The Trouble with Hating You

by Sajni Patel

“Love is enough. It’s society’s views and old-world thinking that broke everything.”

“My outlook took a lot of practice and time, and it’s not always easy but definitely worth the effort. Smile if you’re happy, keep your chin up, cling to us for support, own this place. This is where you come to worship, not to be judged,”

I didn’t expect a thank-you or anything, and she wasn’t going to give one. But I would go home knowing that she made it safely through the night. And that was enough.

I am not a whore, Mike. Not even close. I was a woman who had physical, consensual relationships, and I was not ashamed.

“You’re intriguing, smart, independent, kind, gorgeous, and no other woman has the ability to make my heart beat so hard when she walks into a room. Why wouldn’t I want to be with you?”

For the first time in a very long time, I felt like a kid. In a good way. Not weak or vulnerable or the bane of some adult’s existence, but carefree.

She never got to be a kid anymore

“I see so deep into you, Liya, that you can’t hide yourself from me. Even things you don’t want me to see. I love every piece of beauty, every imperfection, and I can’t get enough.”

Where’s the snarky, smart-mouthed, opinionated woman?” “She’s still here.” “I miss her,” I confessed. She craned her head back. “You miss that woman?” “The world feels incomplete without her.”

I rested my cheek against his shoulder and closed my eyes, trapping the tears. I was never meant to have someone this good, this decent. It would eventually end, and that would end me.

I’d have you making all kinds of noises and calling out my name like you’d lost your mind.” “You sure are full of yourself.” “And you’d be full of me.”

I’d wanted men before, simply for their bodies, for wild flings and mind-numbing sex, but I found myself wanting Jay on a different level, a new plane. All of him. Physically, emotionally, eternally.

but I pulled her in close. I never wanted her too far from me.

“We sound like a couple.” “We sort of are a couple.”

“There’s no one else I’d rather get into trouble with.”

A man shouldn’t hold me back. Even if that man was quite possibly the love of my life?

“Touch me, or her, or anyone else, and I will dismember you,”

“You’re mine. I’m yours. We don’t belong with anyone else. I don’t stand in front of you, or run after you. I walk alongside you. I will be damned if anything breaks us. Do you understand me?”

You’re the madness I need, the passion I breathe, the spark that brings me to life. I will go wherever you are.”

“I should get dressed first,” I said. “Actually, I want you undressed, but just wearing these heels.”