The Guy on the Right (The Underdogs, #1)

by Kate Stewart

I might’ve fallen slowly, but I just landed impossibly deep.

“I can’t! I can’t! I can’t fucking handle it, okay? And you shouldn’t be alone. Not the way you are. All. The. Time. Having to fend for yourself, and figure it out on your own because there’s no one there to help you. I fucking hate it. I hate it for you, and I hate it for your mother. And I hate it that I want you to turn to me when you need me but you’re so damned independent you’re missing the part where I come in, so I’m going to go ahead and point out that time is now. This is where I come in, Laney. Right here, when it’s scary, and I can be there to comfort you and ride it out with you. So, yeah, I would rather die in a fucking tornado than know you’re scared and alone in that house without

“I love how independent you are. I love it, Laney. I love that you can fill every role in your own life. But I don’t want anyone to ever take mine. So, I want to make you a promise. A promise that no matter what happens between us, good or bad, I’ll be the one man in your life who won’t leave you, no matter what. I don’t want to live a day of this life where I don’t know you. I swear to you, Laney, no matter what happens personally between us, I don’t ever want to know that you aren’t safe in this world. This is my promise for a sense of forever with you, a promise that I will always be there for you. Always. No matter what.”