“I thought a lot about it.” His voice got thicker, softer. More loaded. “You’re important to me.” “I better be. I’m about to be tattooed on your body forever.” “You’ll always be important to me.” He was closer somehow, but I hadn’t noticed either one of us move. “And you’ll always be important to me.” It hurt to say, because I knew I might not mean it the same way he did. I knew then I’d love him my entire life. Arik would be a more permanent scar on my heart than the one my father gave me on my face and I’d live with it for another night with him. For as many as I could get.
