It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2)

by Colleen Hoover

My choice helped me realize that sometimes the hardest decisions a person can make will most likely lead to the best outcomes.

“And what if they don’t have a Lily to save them?”

I didn’t save him. All I did was fall in love with him.

Nothing you have done and nothing you could do would excuse any man’s hands on you out of anger. Remember that, Lily. You made the right choice by leaving that situation. You should never feel guilty for that. Pride is the only thing you should feel.”

“You’re going to drive five miles just to give me a hug?” “I’d run five miles just to give you a hug.”

I blame Ryle for that. He took what little trust I had left in men thanks to my father, and he stripped me of it. But I think this crush is a sign that Atlas might be able to give back what my father and Ryle took from me.

But then there’s Lily and her impeccable timing being back in my life. She always seems to show up when I need a lifeline.

Atlas is so angry, but this is an anger I’m not afraid of. I realize the significance of this moment. I’m alone with an angry man in my apartment, but I’m not in fear for my life, because he isn’t angry at me. He’s angry at the person who hurt me. It’s a protective anger, and there’s a world of difference between my reactions to Ryle’s anger versus my reaction to Atlas’s anger.

If it takes a million kisses for her not to think about the scars that surround her heart tattoo, then I’ll kiss her there a million and one times.

She has no idea the kind of chaos that surrounds her existence, because to her, I’m her entire existence. Every ounce of her trust is in me. She depends on me for everything, and she’s just sitting there happy and comfortable, as if I have it all under control.

but as long as I have you, I will be absolutely unaffected by anyone else’s negativity.