Fall at Once

by Nora Everly

“It’s the way of the world. Things have to die to make room for the new.

She was like fucking sunshine, and I was nothing but a grumpy, dark cloud.

It would have been a shut-up ring if he proposed to you that night—like a ‘will you marry me and shut the fuck up about it’ kind of thing. He would have been one of those wedding reception cake-smashed-in-your-face guys, Madi. It wouldn’t have been holy matrimony; it would have been holy shit; what was I thinking? And you know it. You did the right thing by dumping his ass and running away. You dodged a huge bullet.”

“There is no place I’d rather be than here with you. Believe that. You deserve a man who will take care of you, respect you, and treat you like the amazing woman that you are. Not some dumb motherfucker who would try to humiliate you in a goddamn bar.”

“You kiss me this time. Do anything you want to me. Climb in my lap, shove me against the door, take what you need, go as far as you want⁠—”

But sometimes you just have to lay an asshole out, Cole. Hit first and ask questions later. It’s the only way.