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For all those walking the path of grief. It's a winding road that changes but never ends. Just remember, you're not alone. You carry them with you wherever you go. And you'll see the world in all its colors because you loved so deeply.
Fallon had three older brothers. One by blood, Copeland. One adoptive, Shepard. And one foster, Trace.
Like my mom. My dad. Emilia. And me, in a way. The me I’d been then had died right along with them, thanks to old wiring in an even older house. A home that had been so full of life and love once but had been left half-burned for the past fourteen years.
“The only thing they would want is for you to be happy.” My throat burned as it worked to hold back a sob. “I know. But sometimes being happy feels like the worst betrayal of all.”
I was an asshole. But an asshole was better than the alternative. Better than caring. About anything or anyone. Caring was a recipe for nothing but agony.
Happiness was the greatest torture of all because it could all be taken away—and it was so much worse than if you’d never experienced it at all.
Only the last section of each book remained dusted with black flecks from the fire. Because as frequently as I revisited each one, I couldn’t seem to force myself to make it to the end. Of any of them. Something about the endings was too painful, too final, even if they were happy.
“Don’t do people. Love dogs.” And with that, he stalked back to the main site and his crew.
“Gotta stop meeting like this, Reckless.”
“You don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, Reckless.”
“Seems like a fun game to me.”
Damn it all to blue-balled hell.
“Why don’t I stay on your couch tonight?”
“You won’t get a good night’s sleep on my couch,”
“Your couch is just as comfortable as my lumpy-ass mattress back at the cabin.”
“Because I’m holding on to my last shred of humanity, and if you stand here in those goddamn shorts for another ten seconds, it’s going to snap.”
“What happens if you snap?”
“I fuck you so hard you’ll feel me for weeks. I’ll ruin you, Reckless. You think I can’t taint you with my pain and the darkness that lives inside me, but you’re wrong.”
“Fuck it.”
“Can’t handle being away from you,” he croaked. “Especially not when you’re hurting.” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t want to care about anyone. But you shot that all to hell.” My heart hammered against my ribs, butterfly wings dying to break free. A muscle fluttered in Anson’s cheek. “You didn’t sneak past my defenses, you bulldozed them. Reckless to the bone. And maybe you made me brave enough to be reckless, too.”
YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SUFFER. HOW QUICKLY YOU FORGET. YOUR SISTER MUST’VE MEANT NOTHING TO YOU AT ALL. BUT RHO DOES. AND I’LL MAKE SURE YOUR TORTURE AND HERS LASTS FOREVER THIS TIME. SHE WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE ANYWAY. LET THE GAMES BEGIN. -THE HANGMAN
“Silas?”
“My little phoenix, rising from the ashes. I knew then that you
were meant to live. It was so much better. I got to see you suffer.”
