More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I’m exhausted and want to crawl into bed, but if I’m making her laugh, maybe she won’t look too closely and see how broken I am. I can’t let her down.
He runs his hand over my hair and walks away. After all the years of playing, there’s still anxiety before a game. You never know how it’s going to go, who will get hurt, which team will be hungrier for the win. Paul knows physical touch helps calm me, so he always makes sure to do something before we start warmups.
What I wouldn’t give for someone to claim me publicly. I’m tired of being a dirty secret. Like who I stick my dick in is shameful. It’s bullshit.
He’ll let me take care of him, get his food, water, and meds, then demand I lie in bed all day with him. But he won’t kiss me. The man who has come to mean more to me than anyone else wants intimacy, but not sex. I can care for him, about him, but I can’t be in love with him.
He’s my comfort, and he doesn’t even know it.
“That I can’t love you the way you deserve.” He pulls me along with him across campus to our building.
It’s Brendon. My Brendon.
Nothing has ever felt as right as this moment, with this man, in this room. He’s my everything. And that terrifies me. I’m so gone for this boy.
Brendon is a toucher, it’s just how he is. He needs it, but it’s killing me.
He’s my safe space. He never wants anything from me, just lets me touch him when I need it—which is always—and doesn’t complain or make it weird. It’s not sexual, just comforting.
I’ve been living and breathing your touch lately. If I don’t come up for air, I’ll drown in you.
“You’re comfortable with me, I’m a cuddle whore, and orgasms are awesome. It’s a win-win.” Please don’t break my heart.
“Spoiler alert, I basically am your boyfriend.” Paul’s shoulders tighten as he prepares for me to hurt him badly.
“You’re mine. No one touches you but me. Do you understand?” Paul’s voice is warm but hard like he’s trying to keep himself under control.
My best friend, the love of my fucking life, is in pain and fighting himself.
Being skin to skin is so fucking intimate. It’s comfort and love and peace.
Why can’t he let me love him?
“Just fuck off! I didn’t ask you to save me!” “I love you. You don’t have to ask!” His angry red face is in mine.
Faking smiles and laughs so no one looks too closely while on the inside I’m falling apart. I hate that I hide it all so well that no one knows, but all I want is for someone to notice, but at the same time, if anyone did notice, I would tell them I’m fine because I don’t want to be a burden.
He’s my sun, and I revolve around him.
“I know. It’s weird to come out. To feel like you have to announce to everyone what you like in bed.” He shakes his head. “Can you imagine if everyone had to do that?” He changes his tone, mimicking a woman. “I just want everyone to know that I like being humiliated and gangbanged. I didn’t choose this life, it chose me. This is the real me.”
“I love you the way you are.”
“I can’t imagine my life without you,” he says, his voice rough. “You’re it for me.”
“Your past doesn’t determine your worth. No one is a better fit for me than you, and I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”
Brendon is my home. And as much as that scares me, I won’t let it stop me from loving him out loud.
“I love you, Brendon, until my heart stops beating.” “Then I’ll make sure it never does.”
“I love you,” Brendon says against my temple. “You are more than enough.”