For Better or Hearse

by Ava Hunter

And as you repeated numerous times on the plane, you will not save him from a shark attack, and I am banned from doing so as well, which is exactly my type of petty.”

“It’s giving big main character energy.” Ash scowls. “I don’t want to be a main character. I want to be that statue in the corner of the room that sometimes gets mistaken for a ghost and scares the shit out of people.”

If there’s one thing her ex taught her, it’s that love is a kind of death. Ash wants none of it. The happily-ever-after belief system perpetuated in fairy tales is a farce. Because eventually it all ends.

“We need a task force that stops white men from starting podcasts for no reason.”

Either thought she was weird or got weird about it themselves. Ash learned then that when things got hard, people who love her will let go. So it’s better if she does it first.

“I couldn’t find you,” he rasps. The instinct she triggers in him is primal. He reaches out, slides his arms around her slender waist to pull her to him. The moment she’s in his arms, his tension ebbs.

As the sound of the ocean crashing against the beach rushes back to his ears, bone-deep awareness hits him like a brick. Ash. She’s the first one he looked for.

“So fucking gorgeous,” he murmurs, taking her in his arms. “My morbid little beauty.”

He can’t help but want to take care of her. Maybe it’s the doctor in him. Maybe it’s because he actually cares about this chaotic girl. The thought of her being without sugar terrifies him.

He doesn’t know how to tell her. That he’s not okay if she’s not okay. That he’d give his own life to keep her safe. That she’s endgame. In his head, heart, blood, soul. She owns him.

“I love you. I am utterly and unfathomably in love with you, Ashabelle Keller.” At his words, she closes her eyes. Takes a shallow breath, the action rocking her body. He means it. She’s his. She will always be a sharp object. And he will never stop loving her.

To live means death. But she’s not ready to face this life without Nathaniel.

Love isn’t about fixing yourself so that someone loves you. It’s about finding the right person to love you as you are.