“Answer me, Ben.” “Don’t call me Ben!” I scream at him. “Wasn’t so long ago you were telling me not to call you Mercer. Who are you? Ben or Mercer?” He leans down, right in my face, scaring me and empowering me. “Ben or Mercer?” “Mercer!” I yell, and with the declaration of my name, my real name, those tears fall down my cheeks and an anguished cry of self-love that hurts so fucking badly comes straight from my chest. “Mercer.”
