Unsteady

by Peyton Corinne

He smiles and it makes me pause. Two matching dimple imprints form in his otherwise chiseled cheeks, a little bit of light bleeding into his usually saddened brown eyes. I want to stand in that smile like a flower preening in the sun.

“What do I owe you?” His eyes glimmer at me. “A break from your continual presence at my place of work.” “That’s a high price.” “I’m expensive.”

the bants 🤭

She stops there, but the unspoken words are just as loud. The look in her eyes says I wanted to help, and this is all I have and I see you.

Does she know I’d kneel for her forever if it meant she’d look at me like that?

plsssss I’m done for 🫠😮‍💨

A hand grabs my wrist hard, little fingernails pressing into my skin, and I almost moan; I’d know the feel of Sadie’s skin even if I were blind.

I am gone for this girl.

giggling & kick my feet!! 🤭🥰

“And tell your little friend up there to watch her fucking back. I don’t need unbruised knuckles to skate.”

go off, Sadie 😂

Rhys taps on the glass with his glove, waiting until the guy meets his eyes. My boyfriend is smiling, his eyes dark. “Look at her again, see what happens.” The threat is clear, menacing despite the dimpled fake smile stretching his cheeks.

this protective mmc gives me the flutters 🦋

as much as I want to use her to push away the darkness, I want to love her more.

sobbing. are you kidding me?! 😩😭

Oliver started hockey because the ice rink was my safe haven, so it became his, too.”

didn’t expect to cry so much with this book.

I’d marry Sadie tomorrow if it meant it got them out of this damn house. Who am I kidding? I’d marry Sadie tomorrow. Period. No stipulations.

my man is so down bad. Sadie deserves the world!

I’m not going fucking anywhere. Not now, not ever. We’re going to talk about it once this is dealt with. Now…” He shudders out a breath and rolls his massive, muscular shoulders. “I’m going to clean this glass up, because if you cut your fucking foot in here—even a goddamn nick—I don’t think I will be able to hold back from kicking his face in, okay?”

RHYS. The man that you are 😭😭

“I don’t know what I’m going to have to do to prove to you and Oliver that I’m not leaving—and honestly, I don’t care what it is, I’ll do it.”

Loathing, self-hatred. If you feed them enough, they grow like irremovable vines. Mine grew thorns and wrapped around me as a kid, and no one has ever bothered to try to get in. Until now.

still crying btw

“You don’t need to say anything right now, okay? I can love you enough for the both of us.”

Rhys Koteskiy could never be confined to just one song—he’s a symphony, a never-ending playlist that I want to repeat forever.

😭❤️