Beautiful Monster

by Sara Cate

You have no place being in my thoughts, and yet, you own every single one.

“Is that okay? If I...take care of you?”

If this feeling was a color, I would want to paint it all over my skin, let it seep into my pores, making it a permanent part of me.

It dawns on me when she laughs, the warmth in her voice sounding so familiar that my attraction to Sunny isn’t just about her body, her age, her innocence but how she makes every goddamn cell in my body come to life. She defines me, accepts me, sees me, and I swear to Christ, it fucking feels like love. And it scares the ever-loving piss out of me.

Carefully, he refills my glass with water and hands it to me with two white pills. “The good stuff,” he says, and after I glare at him skeptically, he finishes. “Ibuprofen.” With a small smirk lifting my lips, I toss them back.

😂

I tell myself this could work, and his smile makes me believe it.

But the look on his face says he’s jealous. And I like it.

Just because you love someone doesn’t mean they have a free pass to treat you like shit.”

“You’re the most precious thing in the world to me, my sweet girl. I haven’t cared about anything in so long, and I care about you. If I lose that…” “You won’t lose me. You will never lose me, Alex.”

“I love your scars, Alex. I know that under your skin is a whole lot of shame that you think you need to protect me from, but I won’t leave you for it. I won’t let you try and scare me away.” Taking her face in my hands, maybe a little too hard between my fingers, I pull her lips just a breath away from mine. “I love you, Sunny.” She blinks, a tear spilling over her lashes. “I love you, too,” she croaks.

Love cannot be replaced. The love someone denies you cannot be filled by someone else.

We don’t get to love people because they are perfect or because they’ve made every right decision. Love is not a reward for good behavior. Love is unconditional because the strongest love endures the hottest fire.