Never Let Me Go (Inevitably You, #2)

by Lyla Dane

And god, kissing Beck was like that first step into the sun after being stuck in a cold, dark room for years. He tasted like the bite of a winter morning, waking up all my senses and making me feel alive. He was refuge from everything wrong; he was comfort and security and strength and hope.

“That’s not you anymore, is it? It never really was in the first place. Everyone on this fucking planet makes mistakes. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. And if people only see you for who you were, if they don’t realize that you are not your mistakes, then they’re not worth a single fucking thought. You hear me?”

He whined in relief, as if my lips on his were the only thing that could settle him, the only thing that made everything feel like it was in the right place. It was. I knew that in my fucking soul.

I didn’t care if this was a bad idea. I didn’t care if he smashed his way back into my heart like he’d been doing for weeks now. I didn’t care if he took over every molecule of my being until my entire existence was wrapped around him. All I cared about was being with him.

“You remember what you used to say to me?” Yeah. I remembered. I knew exactly what he was talking about. “You’re the sky and I’m the stars,” I said quietly. “Yeah. And no matter how far you fall, I’ll still be there to catch you.”

“But you are worth every moment of that struggle, Beck. Every fucking moment. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I do know that the only place I want to be is by your side.”

“I don’t want you. I need you. I’ve always needed you. Whole, mangled, torn into pieces, I will take you however you are. You are the only thing in my life that’s ever been worth something. The only person I felt like I might not be able to live without. And every moment we were apart was not spent living, Gavin. Just surviving. The fact that I get a second chance with that boy—who is now a man that I care deeply about and want to see succeed more than I’ve wanted anything in my life—the fact that I get that, after thinking I’d never have you again, is almost surreal. I keep asking myself if any of this is real, but it is. I promise you, it is.”

“I’m the sky and you’re the stars, remember? It’s my job to hold you up and let you shine. So let me do my job, baby.”

“I’ve always loved you. And when I lost you…I lost the best part of myself.”

Beck laughed, those perfect lips spreading wide, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Oh yeah? So it’s okay for you to threaten to kill people?” “Yeah. This baby hippo has double standards and doesn’t give a single fuck.”