Even When I'm Gone (Stay with Me, #2)

by Nicole Fiorina

“Because love is constant. When you love someone, you can be angry with them, you can hate them, you can be upset or disappointed in them, but you never stop loving them because love endures all other emotions.”

“I’m stuck between I’ll never be enough and no one else will ever love you more.” —Oliver Masters

“The cruel irony is you are my forever but not my right now.” —Oliver Masters

“I want you to love me anyway,” a single, lost tear trickled down his cheek, “Give me a year to get better, and I’ll give you a lifetime.”

“For a love everlasting, make her roses out of paper. For a love as poetic, make her roses out of literature. And if you’re lucky enough to find both, remind her every damn day.” —Oliver Masters

“Once upon a time, there was a girl with a black heart and a lost soul. She was unpredictable, impulsive, never allowed anyone close enough.” “Don’t tell me you fell for her.” “I am … falling, that is. No one tells you about the fall, how once it starts it never stops. But that’s a story for another day, my friend.” “Go on.” “They said she wasn’t capable of feeling, but the way she looked at me said otherwise. They said she was better off alone, but her kiss pleaded for me not to leave. They said I was wasting my time, but my heart begged to differ. They said she was the devil …” “And what did you say?” “Even the devil was once an angel.” A chuckle comes from his throat. “How does the story end?” “That’s the beauty of it, mate. It doesn’t. Love has no beginning and no ending, much like the fall no one warned me about. Love is unpredictable, impulsive, and doesn’t allow anyone or anything close enough to threaten it, much like the girl I fall every day for. Her black heart was a shield and her lost soul had been searching—protecting herself from predators while wandering the earth for me. Perhaps God gave up on his angel too soon …” “You’re questioning God now?” “All I’m saying is, I would’ve given her an eternity plus a day past crestfallen.” —Oliver Masters

That’s the thing about love. Once it touched you, it didn’t go away. It was laced in every breath. It was embedded in your skin. It seeped deep into your soul and lived forever, and you spent your entire life feeding that single heavenly feeling afraid it would leave at some point. But love never leaves you. It only hides behind every temporary emotion until you deserve to be embraced by it again.

“I see it now. I didn’t before, but I get it.” I turned the water off and grabbed my towel. “Get what?” “This thing between you and Masters. Hell, I haven’t even seen the two of you together, but I don’t have to. Every word Masters speaks, every look in his eyes, every time he takes a bloody breath …”—Ethan exhaled— “It’s all you, Mia. All I hear, see, and feel is you. You’re mixed in him, and if you dropped dead, I wouldn’t be surprised if Master’s heart gave up along with yours. It’s fucking weird, Jett, and hard to explain.” He paused, and I’d been standing wrapped in the towel, dripping wet and stunned by his words.

“I love you,” his voice shook through our kiss, and his hand wrapped around the back of my head to keep me together from turning into liquid. “Consuming, timeless, unselfish, love. I’d loved you in my darkest hour when I wasn’t myself, and I’ll love you in every lifetime after this.”

“When the sun dies and darkness bleeds, she’s the black sheep I’m counting; A loose cannon; another’s regret. A what-if, and repeated mistake. She dances for no one and howls with the wolves. A moon child with the spirit of a mood ring. She’s my all-time love.” —Oliver Masters

“The most dangerous man is a man in love,” he faced me, eyes wild and calm concurrently, “because I’d tear off my own flesh before someone hurts you … and if I’d do that to myself, imagine what I’d do to someone else.”

“I hadn’t touched her, yet she drifted to me as if her body recognized mine was near. We are on the same wavelength. Same rhythm. This,” Ollie danced a finger across the nape of my neck, “This is the meaning of poetic.”