I move to wrap my arms around my abdomen and take a step back, but I jolt as my back hits the wall behind me. Daniel reaches out to grab my wrist. “Don’t.” The word stops me, same as it did in the park, but he continues. “Don’t cover yourself. Don’t shrink away. You can say no to me, but don’t for one second think that you need to cower or feel embarrassed. You are fucking beautiful. You are beautiful tonight, and you were beautiful when I scared the shit out of you on your run, and you are beautiful every damn day from the minute you walk into my line of sight until the minute you walk out.”
i will kill myself
