Epoch (Transcend, #2)

by Jewel E. Ann

This man kisses me like the ocean claims the shore, knocking me back until I surrender, pulling me into blinding depths, swallowing me whole.

I’ll still love you. I’ll still love your family. I’ll still love the memories of who we were and the dream of what could have been. And I’ll wish you nothing but utter bliss and the most beautiful happiness because …”

“I think we love many people for a lot of different reasons. I also think people pass in and out of our lives to give us an experience.

This is my mom, the person who loves me unconditionally. She loves me if I meet Griffin at the altar. She loves me if he leaves me tomorrow. I don’t have to hide from her.

Don’t steal anything from the past or borrow anything from the future. Pay your dues today. That’s living life.”

The toxic mix of anger, fear, resentment, jealousy, and bone-deep love is stripping every last piece of my sanity.

There’s no way for this to end without me giving up a piece of myself, without me saying goodbye to part of my shattered heart.

And if we carry pieces of other people with us, woven into our souls, then I will take part of him with me to my next life.

I guess that’s life, a steady pendulum. Balance is nothing more than a breath in the middle.

“This hurts,” I murmur. He nods several times, opening the back door. “It sure as hell does.” The door closes behind him.

I guess I’m still trying to figure out how I got to this place in my life. Or maybe I’m trying to figure out exactly what place this is.

We’ll find out if our souls share something that transcends time or if they are nothing more than epoch.”

I rub my chest a little more. What we had was explosive and a whirlwind of mad love. Of course a part of him will always feel like a piece of shrapnel lodged into my heart.

And maybe the best way to describe it is to say that I love him like a piece of myself.