Stay With Me (Stay with Me, #1)

by Nicole Fiorina

“You stood before me, a memory, but I was a stranger in your eyes. Did you forget to remember or remember to forget?”

"Stay with me," you had said over and over. Who would have thought you would be the one to take a step into oblivion?

“Falling down through the darkness. She doesn’t scream or cry for help, lost her mind a long time ago. She prefers falling down.” —Oliver Masters

I didn't like what his stare did to me. It pulled me in, and suddenly I was losing control. I never lost control. Control was all I had.

“Moments don’t go away, they bury and become you.” —Oliver Masters

“No one has a right to insult something they can't understand, and tears shouldn't be wasted on misunderstandings."

“I’m bulletproof, yet she’s slowly penetrating every part of me.” —Oliver Masters

Love was nothing more than a myth, something produced by major corporations to increase profit. According to dictionary.com, the verb definition of love means to love someone and be affectionate. The definition of affectionate means to love. Case in point.

When I wore my venom on my sleeve, he wore his emotions.

The paradox of a hug was even though it was physically comforting, the healing properties to your mental state was just as powerful—if not more.

With Ollie, I’d found a safe place. I’d found refuge from the storm inside my head.

“Leaving her breathless in my aftertaste is the worst way to leave. The best is to stay, but she isn’t ready for me yet.” —Oliver Masters

He became my oxygen, stealing my breath only to return it. My lifeline. And just when I thought the pieces of me were finally coming back together, he pulled away to leave me breathless.

“To everyone, she’s seen as nothing. With everything I have, she is quite the someone.” —Oliver Masters

I was nothing more than a hollow soul. "I will only disappoint you."

“The inescapable truth is, we are destined for this. No matter your resistance, our hearts are relentless. Each time we drift, we’ll only collide once more over and over again in inescapable truth: you and I belong together.”

"I need you to feel for me, and once you do, I need you to stay."

“Some search their entire lives for this single moment. Don’t blink, my love. We’re finally here.” —Oliver Masters

My worthless heart was the slave while my mind was the master.

"I'll continue to fight for as long as it takes."

"I'll always fight for you, no matter how many times your habit takes you over, do you hear me?"

The calm kind, if there was such a thing. Ollie's voice inside my head reminded me to stay with him, and I did. I wouldn't allow my havoc to blow out the flame.

You only focus on living in the moments we do have. If you ever get lost, I'll always find you."

"I'm staying because with you I have a home, Ollie, it’s in here."

“How do you do it, my love? My haven is in your heart and my shelter is in your arms. When your eyes find mine, they give me refuge from the storm. Did you know I’m homesick without you?” —Oliver Masters

"Fuck, I would do anything right now to taste you,"

"Sometimes even the darkest parts of us can become beautiful when seen through a different set of eyes."

"Honestly, I never thought of a tomorrow. I was dead until I met you.

A love like this couldn't exist in only one lifetime.

Ollie wasn't created to be broken down—he was created to burn bright.

I was drifting, barely existing because he was gone—and that meant I was gone. We were gone. But my heart was still going, and now I hated it.

My eyes found hers in the mirror. She was my reflection. She was my other half. She was everything I wasn't. She completed me. She was home.