahaha. Nope. Not yet. But it is A M A Z I N G   OMG I can't wait to finally show you. 

I'm STILL not done writing Evermore. I'm making epic progress though and I'm in LOVE with this book. Like, the others are okay but this one is THE BOOK OF ALL THE PRETTY IN BLACK BOOKS. 

I know I wrote a blog post about how I was going to blog my progress on Evermore, but I kinda got busy with a bunch of stuff and didn't get around to it so here's the update as of tonight. 

163,679 words. 

WHEW. 

I'm Finishing Evermore this Month!

And I'm going to blog my progress. 

Oh Boy. I know. 200,000 words?! Yes. It's Pretty in Black, Black Satin, & Raven in the Grave combined and then some. Am I insane? Possibly, but I swear I'm not just padding the book. Every word counts. That's how much thought I've given this book. 

To put it in to prospective, I think RITG was about 80-85k total. And the Omnibus edition clocks in at about 189k. I can't wait until that book is printed so I can show you how large the spine on it is. 

I'm not doing #NaNoWriMo 2014, but I am getting this book finished. I'm super excited to get back into it. 

THIS. WILL. BE. WORTH. THE. WAIT. 

NOVEMBER 1, 2014. STARTING POINT. 

139128 / 200000 words. 70% done!

Eternally Told in Images & Quotes

Eternally releases This Friday! October 24! 

Right now, it's on Pre-Order for a fraction of the original price. ($4.99) 

$1.99 on Amazon   (Don't Buy It From Amazon until FRIDAY. On Friday it will still be $1.99. Because of my screw up last night, the chapter headers are askew and you don't want an ugly file. I can't change it until Friday.) 

$2.51 on Google Play  (Google Play is on point! I was able to change it) 

$2.99 on Kobo (When it goes Live) (And so is Kobo)

Barnes & Noble can wait. 

Until then, you can enjoy THIS! 

*The Owners/sources of the images can be found HERE*

“She was the flowers themselves. Beautiful, delicate, frail, sweet, flowered, and mortal. Perishable. Only here in my life for a season. ”

— -Eternally, Heath

““Catherine, I’m a nobody, but all I wanna do is waste away with you. Let me. When the summer ends, we can go our separate ways and you can pretend you never knew me.””

— -Eternally, Heath

“Wearing a clean white tuxedo and violet tie, I climb into the hearse. Igniting the transmission, I depart from Withering House, determined to drive countless miles through the falling snow, down dark twisting paths surrounded by gloomy trees, on a haunted road of dreams, hoping it will lead me to Catherine. ”

— Eternally, Heath

“ “Look, you’re hot as hell. I’d bang you if ever given the opportunity, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you get away with touching my shit.”

She laughs. “Did you just say that?”

“Yeah? Is there a problem?””

— Eternally, Heath

““Don’t.” With a swift sway forward, I lifted her hand off my knee. She took it into her own and played with the silver skull ring on my thumb, twisting it back and forth. I allowed three intervals for her acute fascination with my ring before I grimaced and jerked away.”

— Eternally, Heath

“I’ll be right here on this Twilight Path, in my wedding dress, waiting for you, until you return for me. No matter how long it takes. ”

— Eternally, Catherine

“I increase my speed as I fly down the road leading through the woods. I don’t consider the fact that I might wreck. What can hurt me? I’m already dead.

There’s gray and black everywhere I look. Trees with many branches and no leaves surround me. The fog envelopes me. ”

— Eternally, Heath

“Gritty glam ring for a gritty glam queen. ”

— Eternally, Heath

Pretty in Black—Update Notification

How to get the updates and what has changed.

Nothing Major has changed—Just one name, and one scene. *Scroll down for scene* 

Giles has become Vincent, and the "Chosen One" and "Chosen One, Part Deux" chapters of Pretty in Black and Black Satin are now called THE HUNTER and have Vincent in them. 

I'm notifying every e-book retailer to see if you guys can get updates on your e-books. Below, I'm posting the chapter change so you will be able to follow the story line in Black Satin and Raven in the Grave without going—Huh? Who in the crap is Vincent? 

He's not a new character, he's just the dude who used to be Giles. I got sick of hearing the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing. It got really old so I decided to change it. All the other scenes in Black Satin and Raven in the Grave with Vincent/Giles have not changed. They are the same. 

I thought this was an important change to make so I made it. It doesn't change the overall story line in any way. 

The Paperback Editions will unavailable for a while until all three get the same updates. 

I sincerely apologize to those who never had an issue with it to begin with, [& I didn't make this change to please the readers who wouldn't've liked it anyway] but there were more factors in play that influenced my decision to make this change. I figured if any changes needed to be made, I needed to do so before the release of Evermore. 

I have a tendency to be obsessive-compulsive; I have an almost overwhelming itch to reedit all three books. I noticed I do this really odd comma placement thing and it's annoying the crap out of me now, so I want to change that. 

There's a line from Pretty in Black that I obsessed over for nearly two hours, wondering why I didn't phrase it differently, and hoping it didn't render odd images in any readers' minds. 

 

I lay beside him on an unmarked and unadorned tombstone next to the iron cemetery gates—black and bedighted by beauty. 

THAT. SENTENCE. DROVE. ME. UP. THE. WALL. (If you can't see why, then I wanna give you a BIG HUG) 

so, of course I had to correct it. 

 

I lay beside him on a grave, below an unmarked and unadorned tombstone, next to the iron cemetery gates—black and bedighted by beauty. 

I still don't prefer the word below, but it's not next to, or beside, or underneath, (Because only the dead people are underneath) so I have to find a way to be content with below. 

And there's other parts of my books that I read over and go Wow, that could've used a longer or better description. 

My writing isn't perfect by far. I do odd things, phrase things oddly. I put commas in odd places. Sometimes my sentences are clipped or I miss out on technicalities and when I read over it, I wanna bang my head into the nearest wall repeatedly.

But it's raw. And it's representative of the writer I was at the time I wrote it. It's the best I could do at the age, time, and place in which I composed it. 

Yes, there have been times when I wanted to go back and change sequences, delete sentences, expand story lines, improve descriptions, but I haven't because I feel like I would be killing my 22 year old self who wrote those books. I would be killing a part of me and it wouldn't be fair to those who already love my imperfections as they are. 

I made a promise to myself and I'm making a promise to you, I am NOT going to change any elements of the original story—that would be like erasing the writer I used to be. At the time I wrote each book, I was writing to the best of my ability at the time, using the skill set I had at that time, and this is why I'm not changing any scenes of the book or the story line, but I will go back and change technical things like commas, periods, dashes, etc. 

With each new book, I want my readers to see how I've grown as a writer and say wow, she's improved or hey, she's not going that odd comma thing, or this has a much better pacing and there aren't that many staccato sentences this time. Or damn, she wrote a 200,000 word book and somehow managed to keep me entertained. 

And in 10 years from now, I don't want to cringe at how "bad" I was, but smile at how great I've become because I was willing to make mistakes, and willing to let someone read & possibly love my mistakes. 

So Thank You for Reading & Loving my mistakes. 

THE
HUNTER

I
walked home after the mini basketball game. I felt the strangest
sensation that someone was following me, or that something sinister
was in the woods. I did not want to turn around and look
behind me. I gulped. I paused from walking and turned my head to look
behind me.


As
I had predicted, someone had been following me—an old man with long
silver hair that was tied behind his head. His cherry-red coat
scraped across the ground as he made his way towards me, keeping his
eyes on mine.


My
pulse quickened from fright. I turned around and accelerated my pace,
walking away from him. I hadn't liked the way he'd been staring at
me. But on a second thought, I wondered if he was following me, so I
turned back around to see if he was still there, and he was. I
started to run. I had ran about thirty seconds when my body collided
with another person. When I looked up, that strange man stood before
me, hands in his pockets.

“Okay.
What do you want, creep?” He stared down at me from his emerald
eyes. A black crucifix draped from his neck.


“You're
exactly how I imagined you to be.” He pulled a photo from his coat
pocket. “This is you, yes?”


“Where
did you get that picture of me? Are you stalking me?”



“I’ve
been looking out for you Eleanor for quite some time.” He spoke as
if he knew me. He didn’t give out the vibe he was going to hurt me,
but then again, that might’ve been the main thing that made him a
predator, if he was one. I tested him.

“Looking
out for me? I don't even know
you. Okay, this is it. I’m going to call the cops.” I
pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket.


He
gently touched my hands with his to lower the phone out of view.
“There’s no need.”

“Then
why are you here?”


“What
if I told you that you're not who you think you are?”

“Then
I would probably tell you that you're insane and you have exactly ten
seconds to get lost before I do something which you're really not
going to like.”


“Your
world is an illusion, and I can prove it.”


“Prove
it,” I challenged him.

“Perhaps
you're not ready to see the truth, but it will be unveiled to you
soon enough.”


“Yeah?
And what truth might that be?”

“You're
a hunter Eleanor. An Evermore hunter. It's in your blood. It would do
you well to put that attitude of yours to use, channel it elsewhere.
Have you noticed anything strange going on lately?”

“Besides
your random ass showing up and sidelining me as I'm walking home?
Umm, no, not at all.
What makes you ask?”


Just
then, a caw-caw filled
the sky and I tilted my head upward to see a swarm of blackbirds.


With
a finger, the man motioned toward the sky. “Have you been seeing a
lot of those lately?”

“Not
at all,” I said. “There's so many.” I peeled my eyes away from
the sky. “But this is awkward. Why am I standing here talking to
you about birds?”

“They're
not birds, they're monsters, and you must destroy them.” He placed
a crossbow in my hands. “Shoot. Go ahead. I want you to see what
happens when you do.”


“Are
you crazy?! I'm not endangering an animal.”

“You're
the prey in this situation. He's
the predator.”

“Who's
the predator?” He wasn't making any sense.


“Take
the crossbow and shoot. You will see what I'm talking about.”


I
took it from his hands. “Fine, but I'm only doing this so you'll go
away.”


To
humor him, I pivoted, pointing the weapon upward and selecting a
target. I was sure there was no way I could launch an arrow or dagger
that high into the sky anyway. Without thinking too much about it, I
let go, and the arrow shot through the air, piercing one of the
birds. I hated the terrified sound it'd made.


I
shoved the crossbow into the strange man's chest. “There.
Satisfied? Thanks for making me feel like shit today. I think I
killed an innocent bird.”

“Right
on target.”


I
turned back to see what had happened to the bird. It was still
struggling to fly. I'd clipped it's wing and the bird flailed from
the sky. A horrific screeching sound filled the atmosphere and then
all at once, the blackbirds swerved downward toward me and I thought
they were going to attack. I ducked, falling backward onto the
ground. Nothing but a swirl of black. The birds encircled me. At any
other time, I would've screamed. I'd seen plenty of Hitchcock to know
this wasn't exactly a good scenario to find oneself in, but I didn't
feel unsafe. I felt...calm. Yet, at the same time, I knew there was
something...off about this
situation. I'd attacked one blackbird and they'd all flew toward me
as if in defense of the injured bird. As though the birds were
intelligible.


At
the last second, they all flew away, scattering across the sky.


“Whoa…”
I breathed. “What just happened?”

“You
just claimed your true identity,” the man spoke. “Because you’re
the strong one, you have amazing reflexes. You won’t need that much
training.”


“Training?
Training for what?”

“To
kill the Corvidae. The monsters.”


“Monsters?
There are monsters, that need to be killed?” I rubbed my head. I
must be hallucinating.


“Yes,”
he said, matter of fact tone edging his voice. “Mad men.
Shape-shifters. Destroyers of life. Violent killers.”

“And
you need me, a girl who already has enough problems on her plate, to
kill them?”

“Of
course. While you may fear the evil, you have the amazing ability to
stand against it. You have courage.”

“Well,
I don’t want to fight these ‘monsters’ okay?”

“You
have to. You don’t have a choice.”

“Hey,
this is my life. I can choose to do whatever I want, and I
choose not to go along with this nonsense.”

“This
is a matter of kill or be killed. They are going to descend.”

I
stood back on my feet and crossed my arms over my chest in disbelief
and annoyance. “What is your name and what psych-ward did you
escape from yesterday?”

“My
name’s Vincent Corvinian, but sometimes I am called Vance.”


“Good
afternoon, Vincent. I’m leaving.”


He
handed a bag to me. “Here. Take these with you.” Vincent held my
gaze and something within me told me he was serious. I took the
bag—which was filled with different types of daggers, arrows, and
knives—from him. “You might want to keep them sharp.”

“I
don’t even know what these monsters look like.”

“Yes
you do. They're the blackbirds, the Evermores. They are
shape-shifters, morphing from monster to man as their disguise. When
it happens, you kill them. Your instinct will be your guide.”

Whatever
you say, you strange, strange man.


The
cool breeze blew and when I glanced to the side, the bird which had
fallen from the sky disappeared into an inky purple-black mist, and
was blown away on the wind.


Perhaps
something unusual was going
on.

Very Dark and Always. #TeaserTuesday

A Quick Update, and Then Back Into The Writing Cave I Go.

Dear
Readers,





Eternally
has been sent off for printing. I'm awaiting the proof copies now. As
soon as I get those and make sure everything is good to go, I'll
format the e-book and upload.











I'm
back to writing EVERMORE!! I'm going to finish it this month for
sure. We only have 43,793 more words to go guys!



And even if I slack off, (and I'm not
because I'm stoked ) I'd
only have to write 1,905 words a day until Halloween and I'd still be
done. Don't you just love my maths?






If
I get it finished this month, (which I'm pretty sure I will!) it can
head into some hardcore editing for the month of November and some
formatting in December. If all things go well, it could be uploaded
to all e-book retailers no later than December 20, but I'm not making
any promises.




There's
some personal stuff going on in my life and I might be having to
move. If that doesn't interfere with my writing, everything will go
as planned, according to schedule. If it does, I will let you know.





The
last part of this year has tossed a few speed bumps in my way. But
fingers crossed that this year turns out glorious and
may we all get to read some Marcus Marble over the Christmas and New
Years Holiday.





For
those of you who have e-mailed, IM'd, and texted me asking about the
book, or left a status update somewhere about Evermore, YOU ARE
AWESOME.





Thank
You for your Support, and for being patient with me. I'm getting
there. And I'm super excited because Evermore is The Book of ALL
books that I've written, and is the BEST one of the Pretty in Black
series.





Xoxo



-Rae






PS:
I'm only going to take a few hours off this month so I can go see
Dracula Untold! I can't wait to see it!





For
those of you who are on my mailing list, no—I haven't sent out a
newsletter yet, but oh! I intend to! I'm working out those plans now.

Eternally Teaser #5

Eternally Teaser #5 















I
continued reading. Milford Withers' sugar crops were feared to
have been cursed. The townspeople blamed his sugar on the
disappearance and death of several members of their community who
were later rumored to have been seen “alive” on his plantation.
Aldpine banned the purchase of sugar and removed it from local store
shelves immediately. Mr. Withers used an unethical ingredient in his
sugar, similar to that of embalming fluid, to petrify or preserve
people, thus turning them into walking corpses.


“Dude
basically fossilized his sugar buyers? Why?”

“He
was conducting a reanimation experiment or something.”


“That's
absurd. Who writes this stuff?” 

“It's
why the Sugar Hollow Coffeehouse offers black coffee for free. It's a
temptation because people figure they can add the sugar in it
themselves. It's a trick to turn them all into zombies.”


“Oh.
Then drink up, Miss. Furlong. Drink up.”









She
grinned wickedly as she brought the rim of her coffee mug to her cute
little pink lips.

I want to be the guy she'd want to see herself with. #TeaserTuesday

Eternally Teaser #4





[image error]









“Catherine!”
I yell out into the night, as loud as my voice will let me. My chest
heaves. “Catherine! I need you! You gotta believe me. I'm just a
loser. I was trying to save you from me. But I need you to save me
from myself. All you've gotta do is just talk to me. That's it. I
just need someone to talk to.”

The
curtains split and she raises the window back up. “Okay. But that's
it. Nothing else. I could never see myself with you.”

Her
words. Biting into me.


I
bottom out again.

I
rise back up to the top.

I'm
not willing to give up on this.









“I
wouldn't want you to,” I say. The words tumble out of mouth, but
the pain behind them is heart stabbing. I want to be the guy she'd
want to see herself with. I'm miles away from that. Light years,
maybe. “Can I come up?”